Sunday, December 06, 2009


Half Way to 12 Christmas Tags!

I admit that I'm hoarding these Tim Holtz 12 Tags (see below for website) and boxes of materials for the moment school is OUT and I can settle into my studio and CREATE!

I have so many ideas for jewelry, dragons, hearts and other pins; tote bags and purses; aprons; and hats. OY! I could hibernate in that room for the whole winter.

Once school is OUT and my grades are IN, I'll have vacation time until January 20th when the spring semester begins. At that time I'll be teaching two classes: Effective Speaking and Touchstones of Western Literature. I do so love a light spring semester. Speech is undoubtedly the most rewarding class I teach. The students arrive in trembling fear of public speaking and leave with a great deal of self-confidence! I love the process!!! And what can I say about Western Literature, except... that I really do need to find another approach. This whole read/quiz/write cycle is so boooorrrrrring. I'm thinking to shake it up a bit... but then... shaking the delivery would require me to spend some of my precious vacation time pouring over books and rethinking my syllabus. Hmmmm.... it's tempting. But so is the studio! And travel! And photography! And... I've been thinking about cooking lessons or French lessons or even piano lessons! AND... to top it all off... I've applied to be a guardian ad litem for the Vermont courts (but that won't be worked out until next year some time if all the gears mesh).

What I'm thinking is... the second half of life... if this is where I am... is propelling me to be embrace the different quadrants of life: being/doing/introvert/extrovert. Other pieces seem to fall in line -- from writing (which most definitely MUST be part of every equation in my life), to art, to politics, to first and foremost, my relationship with Steve. Here we are in the belly of nature (I'm still in awe of the four seasons, woodland creatures, and my garden) in Vermont. I am blessed with an abundance of inspiration. Muse? Muses!

Back to grading papers, dreaming not so much of sugar plums, but of Christmas Tags! Stay tuned!

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