I spent the last week sick in bed. It is not in my character to lie still or ask for help, but a severe ear infection developed into all sorts of other infections, followed by a viral infection a week later, and culminated in an allergic reaction to antibiotics after 14 days.

A friend reminded me last night, “Perhaps you just needed a week in bed?”

A week, perhaps, but two?

I am not a good patient and never have been. Honestly, I was miserable. However, I did find time to read magazines, watch an impressive list of movies that I have been trying to get to for over a year, and, in moments, just looked up at the ceiling.  I have to say that my daughter was a gem, brought me water, lay with me, and read books.

So today, for Sustainable Design Tuesday, all I can think of if that sometimes we just need to take a break, lie still, to keep going.  So, I offer you a little break and a couple of highlights from my two weeks (more or less) in captivity:

Selvedge Magazine never disappoints—and the May/June issue is no exception. I fell in love with a little story on page 9 about Tajika Haruo Ironworks, in Ono City, Japan that has been “producing handcrafted copper scissors and shears for over four generations since its founding in the Showa Period.”

Now, I love a good pair of scissors and try to keep one pair in each room.  We have the kitchen shears, children’s craft scissors, four different pairs of hair shears (since I am known for midnight hair chopping and need good tools),  paper scissors, embroidery scissors, and a few vintage pairs for no particular purpose—other that the fact that they are beautiful.

Selvedge sites Analogue Life as a source for the Tiajika scissors, and I briefly got lost there.

Look at the flower shears shown above and copper household scissors below:

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