A bit of navel gazing

I'm reading a silly book--Danielle Steel, if you can believe. The main lady is a woman whose children have grown and left home, coming to visit only rarely.  The plot is that even though she is older, and well settled into her life, she finds herself taking advantage of an opportunity, moving in a new direction, and totally changing her life into a much more interactive and exciting one. (Yeah, like that's going to happen  to me!)  But the concept lead me to thinking about a couple of friends, whom I perceive to be leading more exciting and socially interactive lives, even though they are as much as 12-14 years older than I am. I ask myself what is different with them, and I see them with more energy, and as more willing to become socially interactive.  Then I start to look for excuses for why I can't be that way.  I see myself with limited energy, and a willingness to settle for the status quo. But that leads me to think of Lorraine, with her very, very limited energy, being oxygen dependent, more or less confined to her house, but still serving as an influence to so many younger women.  There are women still who come up to me and tell me how influential she was in their development as fibre workers and fibre artists. So my "excuses" just don't hold water.  I need to look further inside me and find the energy to get out there and be willing to serve as a mentor.  (I define "mentor" as someone who helps someone else achieve their potential.)  

A part of this was an active morning, that left me feeling energized, to the point that I achieved as much in the studio today as I might, during the last year or so, achieve in a week.  I need to tap into that hidden energy.  I know that right now, doing so will leave me exhausted, but maybe I can work toward building up my energy reserve, in the same way as one might increase muscle strength.  I'm leading a pretty sedentary life.  I see David going through the same sort of process.  Currently, a busy morning leaves him, too, exhausted.  We both need to become more active.

Our adventures this morning started with an early e-mail, from the project coordinator in Edmonton, asking me to supply a new photograph for the World Wide Whispers project, as there is to be a major article in the Canadian Quilter Magazine, about the project, and they want to feature every artist who took part.  The photo is needed asap.  Beth, you know how anxious I've been about this whole thing.  You took a photo of me last time you were here. When that one didn't work out, David took one, but that one isn't the right resolution for use in a magazine.  One more time I asked my friend Gail if she would help, and I guess I finally wore her down, because she said yes.  This meant a hurried trip out to her home in the country, a photo session in the living room of a photographer who normally photographs only landscapes, and then a hideous ( to me) session with Photoshop, supervised by her cat.  (For some reason called "Turd") But the lady in Edmonton is happy with the result, Gail appeared happy with what I paid her, and I have the photo saved in my computer, as well as on a USB stick for when the computer crashes.  You can check out the photo on the other blog.