Peters Valley School of Craft – Page 4

Uh Oh, empty looms again…

Actually, in spite of an epidemic of empty looms again, this was a fantastic week so far. Like the planets aligned… You know when you work on something really really hard, and finally, finally it comes to fruition? I had a whole bunch of things finish up and birth themselves right into the stratosphere in the last 48 hours.

First off, last October I mentioned that I had shot a whole string of videos for Threads Magazine for their Insider subscription service. Actually it is a great service, $19.95 a year for unlimited viewing of their archive of videos on sewing and fit related topics. My group will slowly be added that archive over the next few months, but the first one was released yesterday. I watched it today and it was really spot on. I did a good job. I covered everything that needed to be said about the topic and the editing was smooth and clean. This video shows how to cut and piece bias strips. You can subscribe to Insider and view it here. Thank you Threads!

Also released yesterday was the latest issue of Heddlecraft Magazine. Many of you know how hard I worked over the last few months on this 30 page article. I felt like I had done a Master’s Thesis… This lengthy article is on a topic near and dear to my heart, one I explored in my early days of craft fairs back in the 1980’s, called Doup Leno. It is a way of crossing threads back and forth to create a loom controlled lace fabric. Heddlecraft Magazine is available in digital format only. You can subscribe here.

I needed to get an image of the piece I am submitting for the summer faculty exhibit Making Matters: Fresh Perspectives in Fine Craft at Peters Valley, by the weekend. The work doesn’t have to be finished by then, but you can’t take a photo of that which does not exist. So my 36″ 8 shaft Tools of the Trade loom is now empty and the fabric is drying… This is a mixed warp in a combination weave with supplemental warps, some of it is hand dyed, and the yarns are mostly cotton and rayon. The weft is 3 ply worsted wool from my stash.

My new rule in the house, with so many looms, is that once a loom has been cleared, whoever cleared it has to oil/wax it (I use Howard’s Feed and Wax) and tighten all the bolts and screws. My loom looks so happy and refreshed…

Also due this week is a scarf which I promised to donate to The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ for their Annual Gala silent auction. I adore this organization and gave them one for their fundraiser last year, and I’ll be attending the gala this April and am pleased to donate another scarf. Which meant I had to weave off all five. Which means another loom is empty. But it is also very happy because it has been cleaned and waxed and all the bolts and screws have been tightened. It is looking fresh and cheery for another warp. (There are only four scarves in the photo because I made it to the post office with five minutes to spare, the fifth one is on its way to The Shakespeare Theatre.)

And last night, I sat by the fire and finished a lovely cable knit vest, I had been worried I wouldn’t have enough yarn, but I knit as fast as I could and turns out I beat the yarn fairies… This vest is Berroco Artisan Merino and Silk. I picked up a half dozen skeins last fall at Sievers, on sale because the yarn is discontinued. The yarn is butter smooth and so pretty. The vest is one I’ve made before. It is a Drops Design, 123-10 waistcoat. It is actually a free pattern from Garn Studio. I started this vest last fall, sometime after I taught at Sievers, so again, it is funny that I finished it last night as well. It is still drying on top of the washer.

And about 10 days ago, my lovely daughter went on a mission to pick up yet another loom. They are finding us. I don’t know why. If you Google Tools of the Trade Looms, my name comes up. Probably because between my daughter and I, we now own 10. I bought my first one back in 1978. I mention them a lot in my blogs. They aren’t made anymore, but it is a solid versatile jack type loom that has stood the test of time, solid rock maple, unless you find one in cherry, and you can’t kill them. I sent my daughter down to Bedminster NJ to pick up a lovely 8 shaft 25″ wide table loom, a great teaching loom and perfect for workshops. She (the loom, not my daughter) joins two other looms that size, one a four shaft and the other a fraternal twin in cherry. I had to do some tweaking, restore some of the parts, and I’m about to add heddles to the back four shafts, but it looks in good working order and it seems happy with the crew. Incidently, I have received word on two other Tools of the Trade looms that are needing homes and my daughter is all over it. I do not know where these looms will all fit, it is clear that we are building inventory to open some kind of school or teaching venue, but that’s far down the road and I can’t even fathom that right now. I’m happy meeting my deadlines. FYI, between us right now we own 29 shaft looms. 15 Structos three of which are 8 shaft, two Leclerc 10″ 4 shaft looms, a 12 shaft Leclerc Dorothy, a folding Ashford Table Loom, 8 shafts, and of course, the 10 Tools of the Trade Looms. We win…

