Monday, May 16, 2022

Happy Vesak!

Fresh Roses for the Mantel

Vesak is a Buddhist celebration, commemorating three events: the birth of Siddhartha, his enlightenment and becoming the Buddha, and his death.  Vesak is observed on the full moon day in May, so the date is not a fixed date.  It is the biggest, most important religious event on the Buddhist calendar.  It is a day for religious observations, for going to the Temple, for illuminating the homes with candles, oil lamps, and lanterns, and for distributing food.  I participated in Saturday's food drive which was held by the postal service (an annual event which was put on hold for the past couple of years due to the pandemic; it has nothing to do with observing Vesak, but, just happened to coincide very nicely with it), said my morning prayers, and offered fresh flowers at the home altars.  

Dancer insisted that I woke up early today!  I tried to go back to sleep, but, gave up after 30 minutes of trying, made my morning tea, and got going with my day's activities!  I dusted the living room and dining area (except the dining table that is piled with scraps of fabric!); the dusting didn't take long because most surfaces were clear, so, I went ahead and dusted the family room, as well (on my weekly schedule for Tuesdays, but, I will be going to the doctor's appointment, tomorrow, so, the fewer things to do tomorrow, the better).  Then, I picked a few roses to bring inside, for the altars and the mantel where I display photos of my mother.

Most of the roses looked like this:

When You Try to Bloom and it's 96F

Desiccated!  

Afterwards, I changed the bed sheets, did three loads of laundry, and remade the bed.

Later in the afternoon, I played a bit more with my fabric scraps!  Remember I said I needed to trim some of the larger scraps?  Well, I might have done a bit of sewing, as well:

Cat Block

I found several cat block patterns and tutorials online and decided to try a tutorial by the Missouri Quilt Co.  

After tea, I cleaned the fridge (it was pretty clean, just had to wipe up some crumbs and the only item tossed was a half eaten tortilla that had dried out), cleaned the litter box, took the trash cans to the curb, picked blueberries, and made my meal plan for the week.  The only item that remained on my Monday's to do list was to spot water the fruit trees and seedlings, but, I checked on them and they were okay (it wasn't as warm, today, as it had been over the weekend); I will water them, tomorrow.

 Monday's To Do List:

- Change bed sheets ✔
- Load of laundry (bed sheets/towels) ✔
- Dust living room & dining area ✔
- Clean the fridge ✔
- Take trash cans to the curb for Tuesday trash pick up ✔
- Clean the litter box ✔
- Spot water the back garden (fruit trees and newly planted seedlings) - Tuesday
- Meal plan ✔
- Trim some fabric ✔

In the evening, I spoke with friend R and chatted with my daughter.  

Today, I am grateful for:
- Being able to observe Vesak in my own way
- Roses from the garden
- Working appliances
- Online tutorials
- My scrap fabric stash

Today's joyful activity was more patchwork piecing!

Tuesday's To Do List:
- Dust my bedroom
- Doctor's appointment
- Water the fruit trees and seedlings
- Water the house plants
- Bring the trash cans in
- Put away the last load of laundry
- Run the dishwasher

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for Tuesday?  

26 comments:

  1. I'm dying to get going on quilting, but have got three major sewing tasks for friends to complete first. I love your roses!

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    1. I'm sure your friends appreciate you doing the sewing tasks for them, Angela; you are always so giving of yourself, your time, and your talents. The quilting will be something to look forward to. :)

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  2. Your roses in the vase are beautiful and it is interesting to learn about Vesak and that you were able to celebrate in your own way. Yesterday we had a rumble of thunder here and it had a good downpour of rain, it did the garden good though.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. Lucky you to get some rain! We are now in our dry season; no rain expected in the foreseeable future!

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  3. I was not familiar with Vesak, so I enjoyed learning about it. The roses on your alter are beautiful. And look at all the checks on that To Do list. Great job!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed learning about Vesak, June. :) I was happy to see that not all the roses were burnt to a crisp! I'm pushing myself to finish my to do lists; the checks are there to motivate me! I'd much rather sew than clean! :D

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  4. Happy Vesak to you and thank you for explaining what the celebration is based on.
    Lovely vase of flowers. All of the colors look really pretty together.

    What a cute cat block. I didn't see it originally until I read the title.

