Blog Entries – Page 141

If it’s Tuesday it must be Michigan…

Tuesday…

I am beginning to exhale, I am sitting in Terminal A of Newark airport waiting for my Continental Express Jet flight to Grand Rapids. Looking back over the last 36 hours I have to think that things turn out the way they need to, and not necessarily the way I think they should.

I did catch my Frontier flight out of Durango late last night, arriving in Denver around 9pm. I have a cousin in Denver, whom I haven’t seen since Convergence 2004. She had twin girls last year, and just before she gave birth, her mom, my aunt, was tragically killed in a car accident. I would normally never have been able to connect with Becky, but since I was stuck in Denver overnight, I took a chance she was home and would open her home to a stray. She was such a breath of fresh air, in such an impersonal couple of days. I got to peak at her two sleeping angels, throw in a load of my dirty clothes from the Durango conference, and sit and visit with her, sharing an album they did as a memorial to her mother. I was able to look back over our childhoods, family gatherings, see photos of her brothers and their families, who are scattered all over the US. And I saw some wonderful photos of her mom. It was such a gift to be able to spend a few hours with her.

I left her house at 4:30am, boarding a shuttle bus for the trip back to the airport. Once I was in Continental’s jurisdiction, with my Elite status, everything started to go the way it should. I boarded the plane to Newark, we got in 20 minutes early, I was off the plane in 10 minutes with my bags, looking for my husband who was waiting for me at the parking garage with the suitcase I needed to exchange for the Michigan conference. My daughter packed it last night for me, using a computer printout, and going over every line item on the phone with me while I sat in the airport, and hopefully between the two of us, we got it all correct.

My flight to Grand Rapids is so far, on time. We will be boarding shortly. I am actually more rested than I thought I would be since I haven’t been able to return home between conferences. All I’ve done is sit in an airport or on a plane for the last 36 hours…

Wednesday…

I made it. The flight to Grand Rapids was uneventful and on time. I arrived semi comatose, but my chauffeur, Paula, in a GMC pick-up, managed to get me and my bags, all accounted for, to the college, got me registered, and the conference staff took all the instructors out for a lovely dinner. I have little recollection of what I ate, just that it was delicious, and very needed, and I actually drank two bottles of Stella Artois. It has been one of those weeks.

I taught the first day of the Garment Construction and Finishing Techniques class today, the first day was all about fit and altering patterns. I love my class, they are talented and interesting, and all tried on my jackets and now have a pattern that fits them and they can go home and weave up a storm.

The food here at Hope College is considerably better than the salt and fat explosion I ate at Fort Lewis last week. And I slept a whole six hours straight last night. My brain isn’t working on all four cylinders, but everyone is supportive and telling me I’m doing a good job, so I’ll get to bed early tonight, and try even harder tomorrow to get the brain in sync…

Tonight we had a gathering of the conference attendees in the auditorium, and each of the seven instructors did a presentation of their work, history, motivation, inspiration, or whatever they wanted to talk about. All the presentations were interesting, and I always learn and am inspired by these mini glimpses into another creative soul.

There was a major eclipse tonight, and I’m hoping with the passing of this planetary oddity, that my life will get back on track, and I won’t have to deal with so many silly stressors. My kids are reporting in, my son apparently doesn’t have mono, but a major bacterial throat infection, and saw the doctor again, and is now on another antibiotic and doing considerably better. It is hard to be away when your kids are sick, and they really need you, and you know something is wrong, and you are helpless, and stuck halfway across the country in an airport. Even that far away, my instincts were good, I knew there was something additional wrong with my son, and I’m glad he listened to me and got himself back to the doctor.

And happily, I have an Ethernet connection in my room! So I’ll try to report in nightly. Stay tuned…

Finale on Sunday

Sunday was an intense day, a piece of cake after the first two of the conference, but the last day of a jacket making class is always hardest. Everyone is rushing, everyone is exhausted, and everyone makes big mistakes. Tweaking of the fit, last minute bailouts, getting everyone far enough so they can finish on their own, is always a big stressor. But in the end, a very happy group of women modeled their almost finished jackets. I’m in the middle of the bottom row… (note, there were quite a few missing sleeves, but I have every confidence they will be attached in the coming weeks…)

This was a great experience, even though I had such a tough start. I was really hoping for an uneventful return. The vistas here are breathtaking, and the weather was spectacular. And the conference staff and participants couldn’t have been more enthusiastic.

