Back to Reality

It is nearly impossible to believe that a week ago we left Holetown!! And what a re-entry it has been.

The departure and return trip were a lot bumpier - and longer - than ever before. We had been expecting a bit of a flight delay because of freezing rain in Toronto, but what we got instead was a 6+ hour delay, thanks to a protest/strike by the air traffic controllers at Grantley Adams that closed the airport till 6:00. At the end of the trip, we were at my sister's door at 4:05 a.m.!!

Friday we got to see our kids in TO and stayed overnight at Matt and Theo's new condo - very nice indeed. And the plan was that we would hurry back to Peterborough on Saturday to get ready for them to come for Easter Sunday. Drop the suitcase - run to Sobey's.

I also scrambled to take out my dead Christmas greens from the front door and replaced them with these. Such a bright and cheerful change, albeit a bit "artificial" at this point. But a nod to things to come.

Unfortunately, Easter Sunday morning unfolded with other plans, including a nail in the tire of the kids' car. So that was that - no place for repairs and no car rental places open, so no kids and no Jackson. We will have a follow-up Easter this weekend, when we take all their goodies to Toronto.

This first week back unfolded with a "find the mail" hunt with Canada Post - luckily resolved quickly on Tuesday morning. Normally missing mail is not an issue, but not at Income Tax time.

Yesterday, I finally succumbed to a horrid tooth ache and called our dentist in Toronto to see if they could squeeze me in. A marathon of dental visits - to virtually every specialist there is: endodontist to see if they could do a root canal (NOT) and finally a periodontist who did an extraction. This morning, I am feeling surprisingly pain free - in comparison to the tooth ache, this is a cake walk.

With all this done, I am now ready to officially kick off the 2016 Hooking Season. And I have lots to look forward to on my calendar.

April 11th is a punch needle workshop with the Peterborough Hookers. Teacher is Sandra Marshall. If you haven't visited her website, you should go and have a look. Here's a link.

April 29, 30 and May 1st if the 50th Anniversary of the OHCG Annual at Deerhurst. Lots of great people to catch up with. Lots of workshops and vendors. Always a good time. Here's a link to more information if you don't know about it.

Then the teaching gigs begin.
A two-day wide cut class in early May with the TTEC trainees in Niagara on the Lake.
A week at Trent in June teaching Zen and the Art of Doodling.
A four-day Borders Class at Loyalist in Belleville in July. (here's a link to see all the great stuff going on there.)

Lots of work to get ready for the last two as they are brand new to me.

So, I may have been sad to leave my favourite island after 10 weeks. But I am happy to be home again - now that the bumps are behind me.

Happy Spring everyone. When all is said and done, it's great to be home.

Only 2.5 days left!

Well, we came for 2.5 months and now we only have 2.5 days to go here in Holetown before winging our way home again.

It seems to be a regular pattern but about 10 days before you have to leave, your head starts filling with lists of all the things you "have to do" when you get home.  I guess that is one of the best parts of being here in this suspended reality for 10 weeks.

I don't call it a vacation - it is my "other place where I live"- like a far away cottage. There are still daily routines - meals to cook, laundry to do, grocery shopping etc. - just with a view, and climate, I much prefer during the snowy season. But usually, there is nothing that I "have to do" like there is at home. And that in itself is pretty incredible.

We did have another rainy day since I last posted and I got a bit more done on Joseph: The Technicolour Moose. He is looking quite colourful and I am nearly finished the doodles - and I do have a colour plan for the last little bits. Now to figure out background and perhaps border, which I have been sketching away at.

This doodle hooking really is a fun thing to do. Such freedom to hook whatever comes into your head. And I am sure that even this moose, in the hands and heads of 10 different hookers, would turn out completely different.

Can't wait to see what happens in the class at Trent. Once we have doodled and start hooking what we create. (Still no up to date website information there, so if you are interested in signing up, please send an email to Mary Jane Mustard mjmrughkr@gmail.com