This is So Nice!

There is one good things about having a Hub who works for an educational institution in NZ - he gets from midday Dec 24 to Jan 2 off without having to use his annual leave. (He also gets the Tuesday after Easter off, but he often works on Good Friday and Easter Sunday so that's not as great. And contrary to popular belief, if you're not on the teaching staff, you don't get all the school holidays off. Polytech tutors never understand that!) Anyhoo, even though I had hoped to finish the many 2008-and-prior unfinished projects, and the garden tidied, and the house cleaned, clearly I was dreaming and not much has been accomplished. Still, we've been having slow days where we make extravagant breakfasts, drink champaign, and in my case, watch hours and hours of my Christmas present.

Ben got me the classic 1968 BBC, Kenneth Clarke's "Civilisation - a Personal View" DVD. I can't remember if I saw this in the US or in Japan, but I do remember being in absolute awe as a bright-eyed student. This long predates the home VCR machines, and I think I caught four or five episodes. TV documentaries have changed quite a bit since 1968 so it's a little awkward and difficult to follow, but the series is like a superb lecture with good visuals, and I'm doubly thrilled as I never thought I'd be able to see it again. Even as a kid I felt television had come of age, and I could look forward to a lifetime of worthwhile programs to enrich my life. I may have been misinformed, but it's wonderful they they've issued the series in a DVD. And here are some trivia: it was the first BBC program in color, and the David Attenborough was a BBC executive who planned the series.

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Once in a great while I hear from people who bought my scarves. Nearly a year ago, I heard one of my scarves spent Christmas in Italy, but most often these correspondences occur immediately after the pieces are delivered, not after they've been worn. So it's especially nice to hear, out the blue, that someone loves my scarf, that she loves wearing it! Here's an email I got from Mainz, Germany today. And if you haven't heard lately from someone who appreciates your work, consider this email as intended for all of us who make lovely things:

Good morning Meg,

Hope you had a peaceful Christmas.

I am still in bed and looking on to a bright blue sky: the temperature is
-4.1 degrees and hasn't gone much above 0 for the last couple of days. Yet it is ever so much better than what we had before and over xmas: damp and + 5!!!!!!!!

Your scarf has come in very handy, I've worn it a lot and it keeps me warm.
Quite unbelievable when you consider the size of it.

Regards

Anneliese

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My house really needs serious cleaning; I started counting the days before Ben goes back to work. Because I had planed the big cleaning for months, I've not been putting things away properly. Now, I can't find stuff, I have to walk around my stuff in practically every room, and I am so grumpy about my mess.

We had a semi-circle in the middle of the living room from the 24th to the 26th; I spent Christmas inside this semi-circle observing the color scheme for my next warp; Ben sat outside it while we watched the doco together. This is why we can't have dogs, or kids...

(There's my sellable pieces wrapped in Tyvak builder's screening material; all picture frames are Ben's; I bought three cardboard cases for my three terms of drawing, but the cases are bursting at the "seams" (folds) and I have to reinforce them before I can lift them off the floor; borrowed cookbooks, my notebooks and sketchbooks, and bubble wrap; finally, my lunch plate...)

Summer Blog-Lite will continue for another week; it's too sunny and summery to pretend to be serious, folks! I hope you are well.