So I would love to say there was a happy ending here, but alas, the reason I have been able to update my blog, for the last four days, is because I have been sitting in the tiny Durango terminal since 8am this morning. My 10:00am flight was eventually canceled, due to mechanical problems with the plane, and of course, all the remaining flights were oversold and the earliest I could get out on United was maybe late tomorrow or Wednesday. I start the Michigan conference on Wednesday. I managed to procure a seat on a different airline, again for a hefty price, so I’m waiting for a 7:40 flight this evening. My plan if all goes well, though there seems to be weather delays now coming in from Denver, is to arrive in Denver around 9, and meet up with my cousin, whom I haven’t seen in years. She had twin girls last year, and I hope I can take a peek at the sleeping angels. I have a very early flight confirmed on my airline of choice, Continental, and I have an hour and half turn around to head out to Michigan for the conference. I have no clean clothes, and have to figure out how to get my family to pack the remainder of what I need for that workshop, and meet me in Newark to exchange bags. I am so beyond stress at this point I just want to run away and never get on a plane again. Rest assured I will NEVER fly Mesa airlines, the United Code Share partner who caused all the problems last Thursday and today. I am beyond exhausted, and am glad I have the blog to vent…

Stay tuned to see if I make it to Michigan…

A Great Saturday

In spite of my exhaustion, and all the past couple days’ events, the workshop went really well. I had a terrific group of 14 women, 13 of whom had actually handwoven their fabric for their jackets. They were all so supportive, and eager, and talented, and I was privileged to work with them. They worked so hard, we kept each other going, they were as tired as I was, so it became a real group effort! And we all rose to the occasion.

Each of the fabrics was so unique, and it was great to see how each of the jackets progressed, students’ confidence grew, old habits were broken, and new skills acquired.

We broke for dinner, and on the way across campus to the student center, I passed a lovely installation between the trees, hand dyed warps drying on the line.

I found out from the conference community that I had won a door prize. Apparently all conference participants’ names and those of the faculty had been entered. I won a beautiful silk scarf from Lantern Moon. I looked at it as a new raw material, and spent a couple minutes draping it around my body to see what the fabric would do.

Then I quickly dressed into my Frosted Florals Gown, and headed to the concert hall for the fashion show. I was the moderator.

The figure to my left, was a vintage handwoven garment by the late Mary Pendleton, an icon in Sedona, Arizona. She founded the Pendleton Fabric Craft School and Studio, which became a mecca for fiber enthusiasts from all over the world. Two of her garments were loaned for the fashion show, and one of them kept me company while I moderated the show. One of the highlights of the fashion show for me was the trio of students from my pieced vest class from two years ago. Three of the garments worn came from or were influenced by techniques learned from my class. Each had a story and the artists modeled their own work. The commentary had been written for me by Margaret, the hard working fashion show coordinator. And what was even more fun, was the addition of items like art quilts, and non wearable items. We all laughed and clapped, and had a great time. Three of the garments had actually been previewed at the Convergence Fashion Show in Tampa last summer. This is a talented bunch!

Stay tuned…

Fiber Celebrated!

Friday night at the conference featured the opening reception of Fiber Celebrated, a national juried show, located in the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, hosted by the Intermountain Weavers Conference.

I was exhausted by my last two day’s adventures, and there were so many people who had heard of my misadventures, especially the locating of the missing box at the Home Depot in Durango, that it was hard to actually get to see the show. Everyone wanted to hear the story. I felt like a celebrity!

I waited until the show ended, and the awards were announced, and I grabbed a quick couple of photos of the installation. It was a beautiful show, a lot of southwestern themed works, but a great cross section of fiber mediums.

Enjoy the show…

Cosmic collision…

Whew! It’s been awhile, I was on withdrawal with no internet access. And boy did I wish I had internet access. Grab a cup of coffee, it is gonna be a long one!

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,

A tale of a fateful trip…

That started from this tropic port (ok so it was Newark)

Aboard this tiny ship… (ok so it was a Boeing 737).

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew, and the rest just gets curiouser and curiouser…

I left Newark for Denver on Continental airlines, with my bags checked through to Durango on Thursday morning. I was up at 4am, with little sleep the night before. The plane was delayed leaving Newark, but I had hoped they’d make up time enroute. Sadly I missed my connection in Denver for Durango on United by 5 minutes. I wasn’t worried; there are planes on United every two hours to Durango from Denver.

I was eventually put on standby for the next flight, and lined up in the queue. It took a few standby flights coming and going to realize the situation, that even though United had flights to Durango every two hours, the little 30 seater prop planes had standby lists of more than 30 people on each flight. I wasn’t moving up the list, and was not hopeful I’d make it out of Denver any time soon. Meanwhile my bags hopped the next flight to Durango without me.

By late afternoon, I was finally able to contact the conference coordinators, and left word to pick up my bags, and the search started for how to get me to Durango, a seven hour drive, though no rental cars were available to Durango from any airport in a two state radius. Every flight on United to Durango from Denver or Phoenix was oversold and the first available flight I could get was Saturday. By then the conference would be half over. No flights, no cars, I was starting to panic. Someone at the conference found a flight on Frontier Airlines, late in the day, on Thursday, the last available seat, for a modest $325. One way. I grabbed it.

So I eventually made it to Durango, and my bags were waiting for me. As soon as we excited the aircraft on the tarmac, a huge torrential thunder storm struck, and we ran for cover. The drive to the conference was difficult since visibility was zero. We made it to the conference, and one of the coordinators and her husband took me out to eat since all I had eaten was a bowl of cereal and three tacos. We stopped at a local bar, Farquarharts, and I had an amber beer on draft. And a pulled pork sandwich. There was local band playing, and they were loud, but enjoyable, I didn’t have to think, and slowly, the stress of the day began to dissipate. The beer really helped. I made it to the conference and all was well… Or so I thought….