Stay tuned…

Its Ironical…

My late husband would always get embarrassed and annoyed when he thought I used a word incorrectly or when he thought a word I used didn’t actually exist. In my field we make up a lot of words, because there just isn’t the vocabulary in the English language. And when I use a made up word in one of my lectures, somehow the participants know exactly what I mean. Anyway, early on before Google and smart phones, when we relied on a dictionary for assistance, I used the word ‘ironical’ occasionally. My husband would get annoyed with me, because he said it wasn’t a word and the word was ironic and I needed to learn that. Of course when someone corrects you it is easy to shut down and be humiliated, especially in front of others. I had often thought I had a decent command of the English language, went to Catholic school for 8 years, knew how to diagram sentences, was an excellent speller, and had a college degree. It wasn’t until I started writing for Handwoven Magazine that I found out I could really write, and my confidence soared.

Of course I stopped using the word ‘ironical’, and it wasn’t until just recently that the word popped back into my head and I just grabbed my little smart phone, went into Google and Ha! Not only is it a word, it is a great word, used more in Britain than the US, but according to vocabulary.com, something that is ironical is wryly funny, especially because it doesn’t match up with your expectations.

And that is the whole basis for this blog post. Its ironical…

Back in October I recorded a podcast with the staff of Threads Magazine, episode 13, you can listen/watch it here, and the theme of the podcast among other topics is “Sewing for Competition”. I said a lot of things in the podcast, especially about getting into exhibitions, and all that entails, and one of the things I wanted to really stress was how arbitrary judging can be, having judged many many competitions, and that not getting into a competition doesn’t really mean that your work isn’t worthy. I gave lots of tips and suggestions, but I did say at one point that I could wall paper my living room with all the rejections I’ve received over the years, and that my acceptance to rejection ration is about 1:6. My handwoven clothing over the years has become more predictable getting into shows, though it isn’t always a guarantee, but my fiber art work has an abysmal track record.

There was an unusually large amount of opportunities this past few months for participation in fiber art exhibitions, and a number of platforms that got the word out. Social media really helps. So I dutifully sent in my money, and the requisite images and waited. And sometimes even forgot I applied.

And then suddenly, to my complete surprise, I got in. To all of them. Its ironical! And the success certainly didn’t match up with my expectations. So now, this week I’m scrambling to prep and ship out all sorts of work including three pieces for photography for my next article for Threads Magazine, they went out this morning.

Peters Valley Craft Center is sponsoring this show, bridging craftsmanship and technology. I applied at the last minute, partly because they didn’t mind older work. One of the things I talked about in the podcast was the timeliness of the work. Most exhibits require work that is less than two years old. And you can’t apply to two different shows with the same work if they overlap. It is professional suicide to get into a show and then decline because the piece got into another show that occurs at the same time.

“Nuance: Craftsmanship, Imagination and Innovation” 2019 Peters Valley School of Craft, The Sally D. Francisco Gallery, Layton, NJ Jurors: Maegen Black, Director Canadian Crafts Federation and Sin-ying Ho, Ceramist, Assistant Professor, Queens College, City University of NY. This show runs April 13th to May 19th.

The work that was accepted was an older piece that fit the theme of the exhibition, called Margaret. The images of my mother in law at 20 juxtaposed to her at 90 are printed on silk and then cut into strips and rewoven into a diptych.

“Fantastic Fibers 2019” Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY Juror: Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, chair of the Fiber Department Kansas City Art Institute

This show runs from April 20th – June 8th. The work that was accepted is one of my most favorite pieces of artwork I’ve done in the last few years, and no one has seen it because it has not gotten into any of the exhibits I entered with it, and it is nearing the end of its two year shelf life. The piece is layers of hand dyed wool, wet felted, sliced and needle felted onto a felt backing, and then stitched on the machine. It is called e·vis·cer·ate: verb, deprive of vital or essential content.

“Color: Classic to Contemporary” 2019 The Hudgens Center for Art and Learning, Duluth, GA sponsored by the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild Juror: Kathrin Weber

I found out about this exhibit through social media, and sent my regular garments/yardage images. These two works both got accepted and the show runs from May 11 – July 27th The duster coat is called Autumn Patchwork, and the yardage is called Chaos.

