I have been pretty much sitting on my ass for a year, since I retired, and I don't have much to show for it. Oh sure, I knitted a couple of sweaters, one of which was a great success, shown here, modeled by the recipient, my darling daughter:
And sure, I have sewn a few things, curtains, a robe for my little Riley for Giftmas last year. I made some PJs for me, which would be great but the fabric is crap- how can 100% cotton jersey feel like sandpaper- but I digress.
The point here is I haven't made 1 painting. Well, I did, but I hated it. I haven't written one word of value. What the F have I been doing all this time?
Going for hikes, going on boat rides, a medicinal walk every day, reading some, knitting lots, and I got hooked on sugar and Facebook. What the hell? I retire to start doing good productive things and I end up addicted to 2 things which were not good for me. The Internet was sucking my brain out through my Facebook page, and the sugar was stacking on the inches around my midriff. I finally figured out the biggest culprit on the inches was the damned homemade iced tea I was drinking, about 2 quarts a day. Sugary. Not quite to the level of "sweet tea" but still too sweet. Too many teaspoons of sugar. So that went by the wayside 2 weeks ago and I feel better already. I still eat sugar but in short controlled bursts, and only a tiny bit a day. 1 teaspoon allowed in my coffee in the morning and no more than 2 cups of tea a day. With only 1 teaspoon (very hard but I am sticking to this).
So all this time on my hands and I haven't done anything very creative at all. I made one tiny little mixed media thing. I made a bulletin board out of corks. It weighs a ton because I just did it on plywood purchased at Home Depot. It has a crappy, not very well mitered frame I roughed in using molding from Home Depot and then hand painted.
But in the department of never started art: empty computer screens, blank canvases, empty notebooks, these things are still sitting just like that. Empty, blank, never started.
Today all that has changed. Looking through my photos on my computer, I have accomplished something. I have mastered homemade bread.
I have hosted my kids and grand kids (here they are in my great room having cocoa on Thanksgiving weekend).
I have traveled to Tacoma to see Erin several times. I traveled to PDX once to see my dear friend Tina. And I have knitted a bunch of stuff. I even finished a BLANKET that I then turned into the top of a quilt for our friend's wedding present.
Pep talk to self: "So, see? Me, are you listening? You have done something. You have learned some new things. Your mind is not gone and your brain has not changed to grape jelly." So there.
And now I have faced down the scariest thing of all. The blank computer screen, with a fresh new Word document open and waiting for my story. Not my story of me, but a story I am writing. I have taken the leap. And the net may or may not appear. It may never get published. It may never get read by anyone but me. But it is mine and I aim to finish it. And I probably won't spontaneously combust or be laughed out of existence.
Or it may get published. You'll never know if you don't finish it. Recognition may not be of paramount importance, but it does wonders for the ego, and in urn, the self-confidence. Personally I have the utmost faith in your writing abilities. I know you, and I know how your brain works, and I know you are capable of spinning a fine yarn, and I'm not talking bout knitting, which you also are so good at. Maybe your creative productivity will provide the impetus for me to get off my fat ass and do something. I look forward to reading whatever you write. Write on!
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