Friday morning, I called the coordinator to make sure the box I had pre-shipped with all my teaching supplies, handouts, pattern paper etc, (and a hefty amount of monographs to sell) was put into my classroom. I had shipped it to conference services, at Fort Lewis College, as instructed, and had received confirmation it had been delivered. Or so I thought…

The box was nowhere on the college grounds. There must have been a dozen people working on the mini crisis, including my shipper Chuck from Packaging Plus in NJ. Corporate UPS was involved, and eventually the box was tracked to the Durango Home Depot. I’m not kidding…

Home Depot claimed they did get the box, and left if for UPS pick-up, and they no longer saw it laying out on the loading dock, so it must have been picked up…

Meanwhile, I’m trying to teach 14 handweavers how to make a jacket from their handwoven fabric. Which involves them trying on all of my test samples, and then drafting their own custom pattern. That all went well, with frequent updates on the box debacle, until it came time to actually trace their pattern from my masters. The pattern tracing medium was in the missing box. At Home Depot…

I went to lunch. The food at this college cafeteria is really awful. Everything is in the form of fried taters or pizza, we were given a plate with a slab of fried fish, French fries, and three baby carrots. I moved to the end of the line and found a container of tarter sauce, which looked as artery clogging as the fried stuff on my plate. Next to the tartar sauce was a container of salsa, or what looked like salsa. It was a funny color, so I called over a cafeteria employee, and asked what the red stuff in the salsa was. I explained I was highly allergic to strawberries, and as a rule I don’t eat red food unless I’ve made it or I know who has. He assured me that this was a tomato salsa and seemed annoyed when I repeated that I was highly allergic to strawberries and I had to be really sure.

Two bites into the salsa/fish, I realized that it was loaded with strawberries, oh crap, and I was in trouble. I ran back to the cafeteria line, panicked, and asked the chef who happened to be standing there, about the salsa, and he was shocked that someone (who turned out to be the general manager) told me it was tomatoes, since it was a tropical fruit salsa loaded with strawberries. I dropped everything, ran all the way back to my dorm room, at 6,600 ft. altitude, not the brightest decision of the day, and gulped down two Benedryl tablets. I returned to the cafeteria, and connected with someone who would then take me into town, to pick up tissue paper at Walmart, and I’d be closer to a hospital if it turned out I needed it.

We drove to Walmart, and we picked up ordinary tissue paper, that would work in a pinch for the class. I was hoping the box would be recovered in short order. Meanwhile, I talked to my shipper who was concerned that it was Friday and if I didn’t get the box that day, I wouldn’t get the box in time for the conference and I’d be gone back to Jersey. He was sure the box was still in Home Depot since it hadn’t yet been scanned back in the system. My shipper recommended I get in the car and drive to Home Depot and see if I could search their shipping and receiving.

So off we went, more confident that the Benedryl was doing it’s job and I wouldn’t have a reaction to the small amount of strawberries I ate. The managerial staff at the Durango Home Depot couldn’t have been more accommodating. We toured every possible place that the box could be, and no luck. We looked in lunch rooms, offices, cabinets, stock rooms, shipping and receiving, you think the selling floor of Home Depot is huge… No luck.

We got back to the college, and I resumed teaching my class. The next chore was to get my husband, who was dealing with his own crisis’s at his job, to get into my computer system at home, and print out the critical part of the handout for the students, fax it to an Office Depot, where they could print 14 copies, and get it to me in the morning. (Normally all that back up data is in my laptop, but since I just bought my new laptop, I hadn’t put all those files on the new computer, I’d never needed them in 25 years of teaching.)I tried calling him and he was unavailable, so I went to dinner.

In the middle of my dinner, I got a call from the manager of the Durango Home Depot, they had found my box in the book keeper’s office, under a box with their agendas, that had gone missing. I grabbed my dinner to go, and raced over to Home Depot again, and there was my box. Can I say that I was briefly overcome with relief and the poor Home Depot manager got a very big hug…

Later that night, when I reconnected with my husband, I found out my son was diagnosed with Mono, how inconvenient for a 19 year old with a life, and my daughter, asleep in the cabin on her final couple of nights at Girl Scout Camp, had been awoken by frantic campers who had discovered a bat in the cabin. NY State Law turns out, requires that anyone who is sleeping when a bat is discovered, must be treated for prophylactic rabies.

OK, I don’t know about you, but what cosmic collision of planets is ccurring out there, messing with my stress levels? My students couldn’t have been more understanding, and the conference staff unbelievable in their ability to keep smiling and working on my little emergencies. In the end, I made a lot of new friends, the staff at Home Depot, the college conference center employees, the campus police, and the cafeteria staff, from whom I found out later, had quite the scene over my salsa incident. It wasn’t a pretty sight between the chef and the general manager of the cafeteria…

I don’t know why stupid stuff happens. I’m organized and good at what I do. Nothing that happened in this odd 48 hour period could I have prevented. All of this series of unfortunate events was totally out of my control. But I found out just how good people can be in a crisis, and how helpful, even to strangers. And anyway, no one died, my bags weren’t lost, the plane didn’t crash, and everything eventually worked out.

Stay tuned…