“Transformation: Fiber as Medium on The Common Thread Gallery” 2019 online exhibit Common Thread Gallery https://thecommonthreadgallery.com/2019/04/05/this-is-art/ Juror: Penny Griffin Lutz is the Director of The Gallery at Penn College Williamsport, Pennsylvania

This exhibit is a digital online exhibition. The exhibition runs April 5th – August 15th. Click on the link above to view.

e·vis·cer·ate: verb, deprive of vital or essential content.

“Excellence in Fibers IV juried exhibition in print” 2018-19 sponsored by The Fiber Art Network Jurors: Beth Mclaughlin, Head Curator Fuller Craft Museum; Perry Price, Executive Director Houston Center for Contemporary Craft; Carol Sauvion, Creator, Exec Producer and Director of Craft in America

This exhibit is currently in print, and it was really wonderful seeing my work among some pretty outstanding works in fiber.

“New Directions in Fiber Art” 2019 New Jersey Arts Annual-Crafts, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ Jurors: Carol K. Russell and Judy Wukitsch

I talked about this exhibit already because I wasn’t able to attend the opening, I was teaching in southern California. I finally got to actually see the exhibit a couple of weeks ago, and took a couple photos of the installation of my work. The work they accepted out of the 8 submitted was not one of my favorites of the group, but the judge obviously saw something else and I was thrilled. The piece is part of my Chromosome series, and it is called 44+XY. The show runs from February 9-June 16.

Meanwhile…

I have been to the land where it is sunny and warm, if only for a long weekend, I flew down to Orlando about 10 days ago, and absorbed the sun, what there was of it, it mostly rained, and saw some pretty azaleas and tropical plants, some gorgeous views of Lake Yale, and taught a wonderful pre conference four hour class in Turned Krokbragd on the Inkle Loom. I had 16 eager students and they all produced this wonderful little sample.

One of my most favorite students was standing in front of me in the lunch line. I remember her making this the last time I taught in Florida, but I never got to see it finished. Wow, just wow.

And then I taught my weekend class, Fabulous Fit, where students tried on my samples and had a tracing marathon. They learned so much about fit and how handwoven fabric works, and I got lots of emails and thanks after I got home for opening their eyes to the possibilities. I did my job! Of course, I didn’t take a single photo because I was too busy helping participants! Picture the image above, but instead of looms, there were patterns and pattern tracing paper everywhere!

Back to prepping and shipping artwork, taxes on Thursday, bills due Friday, and I have to clear one of my looms by April 1 so I can photograph the yardage for the next exhibit at Peters Valley which is the faculty show. Since I’m on the faculty there this summer, well, of course I have to put something in. I’ve run out of yardage to display there, and so I wove something new. Meanwhile, the big news in this house is that Brianna, my lovely creative daughter, whom I talked about in the last blog post, was accepted as the Fiber Assistant for the summer at Peters Valley, from May through October. She will live out there and assist with all the fiber classes. And I’ll be teaching a yardage class this summer, and I just adore when I open a magazine and there in full color and all its glory is a photo of me and my illustrious students!

Stay tuned…

In the perfect world…

I daydream of the perfect life, we probably all do. The perfect balance, where everyone we love is healthy, happy and productive. Where our lawns stay green, with the perfect amount of rain, nighttime of course, and the days are mild and gloriously sunny. Yeah, and I weigh 125 pounds and fit into a size 6. Since none of that is attainable, or at least I haven’t figured out how so far in my 63 years, I take each day as it comes just trying to get through without any disastrous maladies, with as much grace as I can muster, with as much joy as I can glean from the most minor of things.

In the perfect world, I do a yoga practice every day, and draw or sketch for a few minutes each day, and play music, practicing my recorder. Sadly none of those things have become routine for me. The goal is not to make them into a routine, but to make them into a habit. I have taught myself to stand up out of bed each morning, and turn and make the bed before I do anything else. It has become such a habit that I even do it in hotel rooms. I can’t stand an unmade bed. I’m getting much better about moving from room to room with a water bottle, staying much more hydrated, and my kidneys are thanking me for it. I do study yoga once a week, at a venue in my town, when I’m not traveling, and though that’s better than nothing, with the internet and some fabulous courses in yoga online, many of them free, what is my problem? I do though, spend a few minutes each day working on a puzzle. And I do read almost every day before bed. There are some habits I’m rather proud of, but there are some I just can’t seem to make stick, and I don’t know why. The puzzle corner is my favorite place in my house.

