There’s nothing like working on projects at the last minute – and I’m so backed up on things that need to be done… I love it! I really do – it’s marvelous to have so much I have to do that every moment is productive. Okay, maybe not so terrific as all that – it might be better to have just a little time off. That’s not happening anytime soon, though.

The mess of stuff in the photo represents some of my unfinished fair projects. As of now I’ve got less than 10 days to finish them all. Other things have gotten mightily in the way… like work. But in time off, I’ve finished one of them – three to go, one of these, as you might notice, a partially knitted sweater. Can I do this without killing my right hand – or putting myself back into the unsympathetic hands of the last hand-surgeon I saw? (What do you expect? She asked. You do handwork. And consider your age! I did, feeling wrinkles – metaphorically, at least - spring forth as I temporarily shriveled into someone 30 years older… She was perhaps 10 years younger than I, and I’ll bet I work out more regularly at the gym than she does. And yes, this does impact on the health of your hands, along with everything else.)

At any rate, work, the sort I do for other people, will ensure no unbroken stretches of tatting or knitting, so my hands are safe,
though these projects just might remain unfinished up until the last moment.

More pleasantly, the second distraction to juggle in with the mix – work being the first distraction from real life – has been a stream of visitors – all some of my favorite people. It began when our friend Charles was in town from Virginia to be part of his son’s wedding to one of the most beautiful young women I’ve ever seen.

Then my friend Laurie came with her fiancé, Danny – both lovely, easy-going individuals who know a lot of different things, which makes conversations engrossing. Last weekend, K and Sheila were here for a tatting workshop I arrange for the shop every summer. The day after the conference, we visited for a while in the shop and even had a sort of picnic lunch downstairs (K’s husband is in a wheelchair and this was easiest for him). Another set of friends is due sometime next week, when they’ve had a surfeit of a family wedding further upstate. (And somewhere in there I’ve got to get the fair stuff finished and delivered!)
One of the best things a visitor can bring to you is good conversation – not only news from elsewhere but also their own ideas to leaven what you yourself are thinking.


Laurie not only brought great conversation but also the gift of a spinning wheel, this flax wheel of possibly 19th century vintage. It needs a little fixing and TLC, but the wheel is true and it looks like it will spin sweetly. I’ll be taking it to for its first repairs in a few weeks (after the fair stuff goes in…)