I’ve named my most recent Crochet Scrumble ‘Grape Expectations’. There are five small bunches of ‘grapes’ in this piece. I ‘expected’ to make more grapes, but they were time consuming and fiddly to make.
My grapes are small in comparison to the large, and very expensive, Japanese Ruby Roman grapes. One bunch sold for $12,000 at an auction in 2020. That’s about $400 per grape! (See Video below.)
I had ‘Grape Expectations’ that there would be lots of puns, jokes and memes about grapes…
Grape minds think alike.
How does one measure the length of grapevines? They do it by vineyards.
I Came, I Saw, I Concord.
I like talking to my kids about the benefits of dried grapes.
It’s all about raisin awareness.
There was once a old grape farmer, who had gone through many droughts. When his grapes had fallen and dried out, all he could say was…. Everything happens for a raisin.
What would a grape say if you step on it? It won’t say anything; it will just let out a little wine.
IQ of a Grape
From prison he tried to escape
But, had the IQ of a grape
… His rocket (mis-wired)
… Quickly backfired
Now he’s all over the landscape
– Jack Clark –
My other Scrumbles:
Grannies Square
Strawberry Fields
Fifth Colour of the Rainbow
Goldilocks
Whiteout
Vegetable Garden that didn’t Grow in Straight Rows
Man Caves – Mark Twain had a Writing Hut; Winston Churchill had an Art Studio; The Wright Brother’s had a Bicycle Shop; Frank Lloyd Wright had a Drafting Studio – but there is little in history about rooms (in the home or nearby yard) that creative women escaped to.
In recent times, however, women are taking ownership of ‘private places’ and they are frequently called ‘She Sheds’. Sometimes these are adult size ‘Wendy Houses’ or garden sheds – but any room inside the house can become a dedicated place for creative activities or relaxation.
At our rural Red House in Alberta, The Car Guy’s Man Cave is a triple car garage equipped with a wide range of tools and equipment for everything from car repair to home renos to woodworking. In a bid for equal square footage, my ‘She Shed’ is multiple rooms inside the house – a craft room in a former bedroom, a writing area in the living room and a paint studio in the basement.
Wheezy
When we are in Arizona, The Car Guy has a Man Cave Garage and I have turned the Arizona Room into my She Shed. That is a space I share with Wheezy– a 17 year old wall mount HVAC that still heats and cools, but sounds like it has severe asthma.
A Case for Creativity
There is compelling evidence of the value of doing something creative just because we enjoy it. Even if we aren’t judged as being particularly good at it, these activities make us feel happier and more relaxed. They help to improve observation, problem-solving skills, memory retention and hand-eye coordination.
The finished work provides a burst of self-esteem that brightens the mood by increasing the neurotransmitter dopamine. This helps create new neurons, which in turn promote focus, concentration and readies the brain for learning.
What Do I Meme by Creativity?
I just checked – these are still available at Target – $3.89 when purchased on line. Every home should have a box of them!Did you know that Santa’s Reindeer are all females? Only female reindeer still have antlers at Christmas; the male of the species shed theirs before mid-December.Apparently some components of paper are abrasive and these dull the scissors.I’d have loaned my paper scissors to Alan Rickman (Severus Snape in Harry Potter) any day of the week. I’d even have loaned him my sewing scissors – to cut paper… If you sew, are you a ‘sewer’. A ‘sewer’ is also a pipe to transport sewage. I guess that is why some women would rather be called seamstresses or the gender neutral ‘tailor’.
How do you express your Creativity and do you have a dedicated She Shed or Man Cave?
The first 4 rolls of toilet paper we used during the pandemic.
I started blogging about Covid-19 on March 11, 2020. By March 19 it was clear that Toilet Paper, or the lack thereof, was big news – and creative minds were having a field day with that! I posted 51 of their TP memes (you can see them in the links at the end of this post).
March 2023 – and I’ve finally completed an epic artsy/craftsy piece (Wreath on a Roll) to memorialize the ‘Rona virus. (Sadly I have no memorial bric-a-brac for the other epidemics I have lived through: Polio 1950-1955; Asian Flu 1957-58; Hong Kong Flu 1968-1970; SARS; MERS; and Swine Flu 2009-2010)
I chose the toilet paper roll for the foundation. Special mention goes to The Car Guy (chief procurement officer) who secured a steady supply of TP, though the quality was sometimes such that ‘The Charmin Bears’ were appalled. It took me three years to collect the paper rolls (because this was a project at our Arizona Snow Bird abode and we stayed in Alberta for most of the first two years of the pandemic).
Once the foundation was secured (glue gun), I started decorating with the cheap and flimsy toilet paper. I braided it and wound it around the outside and made some toilet paper flowers
Toilet paper roll foundation and braided toilet paper edge.Toilet Paper flowers
Next, I called upon ‘Andy Amazon’ who supplied me with raw cotton balls and some seasonal decor items to add some color to an otherwise monochrome wreath.
I think it turned out pretty good!
That’s Not All! I tracked down a few more memes – turns out the internet isn’t finished with toilet paper yet!
We are in sunny AZ this holiday season. We arrived here just in time to miss the snow and bitter cold that is making travel so hazardous in western Canada and the USA right now! I’d like to say it was good planning on our part, but weather is too unpredictable for us to take any credit for our choice!
To all of you who have been a part of our lives in a great or small way – The Car Guy and I wish you all
Safe Travels,
A Very Merry Christmas
and
All the Best in the New Year!
Amusives 