Hummingbird

When I visited my sister Eleanore last month, we had a rambling conversation that included some childhood memories. We talked a bit about how difficult is was to relate to our dad. He was ... intimidating.

She asked me, 'Do you know who helped me?" I shook my head no. "Fr. Joe. He had a difficult Italian father, too. He helped me understand Dad a little more."

Fr. Joe was a young new priest at our parish. I remember him giving good homilies during Mass. He was cute and most of the girls in the parish swooned over him a bit. He was really good with the teens. As I remember it, Fr. Joe left the parish, and then the Church, with some scandalous stories that followed him out the door. 

A few years ago I learned that he'd written an autobiography called, Confessions of a Roaming Catholic Priest: an Autobiographical Thriller. It's out of print, of course. It pops up on Amazon as a used book now and again. I hadn't bought it because I wasn't sure if I'd read a print book (I've gone primarily digital), and didn't want to spring the 20 bucks for a book if it was going to languish on my shelf.

But after talking to Eleanore, I decided to purchase it. I read it before passing it on to my sister. It's not bad. It's fairly well written and has a decent storyline about how Fr. Joe became a drug smuggler. He wasn't very good at it, and got caught. He spent some time in prison. Much of the book is about the friendships he built and his experimentation with various drugs during his initial travels after giving up the priesthood. The rest of the book concerns the men he met in prison and how the inmates helped each other on their spiritual paths. I can recommend this read.

Another part of my conversation with my sister was about how we feel our loved ones who have passed on. Eleanore told me that her sign of Jerry is a hummingbird. She has some that visit in her backyard.

So I decided to stitch a bookmark as a gift to go along with Fr. Joe's book.

I'm not exactly sure of the name of the chart or designer. The pamphlet just says, "Hummingbird Chart." It was a freebie chart that came with an order I received from The Needleworker, which was a quarterly cross-stitch magazine back in the 90s. The style of this pattern is reminiscent of Just Nan designs.

I kept the chart all these decades because I liked the bird and the flowers that formed a sweet heart shape. And you know how I like my hearts.

The pattern is nearly too big for a proper bookmark, but I made it work. I stitched it on a 32ct linen scrap, finishing the edges with a nun's stitch and fringe.

I can't believe how out of practice I am with stitching now! I sure do like the results.