with sadness: honoring kathreen ricketson

There are turns of event so awful, I can't even.
One of my all time favorite books, James and the Giant Peach starts with James orphaned, when an escaped rhino eats his parents while in London, on holiday from their happy seaside cottage home.
These things don't happen in real life.
 
But it did.
Kathreen Ricketson, the artist/blogger and creative spirit of whipup.net and her husband left behind their two children. They were on a yearlong family trip/adventure. The kind of thing I dreamed of doing, but only managed to pull off in bits and bites. Kathreen did it, for real. I think this says who Kathreen Ricketson was: she walked the talk.  
More details of this tragedy here and here.

A fund for their children has been established,  info here. Ann & Kay at Mason Dixon Knitting have asked folks to mention their favorite whipup post, and please do go over to their site to see the links. 

As for me,  I started reading whipup early on, and for a long while, I didn't realize it was Australian based. I was hoping to meet Kathreen for coffee,  till she pointed out the geographical challenge. It also meant we couldn't profile her in Craft Activism, my book in which she surely belonged, for her belief in the power of a handmade lifestyle.

I was moved to action by many of her posts: to make things, to read books and essays, to look into a new idea. Whipup isn't one of those " ooh look at me, I am so special" lifestyle websites. It is generous and thoughtful and helpful. Of course I adored the review she posted of Shear Spirit early on and the one that reviewed WearwithAll this year. And I loved when she did link roundups, like this one for crocheted afghans. Those take time, and are so generous, and not flashy and support the community.

I hope we who enjoyed her work can pay it forward. And, give our kids an extra hug.