It has been a rather crazed week of travel and visits and more travel and work and more work. I got into Albuquerque around dinnertime on Sunday and well Sunday was Sunday. Monday was a day spent at my newly portable bench working on a piece that I was to have had done before I had even arrived in Alb., so needless to say I was just a bit behind on that task and since Monday was a holiday I rather felt cheated that I did not really take advantage of that whole “take the day off” attitude the rest of the country was engaging in. Oh well, I really did have a VERY fun day and the piece came out very nicely indeed, if I do say so myself.
Tuesday was the early day of driving. I had more horrible storms and when I crossed into Colorado I was pelted with HAIL. The temperature dropped 25 degrees in 10 minutes and as I was in shorts I was just hoping that I would make it over the pass without incident. I only made it to North Platte Nebraska that evening. I had actually hoped to get several hundred miles further but as I filled my tank and watched the torrential downpour I knew that I was finished for the day. I grabbed a beer from the store and a bowl of chili from Wendy’s. (TOTALLY healthy dinner…NOT) I crashed in my Ho Jo’s rooms and slept in till past 7:30 the next morning.
The drive on Wednesday was just grey and dull. I had not seen the sun for several days and I have to say I am feeling the effects form the lack of sunshine. But I arrived in Iowa City around 3:30 and was just so very happy to pull up into Cris’s driveway get out of the car, sit in Paul’s chair, drinking a beer catching up. We had really good Indian food for dinner and I tried to stay up to see my Bruddah Paul who had to work till 1am. I did not make it. I crashed about 45 minutes before he got home.
Thursday was a GREAT day of working in Cris’s studio and once again unpacking my portable studio. We had a blast and her friend Cindy Slater (owner of Bead Haven in Cedar Rapids) came over and joined the fun. I actually had the best time listening to these 2 great friends banter back and forth and making each other laugh. I got 3 pendants finished up, and completed a necklace for myself that uses a new bead from Terri Caspary Schmidt that I sort of procured off of her bench. All I have to do is spend an hour and clean up the chain and throw it into the tumbler and I will have a piece of jewelry that has a BEAD on it.. (Does that make you happy Cris? I did it just for you.)
It is now Friday morning and I am actually seeing the SUN for the first time in days. I have my cup of coffee and am having sweet morning interactions with Cris and the very very sweet Miss Sophie.
The elegant Miss Sophie soaking up the rays and surveying her realm.
It is nice being here with my friends, just sort of relaxing and having fun before the insanity of Bead & Button starts up. I sit and look at the past several years and find that the changes that have taken place are amazing. What I also fine fascinating is how quickly a pattern can be integrated into your circuitry. I have read that you can totally integrate a “habit” into your life by simply doing that thing for 21 days. I have created some new “habits” in these last months and I am finding it even more intriguing how I find the way to incorporate these into my travel routines. The funniest part is that Cris and I have not spent any alone time together since I came through Iowa City last year and after about an hour or so of catching up, having a beer and playing with Sophie we both grabbed our computers and became engrossed in our emails, FaceBook and the news. We never stopped chatting on and off but really, the things that we enjoy and desire to maintain is really funny. We had quite a laugh about how we both just needed to have our worlds on out laps.
I leave for Milwaukee early tomorrow to set up my classroom and start seeing the rest of the circle of people that are my creative family circle. Safe travels to all and I am looking forward to seeing all of you.
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