I learned about this lovely item to my left so long ago, that the Internet was still called the world wide web, lists were hosted at universities on listservs and there were no pictures. It is a rice bag.
It is the best heating pad ever invented (although I understand you can also freeze it as a cold compress). It is cheap, takes 2 minutes to sew up (this is a piece of an old sheet) , and if you heat it in the microwave for 2-3 min., it will be hot and moist for quite a while. I don't know what I did a couple of days ago to cause a stiff neck on my left side, but ouch! Feels like a pinched nerve. It's worse when I lie down, but I must admit I have been walking around moaning and groaning about it all day long. I was just too lazy to make a rice bag to replace the one that I threw out a couple of years ago because it was too grotty for words. Tonight, I caved because the usual neck stretching exercises have not worked.
Of course, the only rice I have is expensive Lundberg brown basmati rice and I wasn't about to waste THAT. So I used a combination of lentils, wheatberries, the tiny pinch of white rice left in the jar, chana dal, and barley. Works just fine although it doesn't smell as good as all rice. But I have been sitting here for 15 minutes and it only now cooling off. I know it's a temporary fix but it sure feels good.
Jessica arrived around 2:30 , so I spent all afternoon on the couch with her, chatting away. What a pleasure! Ditto, after dinner (with her feet up on a chair) while we had our coffee and the oatmeal cookies with the big pieces of secret ingredient in them. LOL.
Before she arrived, I started sewing the piece on the wall together. Of course, once you start sewing things together and trimming, they take on a life of their own and they rarely end up exactly as you had envisioned them. This piece is somewhere around 14' x 11" and is perfectly content to sit there and keep me company.
I have auditioned a couple of tweaks but at the moment, I am finding that big green segment strangely restful.
I need all the restful I can get because tomorrow, my other houseguests arrive.
Time to go reheat the rice-lentil-chana dal-barley-wheatberry bag. Maybe I should just call it the multigrain bag.
8 comments:
Didn't we all make those rice bags? I sure did and I still use them. The best! Hope your multi-grain version does its magic on your neck.
Hi Rayna
I like the first one a lot - the cruciform image creates a focal point and echoes the same shape appearing elsewhere. I like the third one too, but number one gets my vote. It is late Christmas Eve here in Oz - and it is HOT! But we are hoping for a storm front to come through and cool us down and bring some much needed rain to a drought and fire ravaged landscape. Thanks for sharing Rayna - I love following your creative process.
My fav is no 3, because it interrupts the green space without destroying it.
-- We fill such bags with cherry pits. I had to eat a lot of ch... no, I bought that bag.
Rayna, I'm so glad you do normal postings, I'm trying not to get swept away by the Xcraze. I have more important things on my mind!
Your folks are so much wiser.
I haven't made one of those bags, but my friend Joyce makes them using corn, and another friend, Wendy, has made them with flax seed! Guess any grain will do... Hope your neck is better soon... nothing worse than a pinched nerve!
Secret ingredient in oatmeal cookies?...reminds me of my Southern Humboldt days!
Whatever you're doing with those pieces of fabrics looks good to me. I think it's because there's a lot of green in the mix and I always go for pieces with green in them!
The rice bag sounds so like what my grandma used to make for us...we also used roasted wheat flour!! Excellent if you have a chest congestion..loosens up the phlegm...so we were told!!
I like the first green piece..you are right..the green is so soothing.
Happy Holidays!!
What a great idea for my generation especially! I know exactly what to make for my friends, who must have just as many aches and pains as I have.
I've just been lying on my rice bag. It's a dozen years old, and doesn't smell so good after the great oven fire. You reminded me that I need another longer one.
My friend added lavender to mine, and it smelled really good until the fire (after which kippered herring). What would sound like a good combination of exotic herbs and spices?
Post a Comment