School days…but different
I never liked school
and in grades 7-12, I felt that the school never liked me much. (I made a bunch
of life long friends, but it was not a good fit. My father once said it was one
of his regrets in life that he was part of me and that school, something that
still amazes me.) So it is ironic that I have probably taken more classes since
leaving school than the average bear. This fall is that on steroids.
It was a bunch of
coincidences that led me to be over scheduled class-wise this fall—that and my
issue with not being able to say no. (I just looked back at my New Year’s
Resolutions for 2013—just say no is one of them. Why am I surprised?) As I was
walking the dogs this morning (Muddy shivering in the wet grass, wanting to sit
in the sun, while Roger prefers the shade, being black and all), it occurred to
me that each class is so very different—not only in subject matter but in
format.
Three or so years
ago, Pam Brewer said she wanted to teach a Mosaic class in Asheville. I said
sign me up. Pam is one of those artist types who can do anything. Well. Really
well. And it turns out, she is a patient generous gentle funny teacher too. But
I had to wait years to find that out and I had those years to collect bits of
stuff to turn into mosaic.
When the schedule
finally worked out and I could take her class, it turned out it was at
Wildacres Retreat Center, off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Little Switzerland.
Is this sounding too perfect or what? Well, it was pretty darned close. The
retreat center was gorgeous and quiet, served edible food and had comfortable
quarters. The class was populated with an eclectic group of women coming at it
from varied angles. Several were potters who had pieces of their work to work
with, others had experience but in other stuff. We got along well. And I came
home with a bird bath which I have wanted for years and a new top to a
hideously ugly old plant stand. Knock a couple more things off the list and a
good time was had by all.
The big class of the
fall is Welding, another class that has been on my list for a while and I
almost missed it—it was the last class in the “Con Ed” booklet. I couldn’t miss
it though—I have to
add this to my repertoire. It is Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5:30-9:30,
for something like 10 weeks. Oh my! Once I get there, it is fine. In advance, I
have dreaded it every week: it’s long and intimidating.
A class list showing
our birthdays was sent around on Day 1. All but one of my fellow students was
born since I graduated from college. Sigh. So much for finding appropriate
single men there! The one person older than me has a long braid, tattoos in
abundance, earrings, and is in serious need of dental work. Yes, I am
judgmental. My mother taught me that. It also turns out he is a very kind and
patient person (as is the teacher, thankfully). While partnered with this
gentleman, he insisted I continue to lay down beads until I felt really
comfortable. And he was very supportive in his critique of my wiggly wormy
attempts.
Meanwhile, amongst
the majority of the class I list as “cowboys,” who have none of the fear I have
and who probably would benefit from a slight dose, there are also some folks
who surprise me in their compassion for the older woman who seems a bit freaked
out by all this explosive stuff. One cute young buck came over to me a couple
weeks back and suggested that we know what we need to know to do what we want
to do—that we will never be pipe fitters and will never have to lay down a bead
that is perfect. He’s right, and I’m right too—in believing that learning to do
it right and to appreciate the dangers involved are good things.
At the front of the
line of these good people, there is my teacher who has been willing to put up
with my “special needs,” repeating things, and actually holding my hand as I
get more confident. (I did get partnered with a young fellow who didn’t seem
very happy to have me on board, or was horribly shy. When the teacher asked me
where he had gone I had to say I didn’t know—“He doesn’t speak.”)
Next, there was 90
minutes on making Sauerkraut. The teacher is someone I know through my work at
the Weaverville Library. She lives around the corner from me, on a mountainside
with an absolutely gorgeous home. She is a devotee of healthy eating as is her
husband who was, for this class, the sous chef. It was very informative and
yummy. My first batch isn’t bad.
A couple weeks back,
I drove down to Molly and David’s house where I took part in Beginning Jewelry
Fabrication. It was so
fun—and productive. They live in kind of a …oh I don’t know—could it be a holler? Or a cove? Anyway, it’s a private clearing with
outbuildings that are now studios and a cozy home and a friendly dog and it’s a
sweet spot. David is a potter and was firing a boatload of pots which includes
pizza night as he has a pizza oven that takes advantage of the heat of the
kiln. His own design I believe. One of these days I am going to find me a man
like that.
Back in the studio,
we sawed and sanded and soldered and played with rocks. It was soooo
satisfying. This was a class of three (I found out about it from Jan who was in
my Jewelry forging class last spring—great referral.) In the end, I wound up
with a ring and two pendants I am quite proud of. Yay!
The last class is an
online photography class. It has been a little hard to keep up with while all
the rest goes on in the real world, not cyberspace. I am about to do some
intensive computer time with it. I took a class with ed2go in
Florida—editing—which I loved so I am fairly confident from what I have seen so
far, there is stuff to learn here. It’s just the tangible world that calls to
me, the beautiful sunny days, the happy dogs, places to go, people to see,
classes with start and stop times.
