Monday, January 26, 2009

2009 Out Of the Gate

Twenty-six days into the new month, the new year, and I haven't checked my birthday book. I just realized that I missed a really important one for a dear friend. Bad!

The flip side of this year is all of the new at my house. Little things. Simple pleasures.

I got an iPod for Christmas. I asked NOT to get one. Technology is a good thing -- as tools go. I like what they can do for us. But, I'm not a big fan of what they require of us. Learning how to load the iPod is a chore. My husband had it engraved, so I can't return it. That kind of "forced march" gets me going. Worse than futzing with technology, I hate to waste things. Particularly gifts. They represent the care another has for us. No little thing. Meanwhile, I have to labor long to load Mozart....

New furniture in my studio! A map chest and another little stacked set of drawers. Great news. Then came all of the making room and vacuuming and moving almost every ding-dong thing out there. It's beginning to take shape once again. And I can FEEL the organization on a cellular level. I can sense the absence of stuff formerly stacked on every surface and in bags and boxes all around me on the floor. I can think with greater clarity. Clearly enough to start another bead project (instead of finishing something already started).

I'm beading around a rather large raku face bead. This will be the sixth in a series of bead embroidered face cabochons. My idea for them will come out later this year -- possibly for the "Exploring Dimension" show for our Fiber Art Fusion group. A far-out dimensional piece, unlike any other I've created, is whirling around in my head. Shows, challenges, and even Round Robins are good for that. They cause us to think in fresh terms, to create with our best artistic selves -- wide awake and present.