Charting New Paths

 

The sap is rising, spring arrives, and with it?  Hope.  Hope for better days ahead.

When you live in the 'north' (and truly we aren't all that far north) you notice the change of seasons.  The sun moves and daylight hours become longer, the earth stirs with new growth.  This time, *this* time, things will be different.  They will be 'better'.  Or at least - we hope.

I've been pretty open on this blog about my health issues.  I started it in direct response to recovery from cardiac blockages, assuming all was well and there would be nothing but smooth sailing ahead.

Yeah, about that...see above diagram.

So I set off to Vancouver with high hopes on the one hand, and dread that I would be disappointed - again.

The jury is out as my body processes the treatment and I come to grips with a few details.  Because bodies are never simple, or easy, and I'm not 20 something anymore, either.

On the whole, it was worth going down to see the doctor and have the procedure done while I sort out how to make my body more comfortable while still carrying on with plans set in motion last year.

I had a great meeting with the SOS team and we have an action plan in place.  We are polishing up the next presentation on May 4 (info to come).  There are still some details to take care of but sometimes meeting in person is just so much faster than trying to deal with things on line.  And since I was down there it seemed wise to get together.

I came home with new yarns to sample (yes, I do still sample!) and will need to begin crafting the filming schedule for the two new classes that we'll do in October.  Dates have been set and will be entered in my calendar.  And I will need to get better organized.  I'm hoping that with a reduction in pain I will have more brain power.  (It felt very affirming when the doctor observed that chronic pain is exhausting - yes, yes it is.)

There are still about 6 or 7 towels worth of warp on the Megado and I need to get those off and the next warp on so I can keep plugging away at the 2/16 stash reduction.  I need to crunch numbers for the samples that need to be woven.  I need to design several projects to go with the two classes we are filming in October.  It would help if I could locate my lace samples - so very carefully put away I can't find them.  Oh well, they are in the studio somewhere.  I just haven't had a lot of brain power for the past three months.  Hopefully that will improve now.  And I still have some time to locate them, with a deep dive required in order to teach the Olds level one in June - covid willing.

One of the challenges with filming how to do a craft is that doing that craft takes time.  So part of my job will be working out how best to approach that (given my focus on efficiency!) so we get the most information within the shortest possible time.  It will mean preparation done before I arrive so that we can jump into the filming, then a willingness to film out of sequence in some cases.  Which then makes the editing challenging!  But the team worked well for the last two classes and we should be able to make the next two work as well.

Today I'll begin sorting things out in my mind and then - when I think I've got a workable plan - I'll start writing it all down.  I do a lot of my planning in my head as I sort through options, line them up, re-order them, re-examine them, reject them, think of something else and shuffle things around and around.  Sort of how I design my textiles.  :D

The sun is shining today and spring has arrived.  I'm feeling hopeful.