Sunday, December 19, 2010 — Sun plus Frost?

Those two words figure largely in my life this week. Thank goodness my wonderful helper, Carlos put an old defunct patio umbrella over my scant blanket covering of our poor old lemon tree. I awoke to one of the coldest frosts I can remember at the beginning of the week. The elements rule the land at this moment. We were ready to move our two portable buildings from Dana Gray School to Pacific Textile Arts last Thursday but the mover took one look at the soil in the back yard and pronounced it unfit for receiving the goods. It would have bogged down the semi and of course none of us wanted that. Then more rains came. Then the frost came. Suddenly, Thursday of this week, I arrived at Alger Street to see men pounding pipes in the ground through pressure treated boards. The project was on again. At six o'clock the next morning they began removing the single wide from the elementary school and transported it to the other side of town in no time. By the time I arrived, the library building (the single wide) was in place as was the first half of the double wide. I took photos and mini-movies of the second half being jockeyed into place by an amazingly skilled fork lift driver. Back and forth, back and forth, in very tight space. Eventually the two halves were side by side with just a small see-through gap between them. I had to leave to try to hunt down keys to the smaller building which no one seemed to have. By the time I returned, the second building was tightly secured with both halves snugged up to each other as if they had never parted. All this is very exciting news to those of us who have been fund raising for the last six months to bring about this move.

Hopefully, some of our members will work on painting the insides and repairing those things that fall apart during such a move. I will be leaving for my yearly tapestry trip to Mexico mid-January and returning at the beginning of March. Then Stefan and I will install a Baltic Birch floor similar to what we put in the gallery and kitchen of the old house which serves as our headquarters. The birch plywood floor will help spread the weight of all our books and the looms which are destined for the larger building. So, one would have to consider that real progress has been made in this department. As many of you know, we were hit with an edict to install fire sprinkler systems in each building. This order reached us five days after we already had permits in our hands, so we're still reeling a bit with the additional burden of 11K to cover this unexpected cost. If there is still anyone out there who hasn't contributed to this cause and would like a tax receipt to apply to the upcoming income tax trauma, please keep us in mind. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization and your donations are completely tax deductible. Donations may be sent to Pacific Textile Arts, 450 Alger Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. You also can always find us at www.pacifictextilearts.org where there are some great pictures of the youthful weavers we plan on serving with these two additional buildings to our little campus. Soon we'll have some pictures of the buildings on our website also. We should be completely moved into the new buildings by the end of March. Do come visit us.

Sun and frost have other current connotations for me at the moment. While I was living in Santa Rosa to be near Skip in the hospital, I returned once a week to do the bills and check on the house. My good friend Sandra was living here and watching the dogs for me. Upon returning toward the end of this period, I was welcomed by a two page note telling me all the things that were wrong with my refrigerator, a seventeen year old Sub Zero which, at the time of first moving into our kitchen, was the only one which would fit into the space we had provided. In fact, I had chosen an Amana, which was already delivered to our kitchen and which upon very close inspection, offered one eighth inch too much volume to allow our dishwasher to open and receive dishes. Big shock. Amana sent back, catalogue referred to and realization that the smallest Sub Zero would just make it. Sub Zero bought and installed. Never worked great. Just a lot of little things. Back to Sandra. She had bought us a thermometer the previous year and made worried comments about the SZ's performance. In anticipation of Sandra moving in with the dogs during my Mexico trip, I called at least three appliance people to see what they could do about our less than perfect dishwasher and refrigerator. Dishwasher got a little better and supposedly the frig did also. Last week a snow storm brewed in the freezer one day. The next day I could hardly open the door and now there is water coming out from under the whole thing. I give up. Kathy had told me about the Sun Frost refrigerators which are built just three hours north of us in Arcata. They are reputed to be some of the most efficient on the planet. I'm told the Red Cross uses them because of their reliability and efficiency. Last week it appeared to me that I had two choices. A new SZ or plunge into this green land of simplicity and efficiency. I chose the Sun Frost and Kathy, Danny and the kids are going to carry it down here in their van later this week. Wish me luck. It will actually be reassuring not to have an ice maker or other things that can go wrong while I'm gone. And Sandra won't have to be upset about the refrigerator running day and night. Wish US luck. I'll keep you posted.

Obviously, weather conditions, the long awaited moving of our portable buildings for Pacific Textile Arts and the big decision made about moving to Sun Frost from my snowy freezer have provided diversion from things that lately have caused me to be preoccupied. Couple that with what holiday events I can't avoid or wish to be at and my need to meet several self-imposed deadlines before I leave for Mexico in January and you can see that I really don't have any time to feel sorry for myself. I look forward to talking to some of our family on Skype and being with the others at the end of the week. All in all, lots to look forward to. Greetings and much love to those of you who have sent cards and emailed me. I so appreciate you all for checking in. Have a loving holiday.