Art Comes In Many Forms

I've been growing my soul quite a bit for the last year or so making quilts and crafty things.  Some people make jewelry, some people can knit up a storm, some can paint beautiful pictures and some can carve the most wonderful gourds. There's just an unlimited number of things to do that people call ART.  I've never been much of an "art" person ... I think you have to be born with that talent and since we were so far out in the boon tullies when I was a kid, it passed me by!!

In my family, sewing was pretty much mandatory for the women.  My grandmother and mom made all our clothes ... at least all MY clothes anyway.  I never thought of it as art, I just thought my grandmother made me new p.j.'s.   When I asked her to show me how to sew, she sat me down on her machine with some scraps and I went to town.

Here I am 60-something years later, and I still have a pile of scraps I'm sewing, just like I did when I first started.  This pile will become a queen size quilt some time down the road.  I've been sewing these pieces together for a week now and still have a long way to go.  Funny ... I never thought of it as ART.

To me, ART is knowing how to operate this tractor pulling a 24 foot plow across the field.  I ALWAYS wanted to be outside.  Inside didn't impress me at all!!  Finally, when I was maybe 14 years old, my dad showed me how to drive our little D4 Caterpillar, pulling a 12 foot disc across an old hay field.  I left the sewing behind pretty quickly and was in seventh heaven, sitting on that dusty, dirty, greasy tractor all day long, making sure my disc lines were perfectly straight!!

Later on when we were growing rice, I would sit and watch the tractor drivers with envy.  They were operating D9's ... HUGE tractors pulling even bigger plows.  When I got up enough nerve to ask if I could operate one, my dad laughed and said I'd be stuck in the mud in an hour.  I persisted and whined until he finally pulled a driver off, showed me the controls and drove away.

It was the best time EVER!!!  Running that huge piece of equipment across the field, listening to the diesel engine constantly for the lowering of RPM's, which meant you were in wetter soil with the chance of getting stuck.  Using hydraulics, I would lift the disc just enough to hear the RPM's raise back up to normal, letting it down as I passed the muddy area.  Now THAT'S ART in my book!!  I drove that tractor all day and NEVER got stuck.

I was so happy and proud that I didn't want to get off when the sun went down, but all good things must come to an end, as did my tractor driving career.  My dad never did admit that I had a knack for heavy equipment and that I didn't get stuck in the mud.  In those days, women weren't allowed to drive heavy equipment OR big trucks.  So now you know why I'm so happy driving a big rig down the highway ... it's an ART ... just like driving that Caterpillar and sewing that quilt!!