The Company Of Good Friends....

Despite the fact that I have a few loose ends to tie up before we leave for Charlotte, friend of ours across the street invited us to join our meals together for supper. We brought over the fresh corn on the cob that we bought at the market this morning as well as BBQ’d chicken burgers and they added their food to the list as well. All of our children played well together which gave the adults a much needed and much appreciated chance to chat. That is what being in the company of good friends is all about. What a nice release from the pre-trade show crazies!!! It was just what I needed to distract myself from the cross checking that I do before a trade show... wondering if I have everything covered... wondering if I have all that I will need once I am down there... wondering if I will forget something important...

Funny how so many people think that once you are a “recognized” designer that you have helpers and people that take care of you, organize you etc. How far could they be from the truth!! Most designers create designs because of this overwhelming need to get an image or an idea out of their head and onto graph paper or into floss and fabric. It literally does not let you go until you serve the work. Why else would we create something that is SO vulnerable to being copied and shared? If we did not love bringing a design into the world and watching what people would think of that particular combination of floss and fabric, we would not be doing what it is we try to do... To risk anything creative... from creating an image or story to bringing a new life into this world, is to be open to possibilities that you have yet to dream. That is where the magic truly lies... and that is what keeps us trying to create that next design.

Taking a break from creativity tonight to just enjoy the company of really good friends was wonderful!

Getting Ready For Next Week...

Well, we’re down to the crunch getting ready to leave for the show next week in Charlotte. The new designs are back from the printers, packed up and ready to go with us. The models are safely bundled in bubble wrap and I even found a new hard shell case to replace the one that Air Canada busted on the trip home from Nashville back in February.

Looking at some of my older models from a dozen years ago, I can see where some of them will have to be reframed eventually. Shipping things down to shows or off to trunk shows does put far more wear and tear on the frames than if they were to hang safely on a wall, but this is, after all, what helps sell the designs.

Isn’t it fun when you are stitching something, to see how much better it looks in real life than in the photo on the cover of the pattern? No matter how often I juggle with exposures, check colour levels etc. before taking designs to print, you just cannot completely capture that sparkle and magic that slowly evolves before your eyes with needle and thread. No wonder so many of us get hooked!!

Now that the trade show stuff is at least mostly under control, I can work on the website tomorrow and get that up to date...

It’s Never Just One Thing....

Last night was a late one, going over several forms that I’ll need to make copies of once I arrive in Charlotte, making the changes to the Evening Fairy design that I’ll be handing out to shops that place an order there and trying o sit comfortably in our old office chair. It just wasn’t the right height for the new desk and by this morning, my hands were sore. So today was also the quest to find an office chair once we were done painting the nursery at church.

Every now and then I am reminded in a rather obvious way that I am just built on a different scale. Almost every chair we tried had the back support in the wrong place, wouldn’t go high enough, didn’t bring the armrests up to the right height, even on full extension etc. We finally found a model that was fairly adaptable and comfortable, but they didn’t have the black version in stock at the store nearest us. Having just redone the colours in the office, I ended up sounding like such a picky artist when I told the clerk “I just can’t buy the burgundy version because it will clash with absolutely everything in the room!”

Then of course I needed a drawer organizer since I haven’t had a drawer in a desk in YEARS, and that led to getting an extra little slidey tray... surely we do that all the time in a stitching store! It’s never just one thing!

Nick is upstairs stitching on a project for me and I must go thank him, so until tomorrow...

Less Than A Week...

A week from now we’ll be in a hotel in Bangor, trying to convince the girls to grab a few hours sleep before a very EARLY flight to NY and onto Charlotte. The new office is all tidy! Except for one box of papers that have yet to be filed and sorted, everything is in its place and I am just getting the last things ready to take with me (forms etc.) I’ve learned now to find a Kinko’s or Office Max down there and pay US$ to avoid lugging the already printed forms with us on the plane. Suitcases can only handle so much!

