Thursday, July 14, 2011 — I'm fine, just busy

Please don't worry. I'm just not finding enough hours in the day. Partly because of commitments and partly because I'm holding fast to my exercise regime of going to Curves at least four or five times weekly and doing my laps at the pool five to six times per. I actually made it to seven last week. Exercise is so amazing. It's not a full scale cure but it really keeps me going. You all know I am happy to live where I live and have wonderful, attentive friends. But there seems to be no cure for that special sadness and loneliness that can suddenly come upon you without warning. That's when endorphins really get you through the day. I've always thought morphine was a miraculous drug when you are in extreme circumstances in a hospital. But endorphins, which I understand are a natural kind of morphine manufactured by the body during exercise, are welcome at any time.

Backing up a bit, I did go to hear David Brewer and Rebecca Malnucky and their joyous (or sometimes not exactly so) Celtic music. I made a salad at Harvest Market and took it to the theater and sat there eating it up on the top row before the performance so that I could be sure I arrived in time for a good seat. Delightful program. Monster players. So, of course I was happy I took the time to do it.

Then back to the Tuesday deadline for curating the online exhibit of our Maiz tapestries. There were moments on Monday when I wasn't sure I was actually going to make it. But, I did! I have been playing phone tag with the editor over several different image files. But I think it looks like it's all going to work out. On Monday I sent her six folders by email with all the narative material and lists. Then, on Tuesday I screwed up my courage and made the final CD with those same six folders plus the folder with the jpg images of the tapestries. Of course, it was the old "third time is the charm" before I had it right with the files all there and in the desired order. Well, that's not actually so bad, is it? I've done worse as I recall. I'm a lousy typist but I suddenly become a perfectionist before I am willing to finally send something like that off.

So I took a couple of days to catch up on laundry, hair cut, food shopping and all that exciting stuff. Mostly just going through a kind of decompression period. About midweek I began giving my attention to the needs of Pacific Textile Arts. We had our board meeting on Monday night this week and people showed up in various degrees of health and wholeness. It seems to be some kind of a seasonal thing for post replacement parts operations or recuperation from catastrophic falls. Anyway, I suddenly felt I might be the one in the best shape out of those in the room. The others are definitely all seeming to be on the mend though, thankfully.

Two friends offered to help me paint Tuesday. Beta and Sandra finished the touch-up painting in the small library reading room. While they did that I got back to work on the next section of floor of the big classroom. Feels good to go forward with that again. Not that I love doing it, I just feel that much closer to completion with each coat of finish. Imagine how caught up with my circumstances I might become if I didn't have all these things to distract me and carry me forward.

Another wonderful distraction coming up is the benefit program Mike and Leah are going to do at the Mendocino Hotel on Monday night, July 18th. I really appreciate Pattie De Mateo doing this as a Mendocino Stories benefit for Pacific Textile Arts. We just received a $15,000. bid for reroofing the old house at PTA. It's down to bare wood so we'll have to face that as soon as possible. We also need to paint the new buildings before we can get our final inspection. Can't afford to have Victor's Painting to do it with that roof taking priority. So we're going to work on it ourselves as best we can in September.

When I returned from my swim last night I baked two apple cake/torts with brown rice flour. I had the Soroptimist brown bag lunch gang coming here for lunch today. I also took berries from my yard and added them to rhubarb and strawberries I received in my box from the Noyo Food Forest to make a fruit crisp, also with rice flour and granola. I have so many friends and acquaintances who can't eat wheat anymore, it's getting to seem more important to offer the alternatives. I think I'd better take the leftovers to friends quickly and get them out of the house. Too dangerous to be here alone with them. Bobbie behaved himself beautifully with the lunch crowd. He went from person to person, begging for attention. I have of course warned everyone that he has sometimes been a "nipper" but it often gets out of my hands as people respond to his obvious love of being a smooch. So I sit there and hold my breath while he follows his bliss. He is a dear one and such great company for me and for Latte. I guess he is just meant to be my mechanism for accepting whatever surprise is around the corner while keeping me on my toes.