On Deadlines

 

'Retirement' means a re-ordering, a shifting in priorities.  Retiring right before a pandemic was, in hindsight, a very good thing to do.  Having purposefully not crammed my calendar full of opportunities to earn money, I had instead taken a step back and not booked very much of anything.  No craft fairs, no guild teaching.  So when events started to be cancelled, it didn't affect me much at all - because I had booked very little.

'Retiring' comes in many flavours.  One person I know was going to retire from working in April.  Her big goal in retirement was to travel.  With the pandemic, that was not possible, so she didn't.  I spent most of the summer just doing what I had set out to do - try to weave down my yarn stash.

By the end of this year I will have used up, as much as I can, the 2/16 cotton.  The shelving unit that had been full to bursting - with more yarn in boxes - is now showing large gaps on the shelves.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not out of yarn!  For the 2/16, there is enough yarn left for at least 3 more warps.  Maybe four if I decide to work with those reds and oranges.  I think I've come up with something bright and cheerful and which will use up some of that yarn.  But I'm low enough on the reds that I might do a 15 yard long warp, not 20.

My calendar for November is fairly full, given my level of energy these days (not much) and I am pleased to say that day one of the guild sale went reasonably well.  Whether or not that will continue over the course of the 6 weeks, no one can tell.

As for the seminar series, registration has begun.  I am hoping to see more as the first one nears.  There has been a great deal of distraction with elections and politics.  In many ways society needs to do better.  So much better.  

And of course, the pandemic.  What an 'interesting' year it has been - with more to come.

Next year looks to be more of the 'same' - political unrest, pandemic measures.  I will continue to stay home as much as possible.  Wear a mask when I go out.  Weave down my stash.

The current warp is taking longer than I hoped to get off the loom, in part because of the guild sale, but also needing to get ready for my Zoom presentation on Nov. 19 and a few boxes of Olds homework have come in.  Several students asked for extensions and they are now getting their boxes to me.  I'm pleased so see them come.

It is also time to go in to the cancer clinic for a check to see how I'm doing with that little challenge.  While not expecting anything dire, I wasn't expecting the diagnosis in 2011 in the first place, so...

But as for deadlines, most of them these days are 'soft' or self-imposed.  I decided to do the guild program because I could do it from home.  But it has meant dealing with technology.  Today I'll do a practice Zoom run, try to figure out how it all works.  It will also give me a chance to know ahead of time what our speakers will be dealing with for the seminar series.  That way I can maybe anticipate what they will need from me/us.  

I also agreed to do something for another guild in the spring.  I need to sort out details for that - date, times, numbers.  

But my appetite for elephants is waning.  My energy is thin.  My self-imposed and accepted deadlines will become more flexible in the future, I think.  The number of plates I can keep spinning diminishes every year.  So I am easing into 'retirement', choosing smaller elephants.  Chomp, chomp.

Currently reading Song for a Dark Time by Ian Rankin