Molehills and Mountains

 

heap of final pressing to be done on the recently hemmed towels

I'm nearly caught up on the hemming but there is another bin of towels ready to be pressed after having made the trip through the washer/dryer yesterday.  

And now I have this mountain of hemmed towels that need their final press.  I confess I have mailed a couple from this basket without their final press.

As I continue to sink into 'retirement' and accept the fact that I simply do not have the energy I used to have, I am having to re-order my days, conserve my energy for the things that are 'important' and let go of the things that are less so.

Housekeeping has never been high on my list of 'important' things, and I confess that during the past three years I have had even less desire or energy to deal with it.  

So now my house (never high on the 'neat and tidy' scale) is even more of a disaster.  And I cannot dredge up the guilt or shame that would have driven me 10-20 years ago to deal with it.

Instead I focus on working down my stash - one way or another.  I concentrate on keeping my brain active by thinking and writing about weaving.  If my time left on this plane is limited (for surely I have hit my 'senior' years) then what do I want to spend my time doing?  Washing floors?  Dusting?  

Who will care about any of that when I am gone?  

So I am working on weaving, thinking about weaving, writing about weaving.  Because it is those things that will linger on after I am gone.  My thoughts may even last longer than the textiles I make.  Goodness knows there are books written in the 1940s, 50s and 60s still in use today.  Perhaps mine will last that long?  

But even if they don't, I won't be remembered for my clean and tidy house...

Today we have pseudo spring, which is supposed to last the week.  What comes then, no one really knows.  It is far too early for real spring, so it looks like we are going to have messy dirty conditions outside for weeks, maybe months?  

That makes the coming months a very Good Time to stay in and get to the loom.  And hopefully the desktop.  To try and order my thoughts.  Scrape more hints and tips out of my brain onto the 'page'.

I don't know that I can finish the essay collection by the end of this year, but I'm going to see what happens.  Sometimes, once my thoughts are in order (as much order as my brain can achieve) the words just flow.

So - to be determined.

In the meantime, I keep weaving.  I keep wet finishing.  Hemming.  Final pressing.  Building more piles of tea towels on the shelves, ready for the guild booth at the Gourmet Fair in the 'real' spring, and the craft fair in November.  The guild members are happy to have my things in the booth, and I'm happy to see the commission go to the guild while they deal with the public.  It's a win-win.  And I can keep making more knowing that they will benefit, too.