Even though I’m sick, I have nothing to complain about. All the emails and comments wishing me better are like bright rays of sunshine, and in reality, this isn’t such a bad deal. I thread my loom, sleep, read my book, thread my loom, sleep some more, and did I mention sleep? I’m lucky I can do this, that I don’t have to give up sick days at a job, that I can work a little in the studio, and rest, helps that my studio is about 25 feet from my bedroom, and I don’t have any horrendous pressing deadlines that make me have to burn the candle at both ends. And the 2 inches of snow I woke up to this morning were gone by 11am. I didn’t even need to go shovel the driveway… 🙂
So thank you all for your kind and supportive words! The update is, the fever is gone, just have a crummy cold, but no one dies of the common cold, and I’m enjoying the privilege of just hanging. There is something odd about our culture that the only time we just “hang” is when we are too sick to do anything else. Hmmm… Or is that just me…
I’m making progress on threading the loom, more than a third done. I never minded threading. It is sort of zen like. Course I sneeze about every 5th thread, but whose counting? 🙂
If you enlarge the second photo, you can see I am pulling the threads off the reed in the reverse order I sleyed, first from the top, then the middle, and then the one on the bottom. It is going fairly quickly, and I’m just plodding along…
My husband returned tonight from Jerusalem, he has been working all week in Ramallah in the West Bank. When he returned from the last trip to this area back in November, he brought back a souvenir from an olive oil soap factory he visited on a tour of the Old City. I of course, being a fiber enthusiast of the highest order, immediately requested more if he ever returned. He wasn’t completely convinced why this particular soap was of importance, but he knows me well enough that if something rates up there with dark chocolate, then I must really like something.
Ask any felter about the benefits of Olive Oil Soap. It is one of the necessary ingredients for making good felt. 🙂 And I hear it is good for the face too!
So my dear husband returned, after having everyone in his group on the lookout for, and very aware that he couldn’t return back to the states without more olive oil soap, he was presented with a gift the last day of the trip, a case of “Arafat” Soap. I’m not kidding, that’s actually the name on the soap. Made from 100% virgin Palestinian Olive Oil. And I have 12 bars. 🙂 Don’t I have a wonderful husband? (Oh yeah, and he brought me dark chocolate too…)
Back to reading and sleeping…
Daryl, I’m loving your blog. I’m sorry you are sick, and best wishes for speedy recovery, although life in the relaxed sense sounds good, or at least tolerable. I took your advice and am continuing to photograph my current project, cutting the yardage starts tomorrow (painted warp, with intensive process to get all the bouts in the order I wanted). Today our guild (Tacoma) had a one day workshop with Marilyn Moore making little pouch necklaces with wirecloth and wire and beads. Very fun. I got to play with the propane torch on some stainless steel cloth which I’ll hopefully… Read more »
Dear Daryl,
I am glad to hear you are feeling better.
What a great collection of olive soap you have. Now let’s see you do some more felting.
Is it the after holidays thing? I started with the sore muscles, and a slight cough. The aches went away but the cough got worse and went into the lungs. I was finally diagnosed as pneumonia. I am finally feeling better after 2 weeks and antibiotics. I hope you are feeling better too.
I love threading too, although I have never tried it while sneezing! I’m glad it’s giving you the right level of weave therapy. There are clear sinuses at the other side of that warp!
from the husband, one correction. I was working in Ramallah but also Nablus which is about an hour north of Ramallaha nd Jerusalem. One of the things Nablus has manufactured for many many years (centuries) is Olive Oil soap, the bars in question actually came from Nablus.