Tilt-a-whirl

A Day To Celebrate A Life

Cookies baked; check. Colorful clothing; check. Fond memories; check. Purse full of Kleenex? I had better get on that.

This morning, we are going to head Down The Hill and through The Valley to our home town of Oakland, to celebrate the life of Robert Jue. He died last month, after a few short months of treatment and preparation to Go. He was one of the most beloved kindergarten teachers that Oakland has ever known and last Sunday, the children, young and not so young, paid tribute to him, at Montclair Elementary, creating tiles for a memorial wall that will be installed to honor him.

Rob loved the outdoors with every fiber of his being and was nut brown from the sun. Even when he was so very sick, his favorite time was spent sitting outside, absorbing as much warmth from the orb, as he could.

The last time that Rod and I saw him was at a gathering of friends, organized by Patty Go, to celebrate Rob's birthday. We were so worried that he might not be up to going out to a restaurant with all of us and when Patty said that he might not make it, I said that Rod and I would still come down to celebrate and take lots of pictures. No need to worry because he was having a Good Day and in his style and grace, arrived to much love and kudos, to sit in a well padded chair (he died from bone cancer), gather strength from our energy and happily wear a silly birthday hat while we sang to him over and over again. (where is that damned Kleenex...)

I knew that the outdoors meant so much to Rob and knowing that he would probably not ever see our "Camp Souza", I brought him a piece of quartz from our land; one that had just a smattering of gold in it. (he later told me that he still could not see it and I told him to keep looking.)

When he left that tiny, frail body, I "told" him that I expected a fly-by, before he headed to The Other Side. I much expect him to have been lurking at the playground of the school last Sunday and I know that we will have him there, today, because with so many people celebrating a life WELL spent, a soul could do well to visit his friends.

He left us all with a beautifully written epitaph, letting us know how much he loved his life and his kids and his "kids", not regreting one bit of his journey. He was a teacher to the end and as one of his older student/friends said; He was a mensch.

I leave you with Rob's own words (and me reaching for another tissue). Love you, Rob.

Dear Friends,
My heart is filled with appreciation and gratitude. I have lived a rich and vibrant life, filled with family, friends, and the laughter of children. Every joy that life has to offer has been mine, and I have loved every moment. I have watched the sunset over the crystal bl

ue waters of Hawaii, and I have watched it rise over the high peaks of the Sierras filling the crisp mountain air with the glow of a new day. I am thankful for each and every sunrise and sunset.

I have known the countless delights and emotions of fatherhood. The tender joy of cradling a son and then a daughter, in my arms, letting go of their tiny hands as they took their first steps, walking hand-in- hand with them through the years of their youth, comforting them when life disappointed and cheering them on when they rose up and found the strength to follow their passions. Watching them grow into strong, thoughtful and wise adults has been life’s sweetest gift.

The missteps along the way have been few and made me wiser and stronger. There were many victories, adventures and accomplishments that brought joy to my life. My years in the classroom as a teacher are some of my fondest memories. The unfiltered emotion, energy and creativity of the very young kept me engaged and inspired. Each of my students touched me, changed me and taught me something about life.

The joyous laughter of the classroom will be with me always.

I have known the unconditional love of family and have been embraced by a community of friends larger and more generous than I would have thought possible. So many of you have reached out to support me over the years and I have felt the commodore and love of each of you. I chose to spend my last precious moments with those closest to me and found great peace and strength in their presence and in knowing that all of you were also there for me and at my side in spirit.

Life was good. Remember the happy times and think of me when you are enjoying the things I loved in life. Remember me when you stand at the top of a mountain peak gazing over the valley below and a warm breeze touches your face, when you dive into a cool swimming pool or mountain lake and feel the rush of vitality that lifts both body and spirit, when you gaze around a campfire at the people you love, when you walk under the bright light of a harvest moon, or when your child falls asleep in your arms and you gaze up at the night sky to see a small star twinkle, you will know I am there.

I am filled with gratitude for the love that surrounds me, for each and every one of you, and for the wonderful life I had the pleasure of living. All of you have touched me and made my life richer. My wish for all of you is that you greet each day and those you love with appreciation and gratitude. My heart is full.

