Last November, I posted on Instagram about my "go bag," which is a description I'd heard in movies, I suppose, either in spy scenarios or full-term pregnancies when you gotta be ready to run out the door with essentials in-hand. I created a little "go bag" for myself when Rob's retina detached. On a Sunday evening as we were getting ready for bed, he came into the bedroom and quietly suggested that he may drive himself to the hospital, you know, because maybe something was seriously wrong with his eye? What a pitiful and ridiculous suggestion. Of course I dragged myself out of bed and drove the him, with his broken eye, to the ER. 

Turns out he was entirely correct. Although he was quickly admitted, it took hours of tests and I don't know how many interns and residents to verify that his retina had indeed become detached and needed to be re-attached ASAP. I think they determined this around 3AM. (There was a test that I don't think Rob would recommend: from my vantage point, it looked like the doctors were using tiny ice cream scoops to, well, scoop underneath his entire eyeball, all the way around it, looking for any other damage or injury. Apparently this procedure was painful.)

What does this have to do with weaving or fiber art? Not much, other than to say it can be an excellent idea to have small projects ready to go at any time. You never know when you might be spending lots and lots and lots of time in the hospital or doctor's waiting room. We were sent home around 3AM in order to "get some sleep" before we were to come back around 5AM for the emergency surgery. This is when I quickly gathered some projects to keep my hands and mind occupied.

Pictured below is my little pouch from November, including some small twining projects which are extremely portable. Lots of people use plastic Ziploc-style bags, and I use those too, but I love Topo Designs pouches. They come in a bunch of different sizes and shapes -- I even use one as my wallet/purse. This one holds quite a few small tools easily, too. 

Rob's retina detached again in November (surgery #2), and he had cornea surgery a couple months ago (#3). This week is surgery #4 to repair the membrane in his eye, and we hope this is the last. Time to prepare another little "go bag" of small and easy projects.

It seems silly that I still don't have the words to best describe my experience at Penland School of Craft in late May/early June. It was, after all, not even one week spent 'on the mountain' in North Carolina. How could such a small amount of time be so profound?

The people. The reason I went was because of Sarita Westrup, the teacher of my sculptural basketry workshop. When she was on the roster back in January, I knew I wanted to attend. I've admired Sarita's work from afar for a long time, but Sarita *in person* is such a gift. She is a ray of sunshine, as generous with her teaching as with her laughter and serious about her art and the story it tells. And her teaching assistant, SR LeJeune (Sarah Rose), was another gift in the studio - a certified basket genius, but clearly a genius beyond baskets. Between the two of them, our studio was led with heart, warmth, support and kindness and it was just lovely. 

Kindness attracts kindness, and laughter attracts laughter. The 12 of us who found our way to the workshop were equally eager to learn and make -- who could ask for a better cohort in this kind of intense learning experience? It felt like we so enjoyed just being there that we could laugh when things weren't working the way we'd hoped, celebrate others' successes, easily ask for help. We worked in the studio from early in the morning to very late at night, and in that time you can learn a lot about the people you're surrounded with. Small talk fades away fast and deeper sharing can take place. 

When I got back home, I felt incredibly sad. Surprisingly sad. It hit me hard that I wouldn't be joining this crew to make more the next week. It felt like we had so much more to do and say and enjoy with each other. We'd just gotten started. That's the thing - we learned so much in such a short period of time, and then we had to take it away for our own personal exploration. I thought I liked working alone, but it can get awfully quiet.

There's so much more to say about the entire experience. TBD, maybe more to come about the basket-making, the food and dorm-living (a central theme to the Penland experience), and so much more that seems to make everyone light up when you mention Penland.

I can’t wait to see what everyone in our crew does next - I’m cheering for team baskets!