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Wednesday 18 February 2015

February TUSAL of Time Travel

Tusal

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

Here is my ORTS jar posing with the current stitching project:

And here is a close-up of the first completed block:


The project is Primitive Hare's Hallowe'en Cubes.  The plan is to stitch one per month until Hallowe'en.  There is a lot of black as you can see so it's a good thing I bought that cone of 310.

Becca from Finding Flapjack has come up with a great idea for blogging prompts.  Here is the current one:

If you could travel back to any time in the past, what date would you choose and why? Would you attempt to influence past events while you were there? Why or why not?

I had a good think about this and strangely enough my thoughts were on the same lines as Becca.  Not of returning to an historical event but of going back to a point in my own life and making a change there.  She even referenced a favourite film - The Butterfly Effect.

Hubby and I watched this film on DVD.  The plot is a man going back in time to try put things right in his life and in his friends' lives.  However he makes things worse instead of better.  We enjoyed the film and when it came on TV we sat down to watch it again.  As it neared the end we became more puzzled.  This was NOT how we remembered it.  The film had a totally different ending!  This made us wonder "what if this film is different every time you watch it?"  How freaky would that be?

I also thought about those "Sliding Doors" moments when one little action or event changes your entire life.  I had one of those in 2001 actually involving a late running train.  My train being late set a chain of events in motion which led to the birth of the Large Boy in 2002.  If only Anglia Railways knew their power!

When I first got together with my husband we knew a lot of the same people (it's a small town!).  I was going through my photo album from my teenage years and showed him a photo of a group of us who had been fundraising.  And there, right at the back, barely visible was my husband!  If only we had known!  Our lives would certainly have been very different.  We would probably have about eight children rather than the current two LOL.

We met again about ten years later at an event my ex-husband was hosting, I was helping and hubby-to-be was the sound and light engineer.  Apparently he was very impressed by my organisational skills, my hostessing, my professionalism and my elegant red dress!  I wonder what would have happened if we had run off together that night?  Apart from getting a very different review in The Stage newspaper!

In reality it took a further ten years for us to meet again as single people and get together once and for all.

Returning to the historical point of view, I would love to go back and find out the truth behind the King Arthur legends.  I have been fascinated by these stories for so long and have read many different versions. Was he a Roman or a Celt?  Was Guenivere good or bad?  Christian or Pagan?  Did Lancelot actually exist or was he a later invention?  Merlin and the Lady of the Lake also fascinate me.  It would be amazing to sit with the people who first wrote down the legends and find out the truth.

And to tie in with my stitching, here is one project I would go back and change - stitch it on evenweave and not aida!   How great would this look on a hand-dyed evenweave?



How about you?  Would you change something in your past?  Or would you rather visit an historical event?

Finally, thanks to everyone who took part in the recent Valentine Blog Hop and also linked up for Gifted Gorgeousness.  I believe all the Secret Sweethearts have now been revealed.  If not, then the links are up so you can still find out where your stitching went.  The next Blog Hop will be the Easter Treasure Hunt.  So prepare your bunnies for that one.





20 comments:

Kaisievic said...

A very thoughtful post, Jo, I would love to go back to the Middle Ages to experience first hand what life was like then but only for a few hours at a time, I think! I, too, can think of a number of sliding doors moments in my life, sometimes I wonder, what if?

Linda said...

I loved reading your story Jo. How very interesting. Your stitching looks great as does the dragon.

Do you have any idea as to how I can fix this comment problem that I'm having.

Linda

Bea said...

Nice collection of ORTs - that looks like a fun Hallowe'en project. I would love to go back to Biblical times and see what was happening with my own eyes. But only to observe - who knows what you would alter through the generations if you changed something.

Vickie said...

Wow! That is a lot of food for thought today. How neat to have a picture of your husband and not even knowing it!

Carla - Alaska Wolf Pack said...

Interesting! Serendipity is a splendid thing sometimes :D Again, I'm totally in on the Easter Hop. I don't think I care if someone stitched The Castle on Aida or burlap sack...it's still awesome!

Caitlin D said...

Lovely ORTs. The dragon looks great too even if he isn't on evenweave. Honestly the saying "hindsight is 20/20" is very apropos for this topic I believe.

rosey175 said...

I was tempted by Becca's writing prompt too, but the more I thought about it, the moment that stuck out the most for me was just too sad for me to bring up.

I love how your husband was always there, waiting in the darkness to pounce ahaha. :D

Kate said...

Great orts, Jo :-) And what an interesting thought. I don't think I'd change anything in my past if I could because, hindsight being 20/20, I can see how all the events in my past have led to my current life. I like your thoughts on King Arthur; that's always fascinated me, too. And your finish is beautiful no matter what fabric you used!

Merlynn said...