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    1. Thank you, Debra and you are welcome. :)
      You do have to sort of squint a bit to see the cat, but, I like how it looks. There was another pattern with the cat sitting up, rather than lying down. I might make a block with that pattern, too. :)

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  5. Happy Vesak, Bless. The roses in the vase are beautiful ... a shame about the shrivelled ones, though. It makes me realise we're better off without the high temperatures that you have.

    I like your cat block. Are you planning to make enough of them for a quilt?

    I've spent my day with friends and will be doing an online quiz with different friends tonight.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. Yes, the roses don't tolerate the higher temperatures that well.
      I am considering making more of the cat blocks. Maybe I'll make a cat quilt or use them along with the crumb blocks. :)
      Sounds like you are having a fun day! Enjoy! :)

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  6. Happy Vesak to you too! The Rose's on the mantelpiece are stunning!

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    1. Thank you, Lady Ella. :)

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    2. I wish it to be known that I did not type "Rose's"! Spellcheck seems to think that people only ever talk about chocolates and not flowers. (Spellcheck should mind its own business!)

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    3. LOL. I don't think we have Rose's chocolates here, Lady Ella. :)

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    4. When I come to visit I will bring a tub of Rose's chocolates, a ton of homegrown rhubarb and some brambles. Rhubarb here is so run of the mill I haven't even bothered to blog or indeed photograph mine.

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    5. Ooh, yum! The supermarket where I order and pick up my groceries doesn't carry fresh rhubarb, but, some of the ethnic grocery stores carry them and the pre-pandemic prices used to be around $2.99/lb.

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    6. The supermarkets here sell it in season but I've never really looked at the price. Mine will be free (the only cost might be negotiating to get me released when customs detains me for bringing in weird stuff. I have every faith!).

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    7. Ha, ha, maybe you had better make me some rhubarb jam, instead; customs will let you bring that in without any problem. :D

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  7. I'm glad you found some good roses to celebrate Vesak. The heat can really fry flowers. Good that you could fulfill the distribution of food observance via the Food Drive.
    A cat quilt will be fun, and will no doubt be checked out in due course by a certain kitty!
    We are back into cool weather and DH had to switch the AC off and the oil back on, as my fingers were turning white in the house! I've been down to the dentist for a cleaning and fetched a few groceries as well. I haven't done a lot today, the cool weather needed some adjusting to, just when I was getting used to instant summer a few days ago! I guess I won't put away all the warm clothes yet. but the boots are in the basement. I refuse to contemplate any possibility of snow for a few months at least!

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. The offering of flowers at the altar is accompanied by the recitation of a stanza contemplating the impermanence of all material things: "Just as these flowers will fade and die, so will our bodies wither and decay."
      A cat quilt would be fun. I could mix it up a bit, too, if I get tired of making only cat blocks.
      A visit to the dentist and then, picking up groceries sounds like doing plenty to me. Sorry it has turned cool, again, but, hopefully, the warmer weather will be back, soon. :) Hope the rest of the week will be mild and you won't have any need for boots!

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  8. Happy Vesak to you! I hope it was filled with sacred observances!
    I admire your future quilting. I would love to make one but I am so imprecise that it would wind up being a big mess.

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    1. Thank you, Anne.
      Go ahead and make a wonky quilt! Have fun with it and don't worry about being precise!

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  9. Happy Vesak, Bless. I tried to comment yesterday but it wouldn't allow me to for some reason. Now I can't comment on your latest post. Perhaps it will let me tomorrow :) xx

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    1. Thank you, Jules. I think Blogger is having some problems. It wouldn't let me reply to a comment, a few minutes ago, but, I refreshed the page and then it worked! :D

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  10. Love your roses on the mantle, beautiful colours, early summer roses are always glorious, from mid summer they tend to be a shadow of their former selves, well they are here, the sun fades the colours.
    It was interesting to learn about Vesak and you being able to celebrate it in your way. It took me a few moments to figure out the cat on your square, I think the cat squares would look awesome surrounded with the crumb blocks.

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    1. Thank you, Sharon; summer roses just get burned by the sun, here, unless you pick them as soon as they start to bloom!
      Some of the cat blocks include tails, but, this one didn't. I'm still playing around with ideas at this point. :)

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