Baskets of Love

As I mentioned in one my earlier post, (see About Bluebirds and Butterflies) I lost my dear Mother in 2008.  She had been ill with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and passed away within a few months.  Sadly, I also lost my Father two month's later to advanced Parkinson's Disease.  So, very suddenly, both my parents were gone.  

It is so hard to learn to walk down the path of life without the two people who have loved and supported you throughout your life.  After all, your parents held your hand to guide you down that path when you were very young!

(A photo of my Mother with me when I was about 3 taken at a lake in Florida.  Wasn't my Mother a beautiful lady?  She looked like a movie star to me!)

As I said in my previous post, my Mother and I were very close.  She was not only my Mother but also my best friend.   Even though I had relocated from Florida to the Seattle area, we continued to talk on the phone to each other a few times a week.  I miss those conversations!   Having something special to share about my children and not being able to tell her (or my Dad) was one of the first bumps I hit along my journey.  It is hard, especially the first time, when you want to tell your parent about some big event in their grandchild's life and you realize you can't.  I think all of us face this when we lose our parents---especially if you were a very close family like our's.  So--the path changes for you.

Yes, the journey comes to a fork in the road when you lose someone you love.  Unfamiliar territory begins at first.  You may encounter some hills and rocks to climb over.  But, keep going on your climb in life... because good things are ahead for you!

Up ahead, the road will eventually come to a meadow where you will begin to see beautiful things again---reminders of the presence of your loved one.  Suddenly, there will be butterflies and flowers!  You realize that you are now on the road to healing.  You KNOW that you have taken the right fork in the road.  You may suddenly notice visible reminders that this person is still there walking with you.

And these reminders of your loved ones will bring joy to your heart!   These visible signs will become the flowers along your path.  For me, one of these "flowers"  came in the form of baskets.  

Several years ago, a very close friend of my mother taught her to hand-weave baskets.  The two friends spent hours together browsing through basket weaving shops in Florida to gather materials for their hobby.  They would come back home with their reed, handles and dye and spend hours sitting on the back porch of my mother's friend's home chatting and weaving.  Sometimes, they would get together to exhibit and sell some of their beautiful baskets at neighborhood craft shows. 

Ofen, my mother would use some things she found right in her own backyard, so to speak, as material.  She would sometimes use the wavy reed that you find in some of the native palm trees that grow in Florida.  She was very creative and became almost an expert in the art of making baskets. 

Many years ago, when I lived in Houston, she came to visit me and brought some of her basket making supplies.  One night, while everyone was sleeping, my mother and I walked out to my back porch where I had a wrought iron table and chairs.   Sitting comfortably on the cushioned chairs, we stayed up for hours talking.  While chatting, my mother finished weaving a basket and explained how to put the "spokes" together which would become the base of a basket.  I tried my hand at a "beginner's attempt of a basket" which I finished and still have.  My mother, though, was the expert!

 

She fashioned them in all shapes and sizes using a variety of materials. 

The baskets ranged in size from large to the very smallest creation!  

My mother gave my siblings and I several of her lovely baskets  as gifts.    I have kept each and everyone she gave me through the years.  

I have her handiwork displayed throughout my home.  They hold magazines or seashells that I have collected on beaches.

All the baskets are beautiful and precious!  And though they may not all be the same size or store things that I own, they have one have thing in common-----they were all labors of love, and they all hold my heart!    When I look at my collection of baskets, I know that my Mother's hands lovingly touched each and every one.   They have become my "flowers in the meadow" on the path of life that I talked about.   Reminders that my Mother will always be with me in my heart and memory as I continue with my journey of life....