With love,

Rob Jue

Day One

Ummmm, well, thank you! It began as soon as my feet hit the floor this morning, at 6:30 AM. It hasn't been this busy since Wendyknits discovered me and I am tired and amazed. I got all of my orders answered and printed today and with Lorrie's help we knocked a lot of dyeing, to feed the maw. The first orders are set to go out, tomorrow!

As I look around the disaster area that is my office and workshop, this is what I see. Some Deep Fall awaiting a bath...

I am so ready to turn off the lights and the music. It is time to Go Home and then go out for some celebratory sushi.

Where To Begin?

Writing, for me, is a solitary endeavor, practiced in the quiet of the morning. I find it easiest to think about things at that time, when the dogs and hubby and house are asleep. Of course, my photographs and "life" are on this big computer, in the office and so, I have been very remiss in my postings on my blog. Why? Because it has been so very busy, over here in the "office".

It is Lorrie's "day off" and I have snarled at Rod, who is dutifully winding skeins, over in THAT part of the workshop and so I will attempt to fill you in on what has been going on.

First of all, I can tell you that yesterday, THIS was published. I was very honored to be asked to create a special colorway for Knitty's 10th Anniversary and was paired with the very talented designer, Susanna IC. She created a beautiful autumnal shawl called Beithe, which works so well with the Polwarth/Silk in Knitty's Deep Fall. This colorway will be availble until August and I am happy to see that folks are getting their pattern printed and their skein of yarn ordered for this lovely piece!

Where have we been? Well, this past month, we recovered from a successful (and only rainy on set-up day) Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, racing home to try to get ready for the east coast shows. We did not find out that we were juried into the NY Sheep & Wool Festival (Rhinebeck!) until late August and I was really sweating it on "being ready". I think that my friends had a lot of fun teasing me about Being Ready and so when we got home from OFFF, the pedal was put to the metal so that we could get just a little more stock dyed and spun before 36 boxes were shipped off to our son, in Connecticut.

We had a little break for pleasure, when we headed down to San Jose to see Peter Gabriel at the Pavilion. It was a MUCH needed Birthday Break and soon we were boxing, boxing, boxing.

Stitches East was kind of odd, this year. It fell on the weekend of the Hartford Marathon, which seemed to keep people from coming, in the droves that had visited the year before. Of course, the following weekend was Rhinebeck and people save their pennies and coupon dollars for the extravaganza that is that event. We do love our friends at XRX and thank them for making everything run so smoothly at these big shows. We will be taking a break from Hartford next year, simply because it will be two weeks after Rhinebeck. No flying back and forth. :o(

We had a little time between the two adjacent show weekends, to hang out with our East Coast Kids, Erik & Vicki, taking in some off-the-charts beautiful days of fall color, in the area around their home. One of my favorite days was the walk around Lake Mohegan. I could just imagine our ancestors walking on this ground.
 ( Yes, I have discovered that I came from people who settled many places in Connecticut!)

The beauty of this place is just remarkable and we got to walk the paths with our kids and Granddog, Myles.

We totally fell in love with the place and more was to come, when we took off for the Hudson Valley, a couple of days later. This was taken from the grounds of The Vanderbilt Estate.

We reached our hotel in Hyde Park and went out exploring the region, being thrilled by the Vanderbilt Estate National Monument. It was one of the first times that I did not complain that the calendar rolled over to 62, this year. *I* get a Senior Discount. :o)

How beautiful is THIS? I never took pictures of the house but this tree knocked my socks off.

Are you getting a sense of this region? Understanding why, as an artist and lover of history, this place thrilled me? Yes.

The next morning, we were treated to a rainy, rainy day, with which to grapple on set-up day at the Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck.

Lucky for us, the Building that we would inhabit for the three days had a big door next to our spot and Rod loaded us in from there. I was so excited to get the Purple Floor down, to see what our space would be. Pretty exciting.

We had to practically shout to one another, above the din of the rain on the roof but lucky for us and all of the happy attendees, the following day was just plain gorgeous. We finished setting up and were ready for the hordes, the following morning.

We had SO MUCH FUN!