About

Hello dear,

It's so lovely of you to stop by.
I wonder how you stumbled upon this little piece of the world?
Did you slip down the rabbit hole of knitting, embroidery, and antique dolls?
Or get blown in on the wind of box turtles, herb gardens, and butterflies?
However you got here, I am so so glad you did! Won't you have a cup of tea ~ I'm sure we have any type you could dream of.

I suppose now you are expecting some sort of introduction ~ I wish I could just tell you who I am and what this blog is about in a simple way...

   My name is Lucia. I like to make things. And to garden. I also have way too many books and pets.

But that seems like a very dull way to go about this, don't you agree? And it is not all together truthful, either - the dryness has taken all the whimsy and life out of it.
In any case, I am unfortunately rather terrible at explaining things in a short and simple way.
(It has taken me much longer then I would like to admit to write that short, simple, and extremely dull introduction in italics above).
And making plans stress me out, so lets go the more stream-of-thought, rambling way, shall we?

My mother says I was named Lucia after she saw the beautiful alter pieces of Santa Lucia in Italy, by my dad always joked I was actually named for the heroines in both La bohème and Lucia di Lammermoor... and they wonder where I got my slightly morbid sense of humor! 

 Marcella on the other hand isn't my name, but is in honor of my great-grandmother. We never got to meet, she died when my grandmother was just a few years old, and all we have of her are two old photos, a set of porcelain boxes that Marcella had given to her own mother, and her silver sewing thimble.

Marcella ~ It sounds like the name of a princess. I imagine her like Colin imagines his mother in the Secret Garden: Joyful and laughing. I think we would have gotten along swimmingly.

 I use her thimble from time to time when I am sewing up one of my wildly long skirts, or stitching together a newly dream't up doll, or just look at it when I drink a cup of tea and imagen the things it helped Marcella sew almost one~hundred years ago. But I always put it aside carefully when one of our strange menagerie demands attention - which, if I am honest, is quite often...

I have a whole host of autoimmune diseases we are still trying to figure out, but the abridged version is: Dysautonomia, POTS, Hashimoto's, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, along with quite a few *question marks* in there to still figure out.

After quite steadily going down hill health~wise over most of my teens and twenties, I am still figuring out how to live my life in a beautiful and joyful way, but have found five cats, a very large flock of rescued box turtles in the garden, constant knitting projects, a bedroom slowly but surely being turned into a library, a windowsill filled with plants, and plenty of tea and candlelight are very good medicine!

I also tend to constantly have some sort of research rabbit~hole I am exploring, and they are as varied as having to do with the differences in different types of catholic convents in the 14th century, the background of a certain Shakespeare play, the most common illnesses of Monarch butterflies, the writings of the Brontë sisters, or how to hybridize African Violets...

It is a bit chaotic here, but you are always so welcome to stop by ~ Just dodge the stacks of books, the spinning wheel, and the sleeping cats, and curl up for a nice long chat ~ the kettle is always on for a fresh pot of tea.