Staying sane.

It was suddenly cold today.......it's hard to know what to expect.....one day it's 40, and the next day it's 20........everything outside is gray and brown and drab.

Thank God there is color in the studio.

I'm still weaving on a wool warp on the AVL......this one has a wool/silk weft.........I'm not really sure what to call it........a cloak/cape I guess.

I especially love the "cloak pin".

I occasionally think I should keep something that I make, but truth is, I am not a "dress up" kind of girl, and would probably never wear it.

I do love making them though.

I love the towpath trail along the old canal....it's barely 2.5 miles down the road, and you can get a good hour's walk there.  It's quiet, and peaceful.

I took my pulse the other day......it was 60........I guess all this walking is good for me.

Naya approves.....it's one of our three regular walks.

At the end of the day, she's tired, and content, and it makes my heart sing.........she's happy.

Home with a good book, it's warm and cozy, the wind can howl, the snow can fly.........but here we are safe and comfortable, it doesn't get much better.

Is it just me?  Or are you just more satisfied with simple things as you age.......I can't imagine now how I complicated my life when I was younger.  Or why.

I listened to Glenn Close last night, when she won the Golden Globe award for "The Wife".....which is a very interesting, if depressing, story.   She talked about how women need to find their passion, find what is important to them, aside from their roles as nurturers.

I am not sure what I would be doing if I didn't have my weaving studio, it sustains me on a daily basis.   I am grateful to have found what matters to me on a daily basis, and what keeps me going.

I am getting used to my new Octado, after a few speed bumps, it is starting to impress me.  Since I have less looms these days, they have to be looms that I love.

I am also a doodler.
Sometimes. 
I find it very soothing.
Sometimes I don't even know really what it is I'm making, until suddenly it is obvious.

Today I learned something that I did not know........my daughter texted me....asked if I would save her the top to a parmesan cheese container.  And I did.

It fits perfectly on a small canning jar, and since she buys bulk parmesan in a bag, it works 

perfectly as a shaker.

Probably would work for a lot of other things, as well.

And a straw fits right down one of the holes, so you could drink a smoothie out of it.

Who knew?

We really only have today.   There's no tomorrow, and no yesterday, when you are seriously living in today.  I used to worry about next week, next month, about things that I couldn't control in any lifetime.  I had a sign, over my sewing machine, that said, "Stay in the Day".........that was when I was married to my alcoholic, unpredictable, unpleasant, now deceased ex. 
It was the only way I could function, to keep myself firmly anchored in each and every day.   When they say One Day at a Time, in AA and AlAnon, they aren't kidding.
But somehow, "Stay in the Day" resonated with me.
I had to work very hard to make that happen.........it was a struggle.

Now, so many years later, and lessons learned, staying in the day seems so obvious to me........and mostly so natural and easy.  When  I wake up in the morning, I have a tentative plan for my day, and not much beyond it.  It keeps me sane.

Stay in the day, it makes life so much better.