Have a beautiful day today! xoxo

Comments

[Lavender Dreams]

I love baskets! I have a lot of them and use them to hold magazines or just to look pretty! What an amazing collection you have...that will always mean so much to you! What treasures! ♥

[Bluebirds and Butterflies]

Thanks for the nice feedback on my Mother's baskets. She would have been thrilled that you like them! I love handmade gifts. I have recently started learning to knit and now know the hard work and love that goes into making something for someone. This has made me love my Mother's baskets even more! They are, indeed, great for organizing and storing things--as well as being beautiful! Thanks for your sweet comments. I am enjoying your Lavender Dreams blog! Have a great Day! xoxo Kim

[Jill]

Kim,
The baskets your mother made are beautiful!
My mother passed from leukemia 2001.
We were best friends and spoke to each other every day. I really miss her and always will.
Like your mother my mom was talented and smart.
Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoy a relaxing day.
♥

[Bluebirds and Butterflies]

Thank you, Jill, for the very sweet comment. I know you must miss your mother, terribly, as I do mine. The cookbook you created (and offer on your site) is a wonderful tribute to your beloved mother. (((hugs))) xoxo Kim

[Sandy]

Kim,

What a blessing to have all those beautiful reminders of your mothers loving hands weaving those baskets. Her loving energy is in every one of those baskets because she loved making them. She truly was an artist! Do you have anything special from your dad? My mother was an artist too, but sadly I don't have any of her paintings. My grandmother had a few, but I don't know what happened to them. When she came to live with us last fall...I asked if she would paint something for me, and she said she would but sadly she was at the end of her journey with Alzheimer's and went quickly after she had a stroke. Wouldn't it be nice to create a special place on your blog just for her. I think I might do that for my mom. Yes, your mother does look like a movie star. She was a shining star in your life!

[Bluebirds and Butterflies]

Hi Sandy,
Yes, I am so blessed to have these treasured baskets made by the loving hands of my mother. My father was quite a talented man. He had a life-long hobby of fishing and actually handmade a lot of his own fishing poles. He made his own hunting knives, too. I have a kitchen knife that he made me when I was young and also a heavy stainless cooking sheet. I treasure both of these items. I think the biggest gift my Dad gave me was the love of the river and an appreciation for fishing. A bit of his ashes were actually put (at his request by my siblings and I) in a beautiful spot that he loved along the banks of the St. Johns River in Florida...a place that he had caught many fish and spent many hours of his life. Fishing was his "therapy" he used to say. Thank you for asking about my Father. I will be sharing some things in my blog about him as I go along. It sounds like you have an artistic and talented family background, Sandy. Do you paint or draw yourself? If, not, I bet you have something that you, too, are very good at. These artistic genes tend to pass on to other generations and they can resurface in many areas such as even cooking... (I think my sister inherited that gene---wink, wink) Have a "bluebird day" today. xoxo Kim

[Sandy]

Hi Kim,

Fishing is a great hobby! So relaxing to be on or near the water. It takes a lot of patience to fish. It's nice to have such beautiful memories of your mother and father. My family is pretty artistic. I have cousins who sing, play instruments, a couple of cousins who are artists, and my aunt was a great decorator, landscaper, and antique collector. Her home was filled with beautiful antiques. My grandmother and her sister used to play piano and sing on the air and in nightclubs in New York city during the 1930's.

People say that I'm artistic, but I've never stuck with a medium very long to get really good at it. I dabble in just about everything. I believe we're all creative, but in different ways. I absolutely love gardening, and feathering my nest. I'm always changing things. Just started scrapbooking when my mother passed away, but boy it it time consuming!

Have you ever heard of the book, "The Artist Within?" I've had it on my library shelf for years, and just now picked it up again. It's a great book for inner discovery. If you get a chance, take a look at it, you might like it. Very healing. I can tell that you're artistic. I'll bet we'll both have some great pictures to share this summer! Everything is still so brown here in Michigan. Have a great evening and give little Sadie Mae a hug for me! My Kensie is laying beside me as I type.

[Bluebirds and Butterflies]

Hi Sandy,
Thank you for the nice comments. Wow! Your family certainly is talented! Wouldn't it be great to have been able to have gone to some of those nightclubs and heard your grandmother and her sister sing? They must have been fun ladies! That was a great time in history...
Scapbooking is a great hobby to have. One of my very close girlfriends enjoys scrapbooking. It is nice to create something special to pass on to future generations. I have not read "The Artist Within" and will have to pick it up. Thank you for recommending it. If you love it, I know I will, too! I will definitely give Miss Sadie Mae a hug for you. She is going to be in a photo with me tomorrow on my posting. It is just a casual photo my husband snapped of Sadie Mae and I in my kitchen a couple of weeks ago. I love your little pet's name...Kensie. Very cute! Have a great day, Sandy! xoxo Kim