A change in direction

I am changing the nature of this blog a little bit. From now on it will just be a personal blog that I will update occasionally with family and quilting news.  I have established a new blog to handle my writing efforts:


writersstudioattheboxfactory.BlogSpot.com


Writers Studio at the Box Factory
This is a program I've been running at the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan and this year, 2014, marks its 10th anniversary. I'm trying to make it a little more active, a little more vibrant and a little more relevant ... this new blog is the first step, so check it out!

First peach of the season

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I just got back from a quick trip to North Carolina to help my daughter drive back to Michigan for the summer. I flew down Friday evening and we drove back on Sunday (13 hours).

But I had one day in Raleigh and we packed in a lot. First a flea market where I bought a bag of the freshest salt-water-taffy I have ever eaten (and with the exception of a couple pieces shared with others, I ate it all!). I also bought a Vera Bradley cover for my phone and for Tom's Father's Day present, a watercolor painting from the 1980's of a mid-century modern building with a certificate of provenance taped to the back.

After the flea market we went to the farmers market and I bought some peaches with the idea that I would bring them home and make a small pie similar to this picture - but they were so good, and tasted so much like actual peaches - I ate all of those too.

We went to a place for lunch where we could have chicken and waffles - and that was delicious.  After that we went to the History Museum - and after that I was ready to rest for a bit.

We're home now and back to being busy with summer projects, not the least of which is making preliminary plans for my daughter's wedding, which will take place a year from now. It should be a fun summer - it's almost time for the summer solstice - the longest day of the year.

Six Months Later

I last posted in this blog almost exactly six months ago when the winter was in the process of kicking the stuffin's out of me. I thought I would update with the same view out the same window in my office - this time with no ice and lots of greenery. The boats have returned to their docks and sometimes I can see fishermen walking around down there with their catches after a day on the lake. 

But beyond living through this hard winter, I've gone through a lot of other things in my life too. Nothing too dramatic or upsetting ... but life-changing nonetheless.

 

I finished my first year of teaching English Composition at the local college, and I like it well enough to do it again for another year, and perhaps take on more classes. I finally feel like a real, honest-to-goodness teacher.

 

I have finally extracted myself from a difficult and increasingly distressing volunteer situation, that was taking too much of my time and making me feel way too miserable.  I decided I could answer the door to "nasty" knocking on the other side only so many times, and I reached my limit. I feel better than I have in a long time.

 

I went to a writing conference, sponsored by the University of Michigan, and came away feeling renewed about my writing. I immediately came up with a top 10 list of goals for the next 18 months - some harder to accomplish than others - but it feels good to have something to aim toward.

 

And, my daughter became engaged.  She's getting married next summer. I have had such a hard time coming to grips with her moving so far away, and now I have to come to grips with this too.  But I feel okay about it. She'll be home for most of the summer working a summer teaching job, and that will probably be the last time she spends any amount of time here. But now I know I can enjoy her while she's here, and take the rest of the stuff one day at a time.

 

So, all in all it has been a productive first half of the year when it comes to all those internal things a person has to do to get her mind straight... now let's see if I can apply this new found peace of mind and get some writing done.  Before winter comes again!

 

 

 

 

 

Winter with a Vengeance

Winter has come on this year with a vengeance, starting in November with lots of snow, and continuing on from there.

Lately we have been living through bitterly cold negative-number temperatures as we deal with this Polar Vortex that's been hovering over pretty much the whole country.

It's only the first part of January - how do I face the notion of getting through at least two more months after this one?

This is the view from my third floor studio at the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan. It's looking over a river and a marina that's completely devoid of boats.  The black specks in the sky is a flock of birds that took flight just as I snapped the picture.

It's hard to whip up enthusiasm for things this time of year in Michigan.  But we are planning trips for the summer and trying to get involved in new projects - and somehow we'll get through, just like we do each year.

