Hugs to All of You

I am so blessed to have you all as friends. I actually cried -- in a good way! -- as I read your comments on my last post. Thanks you all so much for helping me chase away the blues. And for sharing your own struggles.

I have picked up my Vodka Lemonade sweater again, and it feels good to make progress on it. The actual color is much more yellow than this photo shows.

When I look at the large numbers of people taking anti-depressants and the long lists of titles of books to help people with depression and anxiety, I can't help but think that there is something terribly wrong with our society. For one thing, Americans work far more hours than people in any other industrialized country, and we take far less vacation. I know that this 13-week slog between breaks wore down not only me, but my colleagues and students, too.

My Year of Stitches project has been a source of joy and comfort these last few months.

Knitting -- along with our other creative ventures -- is one way to escape the high-pressure world we live in, don't you think? It's no accident that DIY and hand-made have become movements. Nor that a knit hat became the symbol of the women's march in Washington. Every stitch is a protest of the hyper-pressures of today's world.

They also bind us to other people. Another group of people who keep me afloat is the Jewish Artists Lab. You may remember that I painted a portrait of Judy Chicago as part of a project launched by my friend Pam, in which we are assembling a "dinner party" of Jewish artists. We got together last weekend for a painting round, and I did this one:

It's Diane Arbus, who is famous for photographing "outsiders." It doesn't look as much like her as I'd like, but it's close enough!

Again, my heart-felt thanks to all of you!

My Art Opening

Last night the Jewish Artists Lab had the opening for our art show. A member who is a poet started it off with a spoken word performance, and then people milled around and looked at the works. We got a nice turnout, so it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Here are my works:

I don't know if you can tell on a screen that they are embroidered figures of Jewish immigrants on cloth printed with ship manifests from around 1900. They are a Jewish interpretation of Plains Indians' ledger paintings, like this one:

Native Americans from the Plains began painting on ledger paper after buffalo became rare and then extinct. So, I replaced the ledger paper with the ship manifest and the Native American drawings with Jewish themes.

People seemed to like them, so that made me happy, too!

I Missed You Dear Digital Friends

It's been about 10 days since I last blogged, a long time for me, and I have missed you all! I promise to get caught up in my blog reading in the next few days. I should have time as I have been laid low by a sinus infection. I'm planning to work all week, but no 10- or 12-hour days!

I can't seem to keep up with the paperwork at school, so that is one reason I've had a hard time finding time to blog. But there have also been some more exciting things going on. For one, I'm part of a year-long project called the Jewish Artists' Lab, and we had a retreat in Milwaukee, which included a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum. It's such a great building:

There were 65 artists from Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Kansas City. Everyone was friendly and interesting and our schedule was jam-packed. Another place we visited was a new synagogue that's at the very edges of the metropolitan area, which is where I took this beautiful fall photo:

I'm still waiting to get some photos of the group, but at this point I don't have any people photos to share. There were tons of talented people and I felt very humbled to be part of the group.

There was a fun Halloween party on Friday night thrown by the parents of this little beauty:

That is the elegant Ma'ayan, tolerating her dinosaur hat for a few moments as she contemplates my friend Mimi. We had appetizers and desserts and watched "Inside Out." There is something so amazing about going to a party thrown by Ilana (baby's mom) who is the same age as my son! I met Ilana's moms in Lamaze birthing classes so I've watched her grow up.

For Halloween, Keith and I went out to see the movie, "Bridge of Spies," which is good. The recreation of post-WWII East Berlin is amazing. Although the story is predictable, the twists and turns kept us interested. My daughter had a much more exciting evening. She sent this photo:

If you can't tell, the leggings are green and scaly. Her favorite Disney princess has always been Ariel from "The Little Mermaid." As a feminist, I've always been appalled. Did she really have to pick the princess who gave up her voice for a man? There's no accounting for taste! Fortunately she is pretty feminist herself, so I got a kick out of the costume.

I've been doing nothing but garter and stockinette stitching. Thank goodness for Sunday night on PBS!

I was hoping to get the Green Bay Packer socks done by Hanukkah for my brother, but this is how far I am on the first sock. I was done with the leg a few weeks ago, but then I noticed that I had dropped a stitch up near the cuff, so I picked it up for a lot of rows and found out that is not a good idea. It made for a funny-looking, tight line of stitches. I ripped most of the leg out and started again.

So, that's where I've been. Can't wait to catch up with the rest of you!