I have to work on the website tomorrow night, but the design for Evening Fairy got some tweaking tonight when I came up with a perfect sub-line. The chart has the caption “Evenings are meant to be Magic” and I suddenly modified the design to include a box of chocolates and the words “especially if they include chocolate” beneath the big text! While this chart is a special gift for shops that order from us in Charlotte, it will be up on the site in December, so don’t worry!!!

Tomorrow morning I have to take a break and head over to church where the girls and I are going to team up with another family of 3 girls to help add a bit of fun to the nursery. It was repainted and repaired this spring, but the colour is a bit.... boring, so we’re going to paint 3 sheep (and do the fleece with sea sponges and paint for a nice texture) on the main wall that you see from the door. Along the side wall, we’re going to paint a vine that has various sizes of hand prints in different colours as the “flowers”. Since the girls tomorrow range in age from 10 to 3, I think we’ll have a good variety of sizes. I wonder how much paint will end up on them instead of the walls??

Half an Office Back...

What a busy day! We headed off to the dump early this morning to drop off the two old and disassembled desks to the recycling depot. Then we went to St. Pat’s for our morning workout while the kids played in the TV room. They have the full cable there and we usually have to tear Erin and Bethany away from the cartoon channels that we don’t have here at home.

After that it was off to the smaller of the two farmer’s markets in town which we try to support. The large one in Dieppe is nice, and very new, but you have to really want to be squished in a ground and have to push your way through aisles where people just stop to chat with friends instead of moving on or buying things. I picked up a custom-designed ankle bracelet that I had ordered from the young girl who makes them. I wanted a certain pattern but all in dragon greens of course! I also came home with two new plants for the garden and tucked them into place before lunch.

Nick got the whole office painted in the afternoon and then right after supper, while the girls watched a DVD, he and I assembled the hutch part for the desktop and the shelf/drawer unit that goes to the left of the desk. He wheeled one shelf back in for me and I now have about half my office set up again. I LOVE the new colour, a deeper blue called Limerick that looks more Maritime than the cornflower blue I had before. I can’t wait to get the lateral file part assembled tomorrow afternoon so that I can start sorting and moving things back into place. I threw out a whole bunch of “stuff” today and it felt great!!!

Total Office Chaos...

Friday nights are usually “date night” in this house where the kids go to be at a reasonable hour, even though it is the weekend, and Nick and I get some time together as a couple. Usually, that means playing a game or watching a DVD, but tonight the poor guy had to bring his screwdriver down to my office and help me tear down two desks, then assemble the base of the new one so that I could get at least one computer hooked back up enough to blog!

Tomorrow, we’ll paint the office and then move most of the stuff back in. I say most, because anyone who grew up a bit packrattish knows that you end up with little piles of “stuff” that you mean to sort out sometime but just haven’t gotten to yet, or things that you are pretty sure you’ll need sometime soon.

Part of my “getting ready to turn 40” has not only involved cleaning up my eating habits and getting in shape, it has involved learning how to let go of “stuff” and just hang on to the memories instead of the object.

So I am trying to make sure that any “stuff” I really don’t need or haven’t gone looking for lately, doesn’t come back into the new office!

Procrastination or Productivity??

With less than 2 weeks until the show, what happens today? After months of searching for the right desk to replace the 2 I have in my office an hopefully get both computers a little closer together, I had pretty much given up when we found the perfect model... and on sale! It’ll be delivered next week (since this is a long weekend here) and Nick pointed out that this would be the perfect time to paint the office before we rearrange everything and get it just right! Aaaaack!! At least the borken keyboard tray from the one desk won’t keep falling out on my toes!!

He has to go down to Petitcodiac for the day tomorrow to do some muscle work of his own, turning a work room into a book room and moving boxes around, so that will give me some time to just get a few things out of the way on the computer and then start lugging things out into the family room so that we can paint.