Your story makes me think of mine.
2007, there was a party somewhere in my small town for the college graduates. All night I was looking at this cute guy at the music, but i was too shy to say hello. Never saw him again.
2009, stalking the picture of one of my friend on facebook. One particuarily catch my attention, 5 guys at the beach. Looked at one of them and think : my god, he is soooo cute. Click on the name. Saw he was studying in some university 6 hours from my house. Forgot about him.
2012, got into Montreal the biggest city of my province (state). Went to some university party. Met a cute guy who came from the same town as me. Never met him before, how strange? Told me he went to some other university in another city. That night he had to go home early. Forgot about him, chances to met him again were low.
Some months later, met that guy at school. Added him on Facebook. Stalked the picture. Saw THAT picture of the 5 guys at the beach. Was it him, really?
2014, living together since 2012. Him talking about Martingale, a math process. Me saying : Omg, went to the college party in 2007 at some place called Martingale !
Him : Aww me, too. I was the music guy.

Yes, it was him, since the beginning.
Would I change something in my life ? Never :)

(Okay, I'm lying. I would have spent less when living at my parents house, when life didn't cost a cent. And maybe worked more at college to have better grades and maybe receive grants lol)


findingflapjack said...

I wrote a reply last night but something went wrong... glad I came back though as there are so many interesting stories in the comments! That's a really good idea to go back and see some of legends happening in real life, I hadn't thought of that but it would be fun to see how much of the stories are really true!

Lili said...

Lovely progress on the halloween cubes.
The dragon is beautiful, aida was very popular years ago....

That movie have two different endings. Your story is beautiful!!
My answer to both questions is no. :)

Happy stitching,
Lili

Christine said...

Lovely stitching Jo. I'd love to be able to go back to mediaeval times, but probably not to stay, I think I'm a bit too spoiled with 21st century sanitation.
My sliding doors story is about friends of mine. I'd gone up to London for the afternoon/evening (I lived in Maidenhead at the time) as I was doing a course related to work, and met up with my friend at the University union afterwards for a pint (he was doing post-grad work at one of the London colleges).
Time came to leave and get my train home and I was crossing the zebra crossing outside the union and a motorbike had to pull up to let me cross, and this female voice screams my name. When I turned around the biker was an old school friend whom I'd lost touch with a couple of years before. (Bear in mind that this is London and I went to school in Tyne & Wear). Anyway, much as I would have loved to stop and catch up with her I reluctantly point out that I have to go or I'll miss the train, to which she responds that she lives literally 100 yards round the corner and I can stay with her and get an early train the next morning. So I say OK I'd love that, but first why doesn't she come into the union and meet my friend...
They've been married for about 30 years now

Mii Stitch said...

I really enjoyed this post & all the comments too.
There is only one thing I would do if I could go back in time... save my little baby sister from a tragic domestic accident. She would still be here with us today & would have save so much heartache in our family xxxx

Julie said...

Very interesting post. DH and I visited Glastonbury Abbey and saw the graves that are supposed to be Arthur and Guienevere.

Leonore Winterer said...

Nice ORTs collection, and nice progress, too - looks like you almost caught up to that one block a month thing :)

I don't htink I'd change anything about my life...I'm to scared that changing one thing might result und messing up something else, and I wouldn't get where I am now in the end. But other than that, and as just an observer, I'd love to visit some different points in the past...I'd love to see what my boyfriend was like as a child; or to get to know my grandma's grandma, and of course all the usual things like experiencing middle ages and times like that :)

Sarah in Stitches said...

So interesting! I really enjoyed reading this post. I often think about that - I regret a few things that have happened in my past, as I'm sure everyone does, but I wonder if I changed them would I be the same person I am right now, with the same life I have right now? I like the life I have, so I wouldn't want it to change. It's a conundrum... :D

Justine said...

Hmm interesting! I would like to go back to December 2008 when I had post-natal depression, a 6 month old baby and found out I was expecting another. I would give myself a hug, and tell me that I'm doing a great job and it will all get easier... But I wouldn't change anything.

Joysze said...

Jo!!!! I so enjoyed your story about you and hubby!! Serendipity and all that. There's this movie that's titled that that drove me up the wall watching it. LOL.

I don't know what I would change.... maybe doing Computer Science instead of Music in school.... LOL

Anonymous said...

Jo.. love the time travel tales.. and I love your stitching choices.. Sliding door is one of my favorite movie... :D if I can change.. I think I may have entered myself to an Art school instead of doing science subjects.. heehee then maybe I've been more daring to try more arty things earlier in life.. oh well.. not complaining cos I'm loving what I have now too.

Brigitte said...

Hmmm, time travelling, a very tempting thought. But no, if I am honest I wouldn't like to travel back and change my decisions. OH but wait, just one - I would like to shift back the beginning of my cross stitch journey, lol.