Thoughts on 300 years

For mother's day this year, we went to a ghost forest.  It was my favorite kind of day.  Serendipetous, relaxing, interesting, and inspiring. 

This particular forest, now just a bunch of stumps on the tideflat, was a true forest 300 years ago.  An earthquake in the year 1700 lowered the shoreline in this area, drowning this little copse of trees and causing a tsunami across the ocean in Japan. 

Along with exploring the tidepools and the sea stacks and finding agates, I was able to sneak in a few stitches while leaning up against some driftwood. 

Start of Essamplaire reproduction sampler, "Aagie Jans, 1732".  Stitched with substitute DMC colors on 40 ct linen.

The choice of pattern seemed appropriate--it's also about 300 years old-- a reproduction sampler from a girl from the Netherlands named Aagie Jans, who stitched the original in 1732.  Aagie lived on the isle of Marken, famous for its boldly-colored and heavily patterned samplers, filled with geometric and nautical motifs.  As you see, I'm not too far along yet, but astute readers have probably figured out why my stitching-related posts have become so scant.  Such is life, filled with big and small earthquakes.