Just another day?

My friend keeps telling me that if I had known I would live to be this old, I might have taken better care of myself.
Yep.  My birthday.  Today.   72 years on this planet, in this body.
And true, I have not been kind to this body.  I tell my girls all the time, to think about the things they do.....lifting things that are too heavy, putting too much stress on joints and bones and generally not considering the outcome.
But of course, they probably won't listen, anymore than I would have.

 I am brought up short, thinking of my cousin, Billy, who was more like a brother all of my life.

Born a day before me, we were inseparable.   The fabric of my life was woven around him.  He was my friend, my protector, my safe place.

He's been gone 15 years now, from esophageal cancer, a very unpleasant way  to leave this life.

I miss him still.

Yesterday, on his birthday, I got to thinking about all the things that I have lived in this last 15 years, that he was robbed of.  So much life in that span of time, grandkids born and loved, time with family and friends, living my passion in the studio.

Gratitude for those years, and sadness that he didn't have them, are one and the same.

Every time I gripe and complain that this hurts and that doesn't work the way it used to, I try to remind myself, that he doesn't have anything to complain about.   He can't watch the sun come up, in front of the fire, drinking his coffee.

 I breathe deeply, and I'm grateful for every day that I still get a chance to do it all again.  It's always the simplest of things that matter the most.
Sunrises, sunsets, birds singing, a video from my littlest grands wishing me a happy birthday, hugs, friends, the lull of the loom, the shuttle passing back and forth.  A cup of tea, a good book.  A fat cat snoring behind me on the back of the couch. All my memories, good and not so good,  of a life lived fully
Gratitude, my friends, is the attitude.

And that is my philosophical take of the day.

Naya does not seem to be too upset by the snow, even though she came from the south, she takes it in stride, running in it, playing in it, and even sitting in it in the sunshine.


In the studio, some towels on my blue warp.........changing drafts at the click of a mouse.  Ah, technology, sometimes you are priceless.

Sometimes these towels sell off my FB business page as soon as they are done......nice, yes, but harder then to build up stock for shows...........got to get Lois weaving them as well.

She just finished this ruana....which is lovely and soft........and missing a stripe on the upper left.

I am trying to come up with something to offset that in the visual of it.

Buttons?  A brooch?  An embroidered design??

Or just leave it???

               I have changed up my stool

on the AVL.   

It seems to help.  My PT guy seems to think that weaving with the elift is not hurting my hip.....it's weaving on looms that require me to "lift" my hip.

That is VERY good news.

I am still only weaving a couple of hours each day, then finding other things to do.

The PT seems to be helping gradually.

While I am not really vain, and certainly not a fashion plate, I have long wanted my hair to be like this.

My father was totally white like this by the time he was 70.  Mine just keeps hanging on in gray mode.

But then, on the other hand, I am very resistant to spending money on frivolous things like this.

But should I?????   What do you think????

Today will be a quiet day at home.  Weather permitting, I will take Naya for a walk, and that will be it for me.  And that's ok.  I  don't need bells and whistles.   

Serenity.  That's my birthday gift to me.

Yeah.