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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Judy’s Tulip Bag



My friend Judy Whitehead just finished making my Tulip Bag pattern, and her bag is absolutely gorgeous. Judy is a talented fabric dyer, art quilter and longarm quilter, and she used all her talents to make a bag that is completely Judy. WOW! To read more about how she made her bag, check out her blog post here.

Veterans Day



In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– John McCrae, 1915
Canadian poet and medical officer in the Boer War and World War I

Today I remember and honor my father-in-law, who served in the U.S. Army, and was part of the Normandy invasion of World War II in 1944, and all those who have served and are serving my country. I think of the terrible sacrifices they and their families have made so that we can live our lives as we do. Of my own father's service in the Marine Corps. And of all the young people of all nations whom we send to war.

The poem above has been interpreted as both pro-war and anti-war by different people. I like the ambiguity, and prefer to think that the poet’s reference to “the foe” refers to war itself. Let it end.