HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PINK SATURDAY!!!

In honor of Pink Saturday's Third Birthday, I offer a pair of pairs, which brought me a pair of friends.

These little ovals hang beside the living-room dresser, in a narrow space that had awaited them for a long time.   They are made of exquisitely-tiny stitches, their pale pinks and blues and courtly stance lending an air of their own time to the setting.

The pair of pictures, needlepoint and petit point, were for sale in a lovely booth far, far away---I look in on the inaccessible sales with a longing eye, and this one was posted on my friend Jeanne’s blog Backyard Neighbor last year, from her two sisters’ booth at a big sale.    I spotted the sweet little pictures, just minuscule in the picture, on the back wall of the booth, amongst the heavenly treasures they had gathered from all over their part of the country.   In a comment on Jeanne’s blog, Backyard Neighbor, I simply said, “Are those needlework, and are they for sale?”

She immediately replied yes, and yes, and after I approved the price, she insisted on sending them on to me, with a “You can send me a check after you get them,” sort of sweet trust and friendliness which was doubly touching for its rarity today.   And so we did.   They arrived (with a scrumptious bit of lagniappe in the box---a set of exquisite tea towels embroidered in pale pastels on fabric as dainty as a christening gown.   I cannot bear to use them, so they  warrant only the hanging from a drawer in the linen-press, for best display).   I loved the pictures, sent her check, and they stayed to live with us, brightening that spot with the beautiful elegance of another day.

Look at that chiseled chin, those nipped waists, that frivolously-perched hat---aren’t those just the perfect depiction of things we wish we remembered---the best and brightest memories of another time? 

The clothes and the pose say afternoon stroll, but they're equally at home in their own accustomed candlelight----three, I think, for they must be glowing on a beautiful Pink Birthday Cake: 



That pleasant transaction was much more than a sale; it was the establishing and foundation for a lovely friendship, built on kindness and trust and admiration---I’ve come to know Jeanne as a wonderful friend and far-away compadre, with the exchange of mere hellos and recipes and pictures of grandchildren, and the uplifting and buoying of each other’s spirits through correspondence and comments.

Through Jeanne, I met Beverly, of How Sweet the Sound, and thus the opening of Dorothy’s door into the luminous weekly world of Pink Saturday.    It’s a fairy-tale adventure, week after week, with displays of creations-by-the-hands of the bloggers, or marvelous acquisitions, or their own gardens, their family heirlooms, or their proud pink ribbons testifying their valiant battles and victories.    I cannot do justice to the community spirit and the gratifying camaraderie kindled by this bright spot on the Internet.  

Today is Pink Saturday’s THIRD BIRTHDAY, and I raise a toast in Pink Champagne:   Best Wishes and a happy Thank You for this wonderful, welcoming place!

rachel