Time, Glorious Time

Finally, I have time. Oodles and oodles of glorious time. Into my second year of retirement, I have freedom to do exactly as I like, whenever I like, and for as long as I like. I’m finding no end to enjoyable pursuits. I’m rediscovering creative activities that I’d put aside while busy with the frenzy of my work years. Design, drawing, photography, watercolor painting, and creative hand work including sewing, quilting, embroidery, and needle work now fill my days. I’m also attending workshops, reading, and experimenting to discover new interests: indigo dying, soap making, block printing…. These things all take time, focus, and concentration. My new lifestyle, free of deadlines and schedules, gives me all of this. Sometimes, I pick up embroidery hoops early in the morning and work on a piece until hours have passed.  Or, at times, I build larger projects one step at a time resting and reflecting, sometimes for days at a time, between steps. Other times, I have two or three projects on the go at once and I jump from one to the next as interest and inspiration move me. If I delight in creating, then how will I stop long enough to blog? Well, I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I need purpose and focus to set the words in motion. Writing a blog will give me structure, purpose, and a format to commit to writing on a regular basis. In part, the impetus for blogging has been the current global situation of COVID/lockdowns and isolation.  Although I am an introvert by nature, total lack of connection is a challenge. As I create, I like to talk to other creators, share my ideas, and see others’ ideas and works.  Recently, as I’ve been working on a piece, I’ve sent quick pics and updates of progress to close friends—I admit I do enjoy a certain amount of ‘oohing and awing’. After sending one set of pics, my sister texted the reply, ‘why don’t you start a blog?’. Hmm…why don’t I? Well, you can see where that has led. I’m also spurred on by the possibility of spreading the joy of being inspired by everyday beauty, focusing on positivity and the hope to counterbalance the negativity plastered throughout current news and social media. I prefer to focus on the beauty that I see everyday, and hope that you do too! I find inspiration in nature: the scent of drying maple leaves crunching on a trail; the first blanket of snow glittering in winter sunshine; the relief in the first humid scent of a wet puddle in spring thaw; the flicker of a blue wing as jays dart through the yard… For me, that is the inspiration that leads to creating: sewing, embroidering, quilting, knitting–fiber arts of all kinds!