This photo shows me during Christmas 1967 with my maternal grandmother (a.k.a. Busia). I don’t know if I’m giving or receiving a gift from Busia, but clearly, we were sharing a moment together. I love this picture because it embodies the spirit of Popcorn and Patchouli – Sharing What I Love.

It was from Busia that I learned how to make the BEST popcorn (in a 1950’s Revereware pressure cooker on the stove), and it is, as a result, my absolute favorite go-to, comfort, default food. Because popcorn is such a critical food in my diet, it just wouldn’t make sense for it to be excluded from star billing.

Patchouli (pu CHOO lee) oil is a scent that I discovered sitting in a tiny amber bottle on top of my mom’s dresser back when it, flower-power and peace = hippy (a.k.a. the early 1970’s). Wearing too much patchouli oil overwhelms the senses, but when worn subtly, like the way my mom did, its fragrance grabs one’s attention with hints of earth, moss and mint.

I fell in love with patchouli oil not just because of the aroma but because of what it represents to me. The oil is full-bodied, stable and warm, and that’s what I, as a daughter, knew about my parents’ love for me. The oil connected me then – when I could still sit on my mom’s lap and now – some 50 years later – to feelings of balance, stability, warmth.

Popcorn and patchouli serve as mainstays in my life, my family, my memories, my experiences, and now seem fitting as the name of this endeavor.

What will you find here?

LIVING WITH CANCER: “You have breast cancer.” Yep, that’s what I heard after I followed doctor’s orders to get my first mammogram at age 40. It’s a good thing I did what I was told because that mammogram turned out to be the most important mammogram I would ever get. I believe it saved my life.

If you click on LIVING WITH CANCER, you’ll find my Carepages posts and followers’ comments from 2007, as well as more current posts related to my latest experience with breast cancer recurrence (discovered in 2021). You will get a greater sense of who I am, what I’ve gone through, or you may find my experience helpful in your own life.

SEW WONDERFUL: I’ve sewn on and off since I was in elementary school. Both Mom and Busia taught me how to sew. Elastic waistband shorts and pants, patchwork purses, and attempts at a shirt or two with sleeves were among my early sewing projects. I even designed and sewed an art quilt that won a ribbon in my high school art show and was featured at our small-town mall as a result.

From elementary school forward, I’ve dabbled in and been attracted to a number of thread and fabric techniques – quilting, macrame, crochet, knitting, weaving, needlepoint, rug hooking, punch needle and cross stitch. In the last few years, I’ve invested more time and energy in exercising my right brain. And because there are so many beautiful and interesting opportunities that have fallen in my path, I’ve ended up with scads of UFOs (UnFinished Objects). In SEW WONDERFUL I’ll share projects and ideas that have my attention at the moment.

CREATURE COMPASSION: I have a rich and colorful fantasy about adopting every homeless animal in the world and living with them on bunches and bunches of bucolic acreage. Because I haven’t figured out the logistics of this dream (yet), I strive to create a microcosm of this idea in our home. I may go a bit (my husband might use another adjective here) overboard or turn a blind eye when it comes to the animals that share our home (I “swear” they don’t normally jump on the kitchen counter!!!), but I sleep better at night knowing that I’ve done my best by them.

My penchant for taking in those in need of shelter resulted in a “formal” agreement with my husband limiting the number of creatures we have in our home at one time. The official number is four – but according to Nat – we use “marriage math” because we ended up with five cats for a year or so since the agreement, and in 2018 we had four cats and two dogs living in our home. CREATURE COMPASSION is mostly about posting lots of pictures of my cats but features other animal-friendly info, too.