And On We Go...

The conference registration is ticking along (we'd love to see more people sign up - it's gonna be a time!) and it is time to lift my head up out of that particular deep well and start looking beyond mid-June and to what comes next.

Now that I'm beginning to feel better - for however long that lasts - I am looking forward to possibly teaching at Olds Fibre Week (to be confirmed - or not - depends on registration - as do all events, including the conference).  Fibre Week has been moved to July which means that if I'm there I will be celebrating my birthday with fibre friends. 

In August I'm booked to teach level two and one (in that order) at the Yadkin Arts Centre which is in North Carolina, then back to the John C. Campbell Folk School in September.

In the meantime there is marking from last years students to be done.  There is a flock of boxes en route so I will be checking the mail box daily to make sure I grab them as they arrive.  I will mark in order of arrival.

Feedback from students is that level one is challenging but the lessons learned are significant.  If anyone is thinking of doing the program, consider the fact that it is a college level certificate course and that with the increase in satellite programming you can take it on either coast now.  This year level one was presented on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver, level two is scheduled at Tenino, WA (near Olympia), Cape Breton is offering levels 1-3, North Carolina is offering all four levels in August and of course, at Olds, AB during Fibre Week.  Even if you only ever take level one, you will learn a lot of stuff - things that don't normally get addressed in workshops because there just isn't time.  (If you can't take the program, I suggest my book which covers some of the curriculum - it's why I love teaching level one because I've been preaching this level of knowledge for years and finally got it down on paper...)

The other advantage of a core curriculum is that students can move from campus to campus - for example the level one class here launched a couple of people over to Olds for level two.  Level one at Olds launched someone over to Cape Breton and to Yadkin.  And so on. 

Here, spring is coming along with all the rites of spring - the woodpecker hammering away on the metal cover of the street lamp, the dust advisories, the flooded streets.  Spring Break Up - the season that lasts too long...