I just spent the last five days at Peters Valley, one of my most favorite places on earth (the others are in my own house, like my studio). I took a water color class with Jane Brennan, one of my favorite people, and this is the second time I took the class. I appreciate when students take my classes over and over because each time I took the class, I defined just a bit better what I wanted to learn, and did.

Last year, I posted about the class here, I was just curious to see if I could still paint, see, draw, and participate without totally embarrassing myself. Which is just an incredibly stupid reason to take a class. And I’d chew out a student, and I do, who is worried about what other people think. I should have been taking the class for shear enjoyment and learning the medium, and exploring the possibilities of two dimensional work. I actually accomplished though, what I set out to do. I can still paint, draw, and though it takes effort, I really did enjoy myself and actually framed a couple of the pieces I did for the walls in my home. But it takes effort. Because I hadn’t done it since art school in the 70’s.

Moving forward, I had grand visions of spending a few minutes a day sketching, doing a small water color, making painting a part of my routine. Yeah. Over the past year, I did 1 1/2 paintings. On the same day. I made this little pear, testing some technique I read about, and can’t remember now how I did it.

And I started this wonderful painting of tomatoes, from a layout in Real Simple Magazine, and I never finished it.

So I took this class again. This time, I knew the routine.

We started with just simple washes over the paper. Then we were left to just make something out of it. I don’t do well making stuff up. I need to see something in front of me. This was challenging and not what we did last year. I struggled, but then stood back and was pretty impressed with myself. My son loves this picture best out of everything I did. And I just made it up in my head. Go figure.

Next came the dreaded still life. She had watermelon and some lemons.

Not great, but a passable attempt.

Then she brought a huge planter of some kind of flower I couldn’t identify.

Not my favorite of the things I’ve done, way more tedious than I like and I started to dread starting a new still life. Which was weird. I wanted to be able to draw/paint/sketch quickly, throwing down color and line rapidly, not belabor for hours over a painting I’m not particularly enjoying. And that’s probably why I didn’t make this a daily habit over the past year.

I pulled out one of the photos I loved from my Cuba trip, and though I love what I painted, it was tedious and not inspiring. I did get to finally experiment with masking fluid for the grill work.

That basically ended the first day of class, and I had four paintings to show, but what I really wanted to do was explore working in a sketch book. Last year I brought a brand new little sketch book, something like a 6″ x 9″, because it was on the materials list to bring, and I follow those to the letter. I didn’t put one mark in the book during the class, nor through the entire year that followed. I wanted to start a real sketch book, so I brought it to class in the morning of the second day, even though it wasn’t actually water color paper, and I set out to attempt to sketch with something I had a small set of, and had used periodically during my tenure as features editor of Handwoven Magazine when I wrote the color forecast column, but haven’t touched since. Water color pencils. You draw first and add water later. I used a small set of Prismacolors, just the basic colors.

I drew this.

I really liked this.

I went back to the original planter of flowers, still set up in the room and zoomed in and actually studied the plant. I still don’t know what it is, but I drew it with a lot more detail. In water color pencil. I started to add water and then we went out on location for the afternoon. I was sort of liking this medium, it was tedious in a different way, one where I had more control, ( and isn’t it always better when you are in control?) And I liked that. And threading 4000 ends on a loom is tedious, but I like that kind of tedious. I finished watering it later in the afternoon.

I wandered around Peters Valley, settling on an old red barn, but instead of drawing the whole barn, I zoomed in on just the lower corner where the wood was rotting away and the foundation slipping. It was gorgeous in its decay. And I’m really happy with the painting.

These little drawings are about 6 x 9, and in a spiral bound sketch book. They are my treasures. They make me smile.

I wandered over to the pond where everyone else was happily painting. I painted this pond last year, and didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to see how fast I could put something down on paper. I used my cell phone camera to zoom in and crop a manageable amount. I worked quick, and though I’m not drawn to trees and scenery, I was happy with what I put down in a short amount of time.

It was getting really hot outside, so we gathered back in the studio, and I grabbed what I thought were some lemons and was frustrated that they just weren’t responding to all my yellows and that was because they were really clementines. Duh… I had found in my art cabinet at home the night before, a brand new untouched tray of 72 Derwent water color pencils. I had six shades of yellow to choose from. And they turned out to be orange clementines. Still laughing.

