Hooking Clouds

 

 The whole time I have been hooking the ground and the mule and the man, my thoughts were on the sky and the clouds. When I was dyeing wool, I was trying to picture the clouds in my mind. We don't get rain very often in June. But this morning, we have rain clouds and thunderheads and I felt so thankful when I walked outside. It felt like this sweet blessing to me to sit and watch the clouds as they formed, and filled the sky, as the sun began to rise, the clouds changed to rose and pink and then gold. The gray, the blue that shined in places. I sat and watched mesmerized as they became different shapes like the air ships sailing across the early morning sky. I tried to put them in my mind so that when I picked up my hook today, I could remember what I watched this morning.

When I hooked this doing the sea and the sky, took so much thought. I love whales but they are so hard to hook. Saundra, drew this out for me and she is so good. She drew lines for direction and it helped me so much. The men on the boat and their faces were next to impossible, because they are so tiny, I knew I couldn't redo them over and over. So I sat and stared at them before I hooked them. I reread my book on hooking animal faces and watched tutorials on hooking eyes. I think maybe I over think things to much. I am just saying, compared to this rug the rug I am hooking now, is much more complicated in my mind. 

The rug I am hooking is going to be called Zachery and his Mule. After my great, great, grandfather, Zachery Robbins.

He lived in Paul's Valley Oklahoma. He and his wife, were from Virginia. They traveled to Paul's Valley and were farmers. He was out in the field trying to get his hay in, there was a big thunder and lighting cloud coming and as he went through the barb wire fence, lighting struck the wire and traveled down the wire until it struck him. My great grandmother, on her dressing table, when I was a kid had a dish, with this welded money and glasses sitting on her table. I asked once, what it was and she handed it to me, while she told me the story. I was shocked to say the least. Its a picture in my mind though. 

Then my grand mother was born, on August 14th 1919. They were a superstitious bunch though. My great-grandmother, gave my grandmother to her mother who had just lost her husband to raise. So my grandmother lived with Mrs. Robbins. I don't even know her name, because that was all she was ever called in my mind. My great-great grandparents had been first cousins, and felt as if they lived under a curse and this was just part of the tragedy.  That was why they had to leave Virginia because of the family. As far as I can find, they never went back.

So its for this man I never knew. I have some really old pictures of them on the farm. I will see if I can find them. I have wasted to0 much time looking for this picture of his gravestone. My grandmother would cry and cry, so I stopped asking her about it. It was like she thought it was her fault that by being born she somehow was responsible for his death. I think that is why I don't know more about it. 

I mentioned I think I have been rearranging and moving furniture. I moved my Hoosier cabinet into my office. I love this thing so much. I can't change anything on it. The flour sifter has green paint on it so I have an idea it might have been green. I am going to leave it this color. Its so nice to have it where I can see it everyday. I am going to make it into my hooking/sewing storage area. It took me so many years to find one, its one of those pieces of furniture that I just love. I love that it even has the metal bread drawer. 

So I know I just wrote a post on Sunday, but I wanted you to know, about the clouds this morning and I didn't want to forget. Which I will of course. 

Have a lovely Tuesday,

~Kim~

Lisa Kleypas

"This is the smell of June, honeysuckle, green hay, wet linen hung out to dry."