The Empty Room

The other day I was sitting in my living room with my two friends, Judy and Sue, who make up my writing trio.  We take turns meeting at each other's house for dinner once a month and this month it was my turn.  I made salad with pears, walnuts, blue cheese and mustard vinaigrette. Then I served spaghetti. Then for dessert, we had cherry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Comfort food eaten in front of the fireplace on a cold, dark, autumn night when we all needed a little comfort.

I told them a little bit about how over-whelmed I was feeling. How I had way too many obligations to do things I simply didn't want to do. How I had no time to work on my writing, which was the whole point of rearranging my life and maintaining a writing studio.

My friend Judy suggested this:

Think of my life as a room.  Imagine taking everything out until it is completely empty. Then, after much consideration, start letting things back in - but only things I truly love and feel passionate about - nothing can come in if "obligation" is the only thing it has going for it.

Later, after they left, I did quite a bit of thinking about this.  What exactly would I let back into my "room?" Family, of course, writing and managing writing programs at my studio, teaching at the local college and occasional volunteer work.

What didn't make the cut?  Committee or board work of any kind. Intense sewing to deadlines. Freelance work for somebody else. Projects or events that require me to do the planning.

Tom and I have about cornered the market on being helpful over the years - we want to have a period of time when no one counts on us for anything (except our family).  No one should plan on us attending any function or managing any problem. I don't want commitments or deadlines.

We just want to work on our own art and plan our lives around that.  Once I got that figured out in my head - it truly felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I should be able to make it to next summer, when the timeline for our commitments comes to an end.

Things are looking up!

Restless

I'm feeling restless.

Suddenly all the things I've loved to do for years are just too annoying to continue.

I'm tired of quilting, I'm tired of all my writing projects, I'm tired of volunteering. I'm tired of my hair, my clothes, my shoes, my house. I'm tired of this place I have spent my whole life and will likely spend the rest of it until they put my boring, adventure-less body into the ground.

I want to never go to another meeting. I want no one to count on me for anything. I want to throw caution to the wind and buy a whole new wardrobe. I want to get in my car and drive without worry about where I'm going and if I'll have enough money when I get there.

 I want to buy beautiful expensive shoes and not have them hurt my feet. Perhaps they would even look like the ones I show here. These are the shoes of a baby who will never be boring or invisible. She will dance through life and travel the world. She will never be stuck in the same place, following some pre-determined life path. I have never owned a pair of shoes that could do that for me.

I know that half the secret of being happy and content with life is to make the conscious decision to be that way. But what happens if the time times when, no matter how optimistic a person tries to be, it just ain't cutting it?

I had such high hopes for accomplishing so much with this life I have - I felt sure I was on that path - but right now I feel in serious danger of going out with a whimper and barely a sign that I was here.

And if I feel that way now, in November, what's it going to be like in February in the dead of winter when it really feels like life will never be interesting again?

I think I'm in attitude trouble.

typewriter update

I  realized that I had not updated the wish I made for a typewriter for my birthday last May.

We looked around for the little black Royal typewriter that the company still makes, but it could only be special ordered and I couldn't see it in person.  I was a little concerned because the new typewriter was all made of plastic.

Then, I remembered something that was sitting on my bookshelf in the office among the Hemingway books.  It was a typewriter someone found for me years ago at a garage sale.  At the time I just wanted it for decoration, so I put it on the shelf and sort of forgot about it - especially after Tom propped one of his photographs in front of it and was using it as an easel.

But when I remembered it, I pulled it down and took a look.  It is a metal portable typewriter, just like I was looking for.  It was kind of grungy, but Tom cleaned it up for me and we ordered a new ribbon on-line for a few dollars and there it is!

Tom looked up the model number and found out it was made in the 1940's and this model was one of Hemingway's favorite typewriters.

Although it has a very "soft" touch, it's still difficult for these fingers who have only used electric typewriters and computer keyboards to push down hard enough to get a good strike.  But I use it for what I had originally thought I would do, type an occasional poem that I want to look old-fashioned and aged.

Slow writing is a great thing.