Under Pressure

 Under Pressure

To be alive is to be 'stressed' in some way.

Stress is generally portrayed as being 'negative' or 'bad', as is tension.  But over the years I have learned that tension, particularly in weaving, can be a force for 'positive' outcomes.  The trick is to get the balance juuuuuuuuust right.

I have a tendency to go plunging into the deep end of the pool.  Repeatedly.  As I said in a previous blogpost, publishing this book isn't my first ro-day-o.

It is the same with 'pressure'.  

Unfortunately, getting that 'balance' just right is a tricksy thing.  Then when Life loads up the lemon cannon and starts taking potshots at you, things can get down right...interesting...as in the curse 'may you live in interesting times'.  Which sounds pretty innocuous until you start to think about what constitutes 'interesting'.

At times I would mentally see myself as that weighted punching 'bag' my brother got when he was little.  It was a clown and when you smacked it on the nose it would fall over, but the weight in the base would work with gravity and it would right itself, ready for the next smack on the nose.  The down side of getting older is that I have less energy or interest, for that matter, in wading back into the fray.

OTOH, there is still a part of me that wants to do things.  Inevitably those things require me picking myself up, dusting myself off and doing just that - wading back into the fray to see what fresh hell Life is going to lob at me.

I will meet with my editor today at some point - a last consult before we hit the highway tomorrow.  While I will be available via email or text/messenger, that will largely be at the whim of internet access along a very long highway with little connectivity.  

This trip is necessary, not just for me but for Doug who is also going to have a minor medical procedure done.  Plus a side trip that was delayed due to Covid but pretty much has to happen now or not at all.  Plus another side trip as we head home, to visit with family not seen since before Covid.  We are *all* getting older and who knows when there will be another opportunity.

It looks like the weather is going to be hot and dry.  Preferable to cold and wet, but the downside of that is that the risk of wildfires will grow as the bush dries out further.

So, we are bringing N95s with us, not just for covid, but in case of severe wildfire smoke.  And hoping that things stay calm until we get home.  Because this summer has the potential to be brutal if the bush catches fire in any further significant way.  So far the worst fires have been in the north east of the province, but it wouldn't take much for the southern part to go up in flames, too.

Climate change.  It may not be responsible for the fires, but it is responsible for the increasingly devastating growth in spread and degree of destruction.  And of course, the more the bush burns, the more carbon is being released into the atmosphere.

I'm hoping that the majority of the 'work' on the ms is under control and when I get home all that I will have to do is weave some, do some marketing, and prepare for the zoom on July 9.  The pre-publication offer will be available until midnight Pacific time zone July 4, 2023.  Once the books arrive, they will be shipped out as quickly as I can get them signed and packaged up.  On July 5 I will know how many padded envelopes to purchase.  I have plenty of address labels, and the dining room table will be turned into a shipping 'department'.  (Remember, email me with the subject 'lagniappe' to express interest in the pre-publication offer.)

But as of tomorrow, I have a week of 'respite' from most things.  A time for quiet.  A time for wrestling with impostor syndrome (made easier with each email that comes asking to be on my contact list).  I have two bins full of hemming to be done in the evenings, a library book and will choose another just in case I finish that book, plus my knitting for in the van.  With the many hours we will be spending in the van, I've even set a bunch of CDs out to be packed so that we will have plenty of music to keep us company.  (Yes, I still listen to CDs.  I even have a huge stack of cassette tapes I listen to when I weave.)

Goal for today?  Two towels woven, meet with editor, pack.  Easy-peasy.  No pressure.  :)