Here is the next of the beautiful, inspiring, special contributions coming in to the #MandalasForMarinke remembrance project. I am grateful for each and every amazing contribution. You are invited to join; learn more here.
Beautiful Crochet Mandalas
These two crochet mandalas were contributed anonymously. They are each made using Wink’s standard crochet mandala pattern. I love how they seem to match each other so well even though they don’t use a lot of the same colors. The light green, white, light pink and blue that is in each of them is just enough to tie them together so that they reference one another.
Words by Wink
Sometimes we don’t notice the beautiful things that are right around us. Wink shared an experience of this in September 2013, writing:
“My good friend and I went to visit Kampen, a place where we both used to live when we were in college. It’s a little town near the river IJssel, which is a branch of the Rhine. We both brought our cameras and we went to the city’s park, to see if Autumn was already upon us. I can’t believe I used to live right across from this wonderful park, and I never even visited it before!”
About Depression
One purpose of this project is to raise awareness about depression so each post will end with some facts, thoughts or quotes about depression, suicide and/or mental health.
Did you know that depression is relatively common during pregnancy and shortly afterwards? Screening is recommended to help mothers-to-be cope with this. Michelle Andrews writes:
“One in seven women experience depression during pregnancy or the first year after giving birth, yet many may not realize it or report their concerns to clinicians. A new proposal by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force could help change that. It recommends that all women who are pregnant or within a year of giving birth be screened for perinatal depression, as it’s called.”
An article on Living with Depression during Pregnancy says:
“Because of hormonal changes during pregnancy, a woman may not realize that she is suffering from depression. At first, depression may not seem different from the anxiety, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and many other symptoms that are typical of pregnancy. However, when a woman is depressed these symptoms are more frequent and severe. If she is depressed, the symptoms last for more than two weeks and prevent the woman from anticipating the joy of bringing a new life into the world. She may also experience other symptoms that are clearly associated with depression such as persistent sadness, feelings of worthlessness or thoughts of suicide.”
All contributions to Mandalas for Marinke are welcome and will help raise awareness about depression while honoring her work in the same way that this great contribution has done today. Details to join here.
It is a coincidence for me to read that out of all the parks Wink could have enjoyed, she enjoyed the one in Kampen. As a child, I visited relatives who lived in Kampen and the park along the river is a nice place. I would feed the ducks and swans and clearly remember them trying to eat -me- when we ran out of food for them. Kampen is a mediaeval walled town with stone gates into the old parts and it has its own distinctive traditional costumes. The history dates back to at least the 1300s or earlier. I don’t know if any parts of the city walls are still standing as I was too young to really remember a lot of my visits there.
It saddens me to think that Wink can no longer enjoy the river scenery or the countryside of the region. She had so much of life to live.
How amazing that you know this place. Thanks so much for sharing the memory of it!!