Besides teaching composition, being a mom, and a wife, I do a lot of other things with my life and time. Here's a glimpse below:
Writer: I am a practitioner of writing. My daily routine includes writing. Each day, I write at least five pages, sometimes a lot more. It can be in a journal and/or on the computer. I still like to hand write in my journals to keep in practice with that "ancient" art. I have four short stories published to date in literary journals. All of these were actually chapters of novels-in-progress that were re-shaped into stand alone pieces. They are as follows:
"Rebekah's Womb" in Emergence II, published 1994.
"The Color of Sumac in Autumn" in Emergence III, published 1996.
"Heald's Chicago River Odyssey" in Hair Trigger 17, published 1996.
"A Goose Among Pea Hens" in Emergence V, published 2001.
Historian:
Living Historian:
Historic Clothing Seamstress: One of my hobbies is to recreate clothing from times past, especially the War of 1812 era. Here are some pictures of items I have created. I research in first hand sources, including original clothing to examine how they were constructed. Then, I try to find materials in the modern day that can replicate as close as possible what the original materials were like. For example, the fine muslin used in 1812 is no longer available. This type of muslin was very sheer, very light weight, and it was said you could pass a dress through a ring. The closest fabric we have today is batiste, but isn't as close as I would like it to be. In the example below, please find a reproduction example of a fine muslin gown.
Other items I have made are uniform coats. The style shown in the picture is of an American office. The difference is in the use of silver lace or tape as opposed to buff wool lace used for the common soldier. All the lace must be hand sewn. Much of the garment is hand sewn as it is and is very time consuming. An example of a common soldier's coatee is shown below.
Background photo by Lydia Gerbig