Gratitude

 

For me, gratitude is not a one-day-a-year thing.  It is a survival technique.

When things are going poorly (as they so often are, these days) I get through the moment of despair by counting up my 'blessings'.

I have much to be grateful for.  Some of the things I am grateful for are tinged with sorrow - loss of family members leave me feeling sad, but happy that I still have memories to cherish.

Right now we are relatively 'secure' (as secure as anyone can be given the vagaries of life) so we try to assist others, when and where we can.  

I am grateful I have found a good healthcare 'team' who are helping me work through my injuries and health issues and that they seem to understand why it is necessary that I can continue to weave.

Because weaving isn't just about making more cloth, it's about the physical activity and the mental health aspect of being able to shut out the miseries of the world for a couple of hours a day.

And, while I'm  not where I would *like* to be, I *can* still weave.  

I had hoped that the craft fair would go well, but people are feeling the pinch so sales were down.  Way down, for me.  There are a number of reasons that may be at play, none of them to do with me, as such.  My textiles are the same as they have ever been.  But as one customer explained to me during an economic down period, when she is worried about putting food on the plate she can't be spending money on something pretty to put underneath the plate (place mats).

Today is the last day for the BOGO sale on ko-fi.  The sale has gone well, but there are still two colours left - beige, and 3 different shades of blue.  There are also 'orphans' that didn't get listed, so if you don't see something you like, email me your colour preference and I can check to see what I have.

Once the sale is over (midnight tonight), those towels will go into the guild room sale the first two weekends of December, hopefully to find new homes.

Later today I'm going to try to get pretty pictures of some of the new 'delft' tea towels.  I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out, but previous attempts to get a realistic photo of them have proved impossible.  So you might just have to take my word description as a guide to how they look.

With recent changes to the postage rates for parcels, shipping has nearly doubled and I have to ask myself if I can continue to sell online and mail.  OTOH, what are my choices?  I live in a small town and the market here has been saturated for years (given the lack of sales at the craft fair).  Do I keep selling, but 'eat' the increase in shipping?  Because envelopes, labels and packing tape has *also* gone up.

I have a rant I'm really trying to not express, so I'll leave this post here.

You have until midnight tonight (Pacific Standard Time) to buy one, get one more for the same price.  And a huge thank you for those who have purchased so far.  Y'all just paid for more printer ink.  Who knows, I might wind up writing another book?