I am so grateful to
these talented teachers for letting me into their lives –yeah, I know I pay for
the classes but it’s not like that. Each and every one of the teachers I had
this fall (well, the jury’s out on the online teacher…) gave of themselves in a
generous and kind way. It is a very warm and fuzzy thing.
PS: I must
confess one thing. Last week I dropped out of Welding. It was a very hard
decision and came at an odd point: we had done all the hard stuff and really
all we had in front of us was practicing on something we were making to take
home. After all those hours of laying down beads, we were going to
play—actually make something. Sigh. I am a little disappointed in myself but I
am also so happy to have the time back. It was a jigsaw puzzle to coordinate
each class in my day and if I just popped that piece out of my schedule,
everything else felt really good. It was the grown up thing to do, and being a
grown up sometimes…sucks.
Things I am Learning
& Miscellaneous Observations
• I have learned a lot about
choosing an email address having worked on a database of names and addresses
for the past two years. Tread cautiously. Avoid cap O vs letter 0, number 1 vs
lower case l. There are many others.
• While pursuing a blackhead
with a magnifying mirror, I was distracted by the skin on my neck. Blessedly,
it is often in shadow but wow! When did that happen?
• Perhaps I have
said this before but it has come up so many times recently, I feel I need to
say it out loud. If I can’t figure out what it is, I probably don’t need it.
Most recently I came to this conclusion at the Fiber Fair and then while
looking at the Northern Tool ad.
• From Karen re my concern
about not being able to say no, she wrote about a friend of hers who kept a list
of excuses next to her phone. “As a mother of school aged kids, her
favorite was ‘I'm sorry, I don't have an oven.’”
• Edie is retiring. She has
been polling friends who have taken this step ahead of her, getting advice from
friends. One is to embrace napping. I second that.
• With this
recent addition of tabs in gmail so that “Primary” “Social” and “Promotions”
are separated, I have put all the retail emails into the promotions tab and I
find as I go through I am so sickened by the amount of sale sale buy buy buy
that I just delete it all. My new money saving strategy. ‘Course late at night
when I feel sorry for myself, I know where to go…
• Muddy the
mini-monster-Maltese presents an interesting view point of the world that is
foreign to me in so many ways. For instance, he often finds himself in a place
he knows I can get him out of, and so he will just stand there and wait. I have
not had that option in a long time, if ever.
• As a Peggy, I
was often called Piggy as a child and that kinda morphed into collecting pig
paraphernalia. (I probably have enough in case you suddenly had a great idea of
something to send.) This year, a neighbor has started raising pigs. It has been
fun watching them grow into quite large healthy looking pigs that don’t look much
different from the pigs Katy Persky and I drew in elementary school.
• With Autumn in
high gear, dead foliage is exposing the garbage thrown out of cars on the road
home. It makes me a little nuts. I almost pulled over on the way to the library
this morning. I just want to understand who and why. There’s a Bojangles box
smashed into our dirt road. Doesn’t it bother anyone else? I think I’ll go get
it now…
• I got my 2014
calendar at this alternative bookshop where the guy who sold it to me thanked
me for coming in and supporting their work. It makes me want to go back, so
kind and human. Having the calendar (which is hand drawn and perhaps Xeroxed
with all sorts of lefty dates in it), makes the dates I get to put in it real.
I am going to South Africa in February!!!
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Tis the season
I
have been feeling…well, I thought it was wistful but when I looked that up,
that’s not it. Nostalgic? Aging? With a bit of wist thrown in (the dictionary
says there is no “wist…but how can I be ful of it then???). Maybe it’s the time
of year—looking at the Things I am Thankful For list, celebrating the 6th
anniversary of buying a home in Western North Carolina, Gini’s season of loss,
our collective loss of light/shorter days. It’s not sad, necessarily, perhaps
more reflective than usual.
Things I am thankful for…
• Anne Lamott audio books
(heck, all audio books)
• Seeing the world through
the eyes of my dogs
• Aforementioned dogs and the
friends we are becoming
• Being a part of different
groups of people who are doing good work…at the library, at Habitat, at Women
for Women.
• All the teachers in my life
• kale
The hall of famers that are
repeat every year but don’t get stale:
* Friends
* Family
(some of them)
* Knowing
so many who do such amazingly good work
* Knowing
so many who are so generous with money, time, talents
*
Opportunity (still and again)
* The
circumstances I was born into
* My
Mayberry life
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I’m lazily duplicating last
year’s list. I may have time to work on it more in the coming weeks. Meanwhile,
I am printing it out and putting it on the fridge. I need more frequent
reminders…
New Year's Resolutions
* Hang out in coffee shops
* Dance more
* Laugh more
* Close them doors and let the
windows open
(Repeats from last year)
* Learn to say no....diplomatically
* Quilt more—craft more
* Have more fun
* More adventures
* Read NY Times Magazines in the year in which they were
published
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“This family business can be
so stressful—difficult, damaged people showing up to spend time with other
difficult damaged people, time that might be better used elsewhere—yet out of
that, some accidental closeness, laughter, some pieced-together joy.” Anne
Lamott, Some Assembly Required
