Meet Venus & assorted updates

Well, it has been a busy, busy Spring. I spent the day before Mother's (or Mothers' Day) being muddy, wet, and cold at Cylburn Arboretum's Market Day. It's a lovely event, however the weather did not cooperate. At least I did not get sun stroke.

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous, and spent it in Rockville, Maryland. (Yes, it's the same Rockville, at least according to wikipedia, as in that R.E.M. song (Don't Go Back to) Rockville. And, now try getting that out of your head.

I was a vendor in the little, new Green Expo section of the city's Hometown Holidays, which marked its 20th year this weekend. Loads of people, loads of dogs, loads of food and music. As usual, I had fantastic neighbors, including Community Forklift, best described as a cross between Home Depot and Goodwill.

As always, I met some really fantastic Rockvillians and some other Montgomery County denizens. And, sold a few bags and scarves, which never, ever hurts. I certainly hope that the new Green Expo isn't a one-time deal, since I look forward to being there next year. Perhaps you'll be able to join me.

And, now for a massive change in subject:

I want to introduce you to Venus. Once you see my new employee (she is signing up for Mannequins and Inanimate Models local 6332 any day now!) who will model Three Stone Steps' bags. For those of you who cannot join me at live events, or get to one of Three Stone Steps' many fine retailers, Venus should assist you with getting a good sense of bag sizes and styles.

Here we go:


<----Venus (ok, I know the name is a bit too obvious) is modeling the Fellini Pannolini Bag. While Venus is about six feet tall and a size 2 (don't get jealous, she doesn't have any hair or arms, so there!) so keep that in mind when figuring out how the bag would look on a more normally sized person.


On this side------------------------------------------>
Venus is showing off the Mingus Flat Cross Body Bag.
You can see just how stylin' she is in this, and you can be stylin' too.

Again, these bags should be up and on the Three Stone Steps site in the next few weeks. They will also be at retailers from Alaska to Washington (the state and ournationscapital) in the next few weeks as well.

In the meantime, I will be spending this coming weekend at the Charles Village Festival in Baltimore. And, I'm giving Venus the day off. If you're in the area, please come by and say 'hi.'

Mothers' Day/Mother's Day

Ah, the apostrophe! Where would we be without it?

In my never ending quest to blog about holidays, I found Mothers' Day (with the apostrophe after the "s" ) to be much more to my liking. It's a communal thing: you know, collective action versus taking your mother out to brunch with free flowing mimosas and signing your name to a Hallmark card.

As with most things, there's some great background here, background that those marking Mother's Day eating out and shopping tend to forget. This first little bit is minimally edited from a website on West Virginia culture:


It started with Ann Marie Jarvis who organized a series of Mothers' Day Work Clubs in West Virginia to improve health and sanitary conditions. Among other services, the clubs raised money for medicine, hired women to work for families in which the mothers suffered from tuberculosis, and inspected bottled milk and food. In 1860, local doctors supported the formation of clubs in other towns.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made a county in West Virginia a strategic site during the Civil War. Ann Jarvis urged the Mothers' Day Work Clubs to declare their neutrality and provide relief to both Union and Confederate soldiers. The clubs treated the wounded and regularly fed and clothed soldiers stationed in the area. Jarvis also managed to preserve an element of peace in a community being torn apart by political differences. During the war, she worked tirelessly despite the personal tragedy of losing four of her children to disease. In all, eight of her twelve children died before reaching adulthood.

But, that's not all. Julia Ward Howell, of Battle Hymn of the Republic fame, as well as an advocate for suffrage and a pacifist also envision Mothers' Day as an "s" apostrophe holiday. In fact, she wrote a poetic proclamation:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

How the holiday morphed from one promoting the great and general interests of peace to one promoting (unfairly traded) floral bouquets and canned sentiment is far beyond the scope of this blog, and perhaps my somewhat rusty research skills. But, with that said, Happy Mothers' Day to all!