The Pogue Weekly Times

Aaron's new blog, Unstressed Syllables, is amazing. His descriptions and stories make writing easy and fun. Not only is the instruction helpful but the weekly writing excercises are great for practicing and honing your writing skills.

Last Monday, Aaron posed an exercise to make a list of your favorite Interesting Things and write about them. Here are mine (in no particular order), hope you find them interesting too.

1. Art and art history
I am sorry to say that I wasted the first 19 years of my life. That's how I see my life before I was introduced to the wonderful world of art. College opened my eyes to the world. Well, college and my highly educated and constantly reading everything husband who taught me to think and study for myself. I love art and art history so much I was willing to continue art education into graduate work. Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete the work.

Why do I love art so much? I'll give you an excessable example: the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, painted in the 16th century. This painting has amazed and astounded people for centuries. Who is the woman portrayed? Where is the setting of the painting? And of coarse, what's with the smile?

The study of art and art history attempts to answer these questions and more. The answers bring more life, interest and passion to the work. It's not just a painting of a woman in a window. I don't want to give anything away. You'll have to find out for yourselves.

2. Scrapbooking
This is also an interest that I picked up in college. I went to my first scrapbook party that my friend Amberly had at her house. They showed us how to use stickers, paper, and adhesives (that's technical talk for tape or glue). Since that first meeting my scrapbooking skills have improved dramatically. I spend hours looking through magazines for the perfect layout and embellishments that satisfy my strict preferences.

Me and a friend, Rebecca, started a monthly get together to scrapbook. These groups are called crops, a photography term meaning to cut or crop pictures. Scrapbooking is definitely a social hobby. Crops usually last for 6 hours but can be an entire weekend. I love sharing ideas and materials with fellow scrappers. It may take longer because of the visiting and eating but crops are more fun than doing it alone.

More than socializing or a creative outlet, scrapbooking is a wonderful way to preserve memories of family and friends. Every time I sit down to create a masterpiece, I think about my children and grand children looking at the pages I created. It is truly my legacy.

3. Sewing
My mother taught me to sew when I was in the 7th grade. We used an ancient machine that her mother used. She taught me to use patterns, how to cut fabric, how to make button holes and put in zippers. I may not have liked it then, but looking back on that time makes me happy and gives me those warm fuzzies.

A few years ago, my mom gave me a bag of zippers and thread and many patterns that grandma used a long time ago. I love looking at those patterns and thinking about my mom wearing the sweet dresses that my grandma must have sewn for her. When ever I sit down at my sewing machine I'm thankful that I have a mom who could pass on the skill and that her mother taught her and that I will one day show my daughter.

Sewing is a wonderful creative outlet. There are so many patterns available at craft and fabric stores. I love making things for others and to see the astonishment on their faces when they realize that I made it. Sometimes I have to take a break from making gifts and make something for myself. It's just too wonderful to give so I will always sew and give.

4. Teaching
From a very young age I thought teaching was going to be my destiny. After years of avoiding and resisting, I gave up. I am a teacher. That's what I do and I do it well. It's easy to teach kids, they soak up everything but adults are hard to entertain.

During my education, I was able to present some of my papers in class. Those were undergrads so they weren't to interested but my fellow grad students thought I did great and I got an A so the prof thought I did well too. I would love to have that opportunity again.

I really enjoy introducing scrapping to people. When I worked at a scrapbook store I had a lot of opportunities to show friends the latest scrapbooking tools, embellishments and products. I enjoy seeing my friend's delight when they learn some new scrap technique. It looks so hard in the magazines, but it's not!

I haven't had an opportunity to teach anyone sewing but I have a daughter. And I am willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. Which brings me to my final interest.

5. Learning/reading
Of coarse in highschool, like everyone else, I hated learning . But when I got to college I began to understand that learning doesn't have to be boring especially when the topic is interesting to me. After college I began, for the first time, to read and study on my own. I developed a love for reading and books.

During grad school I wanted all the books on art I could find. And those are expensive! I loved going to B&N and spent hours looking at art plates and reading about history. I always kept art books from the library way too long.

I read scrapbook and sewing magazines and books. I also check out tons of kids books and recently rediscovered kids audio books. They are great and keep my 3 year old entertained for a while. I hope that I can instill a love for learning and books in my children.

I can't forget how much I adore my husband's writing. I am so amazed and delighted at his gift. One of my life goals is to read everything he's ever written. I've got a good start but it's hard to keep up with him. He's a machine!

Those are my top 5 interests, I think. There are so many things that I love: photography, music, watching tv, and the list goes on. Maybe I'll do another list. Thanks for the assignment, Aaron.