I checked in on what I had posted in my last update to see if it would spark any ideas for today and it turns out I had predicted that I would write about my fall goals. I forgot I said that, but that certainly makes it easier to come up with something.
I actually wrote a whole post last week about finishing this year’s Reading Challenge and my reading habits over the last few years, but it was so boring that I decided not to publish it. Just trust me, it was very dull.
So, fall is here now! I’ve started my first knitting project – I decided to unravel (or ‘frog’ in knitting terms) the complicated cable knit sweater I made for Michel five years ago. It turned out quite beautifully but it never fit right and I wasn’t happy with some aspects of the design so it has pretty much been sitting in the closet since then. It’s great yarn though, so I am going to use it to make the men’s version of the Oxbow Cardigan, which is my favourite sweater that I’ve knit and a very wearable design too. (I included that sweater in my 2020 Highlights post.) I have about 6” of the first sleeve done so far.
After that, I might make myself a Flamingo Pink sweater because I bought some fun clearance yarn online last week. I don’t normally wear a lot of bright pink, but there’s no time like the present to start.
Another thing I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks is something called Morning Pages. It’s an exercise from a book called The Artist’s Way and essentially it’s just a brain dump. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is grab your book and write 3 pages of whatever comes to mind, as a way of ‘silencing your inner critic’ and just creating in the present regardless of what the end product is.
You’re not supposed to let anyone read it, and you aren’t even supposed to reread it yourself, which is good because my hand writing has gotten really bad, especially first thing in the morning. It is, even to me, illegible but that is fine for the purposes of this exercise so I don’t worry about it.
Along with 13 weeks of reading and specific exercises, the Morning Pages are supposed to unblock your creativity; on the cover of the book it calls it “A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self”. I don’t know if I’m blocked or not but I figure it can’t hurt to give it a try. So far I don’t really have anything to report back, but I’m keeping at it.
I also have a few things on my fall list that I’m kind of sceptical that I will actually do, but I put them down anyway:
- Lunchtime walks – I’ve been meaning to get out more for the entire last year that I’ve been working from home but it never happens. I am way more inclined to just work through lunch so I can be done earlier, but I am hoping I will come upon some motivating tool that will change this
- Permaculture course – I signed up for some free online classes a few months ago and almost immediately abandoned them; I do still want to take them but I don’t know if fall/ winter will be the best time to get started again. Once I’m done with The Artist’s Way I will give it a try and see if it sticks this time; if not, I will wait until spring
- House Deficiency List! –Haha, it’s the list that never goes away. We have made progress though and we’re prepared to commit a few hours each weekend to getting some things done so let’s hope this is it.
I have way more things on my list that those mentioned above, but mostly they’re just things that I am interested in spending some time on, or trying out, and the list is more of a reminder of what they all are rather than a checklist. The problem with that is that I keep thinking of new things to add to the list so it just gets longer and longer. Or maybe that isn’t a problem, I don’t know.
After just over a year since our last getaway, we are heading back over to the Island next weekend. This time we’re going to stay in Victoria and the main purpose of the trip is visiting with our friends. We had hoped for some dancing options when we were initially planning the trip, but that is still off the table so we will just have to do non-dancey things instead.
I can’t remember the last time I spent a few days in Victoria without having another agenda (dance workshops, work, etc.) so it will be fun to go there just as tourists. There are tons of options and we’re just figuring out a plan right now, which means that I have a ready to go topic for my next post after we get back.
Dancing In Irreverence 