ode to gourds...

...like my grandmother used for darning

remember those? they came in a myriad of shapes and sizes... used for darning socks - perhaps sweaters... i'm not that old - but i find myself saying back in the day these days... seems that darning and the like is mostly a lost art anymore... it's just as easy to buy a new pair of socks than it is to darn the old ones... put the old ones in the rag pile - or simply throw them away - why give thought to mending them after all...

i can't help but think that our society has given way to becoming somewhat of a throw away society... things that are new are better - why repair when you can replace... should we make-do, when you can go to the corner store and get another one? i recall my mother's washing machine lasting her for nearly 30 years... i doubt the machines turned out now - would come close to lasting that long... why is that? i ordered something the other day - it arrived... i opened it up expecting a quality product - found plastic parts that broke in my hand when i began putting it together... i was disappointed - boo! it's a sad commentary on poor economic times...

i believe i just had a rant - as the withers would say... that's okay - but i don't want to get distracted from my original point of the gourd... how grandma would use them to darn - making beautiful stitching mends to repair items so they could last a while longer... for us - when i was little and she lived with us... it was a generous, giving thing she did - that always made for...

a

happy day.....