Over the decades, I’ve had a mad love affair with Wisteria. It doesn’t really grow here in Colorado, but when I lived in New York there was a building on my block with an ancient wisteria that had patiently crawled up the painted brick facade to the 5th floor. Every Spring it would put on a dazzling perfumed show. Crowds would gather….we would ooh and aah…and when they cut it down we gathered again, and wept. It was 125 years old.
During my travels around the world I’ve encountered wisteria tunnels, drapes and arbors in Asia and Europe, and I always try to take time to sit under these wise elders, breath in their intoxicating fragrance, and wonder at all they have seen. At a temple in Japan, a garden in China, a castle wall in Italy, and recently at the public botanic gardens in Nantes France, when I was at the Pour l’Amour du Fils quilt festival in April…in these places I have sat under the graceful dripping clusters of pea-like flowers, and hummed “Amazing Grace”.
Wisteria symbolize resilience and longevity, and this plant can live for centuries. Sheltering under an ancient wisteria in a rainstorm is an absolutely magical experience, with the clusters of blossoms dancing and dripping in the wind.
As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday this week, I am going through my old family scrapbooks, and remembering my grandmother’s Oregon flower gardens, and how she hummed quietly in the kitchen…I find myself humming “Amazing Grace” again, as my grandmother and mother sang to me, and as I sang to all of my children at bedtime when they were small.
As we prepare for this time of grace and gratitude, I feel so blessed to be safe and healthy, and also that we have a business that generates funds to help those who live in war zones, in extreme poverty, natural disaster zones, or other unfathomable disruptions. At our Thanksgiving tables, let us all think about how we can help those in need. If not money, then the gift of time, the nurturing support of listening and caring….random acts of kindness and senseless beauty.
Through our charity program, we continue to send funds to those most in need, and for that we thank you for supporting our family business. Together we CAN make a difference.
We wish you peace at your holiday table this week.
Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul
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