Before I left for the day, I started on this little avocado, from a photo in a Real Simple Magazine. Day four I finished it up.

Then I started on some cherry tomatoes, also from a photo, inspired by a botanical drawing book by Mindy Lighthipe, (who used to be a weaver on the craft fair circuit in the 1980’s). Don’t worry, I’m not ready to give up my day job.

I wanted to see what would happen if I did a water color wash background and then used water color pencils to trace in some details. Another picture from my imagination, but pretty limited. I did figure out what I wanted to know.

So we left again, on location, this time to Walpack Village, where we went last year and I spent hours painting the church. I wandered up the street and took some photos. Again, I wanted to see how fast I could get something on paper, trying the same technique of putting in watercolor wash areas, and they quickly applying details with pencils, using them wet, another technique. An OK effort, but I found out what I wanted to know. I particularly liked the road with the double yellow line. That should be the name of the painting.

Back at the studio in Peters Valley, the morning of day 5, I decided to be really brave and try figure drawing. I used to love that back in the day, but I’m really really rusty and wasn’t sure I could get something worthy. I leafed through a couple magazines and found a photo of a woman on a beach towel poolside. I dove in. Pun intended. Not bad considering I haven’t done figure drawing since the 70’s. I miss working with a live model.

Jane brought in some fresh still life combinations and I decided to just sketch with water color pencils and see where it took me. I am so loving this medium, especially with 72 colors to pick from.

I did this. I particularly liked the wine bottle.

Then I did this. Those begonia leaves were a challenge, but my trusty box of 72 colors was up to it.

I came home feeling like I might be able to see myself sketching something small on a daily basis, even if from a magazine or photo. I immediately set up my easel in the corner of my bedroom, facing out the balcony.

I will remember to pack my sketch book tomorrow, I’m heading back to the Valley to teach a five day beginning weaving class. The class is full with 10 students. It will be an intense five days. I’m determined to sketch something each day. And do a daily yoga routine, and lose 10 pounds. And I’m bringing my knitting, and lots of computer work to do. You’d think I’d be heading out for a week at the beach…

Stay tuned…

Leaving On A Jet Plane…

I came in my studio one day last week, and my assistant Cynthia was listening to a John Denver song, clearly coming out of my Echo Dot. I asked what station she was playing and she said she had created a John Denver station on my Pandora. We listened and laughed and sang along at the top of our lungs… Of course, Leaving on a Jet Plane came up in the rotation. I remembered many of the harmonies. What fun.

Meanwhile, I’m actually leaving on a jet plane, Saturday morning, Brianna, weaver Sally Orgren from my guild, and me, we are all heading to Seattle, and then to Whidbey Island to take a weeklong advanced weaving class with Madelyn van der Hoogt. I booked this at the end of last summer, actually right after MidWest conference, because, life is short, and none of us knows what tomorrow will bring, but I wanted my daughter to have a chance to study with Madelyn and well, I wanted to too. Though I’m not that interested in complex structures, you sure couldn’t tell from what came out of my studio this week…

I’m on a roll. As fast as I make something, I’m thinking about the next thing. And oddly enough, there seems to be time to do it. Life is beginning to run like a well oiled machine, thanks to so many people who are working behind the scenes, like Cynthia, and my handyman Rick, and the pond guys, and the plumber guys, who have done wonders cleaning up my exterior and trying to salvage the ponds and the exterior plumbing from the winter from hell. All the pumps, outdoor lines and filters had to be replaced. We discovered that a patch in the pond, I didn’t know it was there to begin with, failed and one of the ponds was leaking, the one where the fish survived, so they were transferred to the second pond, and everything is up and running but the pond level is very low until they can patch, but the weather has to be above 70 degrees. Hahahahahahahah!

The website, web shop, blog, hosting company, all seems to be running well and efficiently, and super fast. With no effort from me except a lot of money. Isn’t that always the case…

So I get to go to the studio and make stuff. I am so happy. Really, this is what the goal was and now I’m there. I start traveling heavy duty in another month, but for now, I have two back to back workshops that I’m actually taking, the other with my guild with Heather Winslow, warps are on the loom and I’m ready for that, which happens three days after I return from Whidbey Island.

