überlegen – to think, consider, ponder, deliberate
For centuries women have done needlework. It was a necessary skill, it was an accomplishment, it was a chance to appear to be active while giving ones mind free reign to consider, to think.
Calm, slow, careful stitches gave the appearance of activity, skill and usefulness, but the mind was free to think, to be quiet, to wander...
An unbroken thread of women, stitching quietly, their minds pondering, considering, thinking, deliberating...for ages and ages.