So back in June 2010, my guild did an exchange, called Potpourri, where everyone the previous fall put yarns in a brown bag and sealed it. Brown bags were exchanged and the idea was you had to weave something with the yarns in the bag for the person whose yarns they were. You can read the blog post about the exchange here.

Back in April of 2010, I actually began to figure out what to do with this… These were the yarns Sherrie had put in her bag and I had to weave something out of it. That’s a very large cone of fine pink kid mohair. The other two cones are unmercerized cotton. ?!?!?!?!?

Here is the post where I figured it all out, after counting out the 100 yards of the pretty knitting yarn and knowing I wanted to highlight it. This is the actual draft I made up.

I have to say that I was pretty freaking proud of this, it was really out of my wheelhouse and I’m not a complex kind of person, but I figured out how to do what I did with what I had to work with and well, I patted myself on the back. When I presented Sherrie with the yardage at the meeting in June, she didn’t seem really enthusiastic, I reread my blog post and I think her words were something like, “How Couture.”

Many years later she came to a meeting with the bolt of fabric and said, she was cleaning things out, came across the yardage and really didn’t know what to do with it and did I want it back! Well heck yes! I felt bad that she really didn’t respond to it, maybe the color, size of the motifs, whatever, she is rather petite, but I stuck it on my shelf and it sat for another couple of years…

Until last week. Bottom line is I looked at the patterns I developed for classes, played around to see what fit on the yardage, and to my complete surprise and delight, the front couple yards and back couple yards matched exactly and I was able to do this.

Getting weft patterning to line up is really really hard, and I can’t believe how effortlessly it matched. I was not able to match the shoulders, so I added linen epaulets. The shawl collar/band would not match up, so I got the idea to cut it on the bias. The linen/rayon I had on my shelf warmed up the pink and created a nice detail and gave me the extra fabric I’d need to make this work. It is my walking vest pattern, with the armhole from my Daryl Jacket C pattern, with side seam pockets and a shawl collar.

I could not find any buttons that would work, so when all else fails, cover your own.

I finished it up last night and pulled another piece of handwoven cloth off the shelf, this one from a Diane Totten workshop on Crimp cloth. I have a plan, and can’t wait to dive into this.

Meanwhile, I want to give my assistant something to do while I’m gone, so I went back into the archives to the binder that has all the yarn wrapped cards from the years I wrote the color forecast column for Handwoven Magazine. They should publish the whole series in an ebook, because there are some great resources and inspiration in there. But I have the actual wrapped cards that they used for photography. This one was called Down on the Farm, from the Spring/Summer 2006 forecast, published in the Sept/Oct 2005 issue of Handwoven Magazine.

Together we pulled all the yarns from my shelves that remotely went with the palette, and then from there I finalized my selections and she is busily, as I write, winding all the dyed skeins into pull balls so I can wind a warp when I get back from Seattle. I can’t wait…

This will be a run of handwoven scarves, and my stash of scarves is empty, the last one sent as a gift to my daughter’s pediatrician, now adult doctor, who every time Brianna goes to see him asks when he is going to get a handwoven scarf from me. He has been asking for 25 years. It was time… And now I have to weave some more.

I spent the weekend up at Peters Valley school of craft, where Brianna and a team of volunteers from my local weaving guild, refurbished all the looms, I replaced 12 Macomber loom aprons, with Brianna right behind me removing and replacing as I sewed them up. Everything looks fabulous, and Saturday night, we all went down to the store/gallery on campus for the opening of the show, Act 2: Art as a Career Sequel . Since Art is my career, I didn’t qualify for the show, but Brianna, my lovely talented daughter who works for a vet hospital during the day, got a piece accepted, only 50 pieces were selected out of more than 600. I adore the piece, it is from her Gender series, called The Gender Game. The figures are woven in a summer/winter pattern with porn video tape. It is a pretty powerful piece.

And so, life marches on, there are some great things happening in my own little corner of the world, and I try to stay informed as is realistic, but not get too caught up in the rest of the world politics. Election time will be soon enough. Otherwise I’d be paralyzed from the helplessness of it all. Spring is slowly coming, I finally have daffodils peaking out of their little heads, and I have fish swimming happily in the cleaned up ponds. There is a pile at the curb of junk from the yard, for bulk pick up on Monday, thanks to my handyman Rick, and I’ll be flying off to Seattle to study with Madelyn soon.

Stay tuned…