We also went into the pet store for “just a peek at the animals” and came out with a second cage for Wuffles, our dwarf hamster. We bought the set of tubes as well and now he can run back and forth between the cages or through a tube that runs along the outside. We even got the little “potty” with the scoopable litter to see if that will coax him to pee elsewhere than in the tube that leads to his bed! He ran around like a crazy thing for almost an hour checking everything out and then fell deeply asleep for a few hours, all tuckered out from his explorations!

I still haven’t decided whether this is procrastination or productivity, but I can wait to get the office redone!!

Two Weeks From Today...

It’s a bit scary and hard to wrap my head around that we’ll be arriving in Charlotte exactly two weeks from today. Part of me wants to run around like Chicken Little screaming at the top of my lungs... and part of me is quite amazed at how much farther ahead I am than usual before a trade show!

I get like this before every show... its part of the charging up, revving up and gathering in energy to use during the event, but you also have to be careful not to burn yourself out before you even get there.

I am also so incredibly aware of how you cannot take anything in life for granted. So many of our friends are going through turmoil right now, facing life-threatening battles, coping with legal battles, facing the sudden injury of a loved one, struggling not to lose a job... it makes me very grateful for the hugs from my children, the ability to do a job that I love and the fact that I have a roof over my head at night. Those are the things that we really cannot ever afford to be complacent about when so many in the world spend every day on the brink of survival.

The newest piece, that will only be ready to show off the model of in Charlotte, has just gripped me and shaken me until I got it all on paper. It is for all the strong women in life who face challenges, even when afraid. The design features a frog with a little gold crown lounging in a glass slipper. Above him read the caption “Forget the Balls & Kissing Frogs” and below the slipper it says “I’ll make my OWN Happy Ending!” I’m trying to think of a charity that really helps women in need (other than breast cancer) towards which some of the proceeds could go... but there really isn’t a National program here in Canada that would apply...

Getting Ready To Juggle 2 Blogs at Once!

I must be a sucker for punishment, especially with a trade show just over 2 weeks away... but it was time to set up my blog about becoming She-Hulk, since tomorrow will start the 40 day countdown until I paint myself green and get on stage at Dragon*Con to celebrate turning 40 with a bang.

If you are interested in this second blog and the details of the transformation that a crazy extrovert has decided to undertake, you can check it out at http://becomingshe-hulk.blogspot.com

Today was productive in many ways... the first harder workout with Nick... getting the Hoffman order off by courier so that this replacement order for the two boxes that the Canadian and US postal services still can’t agree who lost will get there... finishing off the sketch for the middle of the design Nick has been stitching from my roughs so that he’ll have a chart to work from at last... and getting the new blog set up to launch.

Life is going to be hectic for the next little while, but it WILL be memorable!

Unexpected Adventures... Playing Tourist In Your Own Province!

We just got home tonight after deciding to turn a chore into an excuse for a family getaway. I knew that we needed to take our passports to the passport office in Fredericton in order to get them back for our trip to the USA next month. The girls now need passports of their own, so with three to submit, it seemed easier to drive them there.

We endured a drizzly, damp Saturday and found out that the forecast for Sunday was going to be bright sun and fairly warm temperatures, but that Monday would be back to cold and drizzle again. We decided to call Fredericton to see if there were any hotel packages at the Lord Beaverbrook hotel downtown... and sure enough there was a wonderful Summer Sizzler package that included two queen size bed and breakfast for the family in the morning! We threw our stuff in a bag Saturday night and hopped in the car Sunday morning to head for Fredericton.

Kings Landing is the most awesome historical settlement that takes a good 3 hours to walk through. Houses from the early to late 1800s were moved and restored to recreate this settlement or farms, churches, mills, print shop, smithy, houses and general store. Everyone in the town is dressed in costume and stays in character for the period and shows what life was like in that era. They cook their meals over the hearth or stoves in the house, work the land, apprentice in the businesses etc. This time the girls were old enough to really fall in love with the place. Erin has even decided she might like to try the “Visiting Cousins” program next summer where you attend the camp for the week and act as a character during the day, learning skills from the era and even attending school in the schoolhouse for a few hours every morning. She got the chance to hold the reins of the wagon as we drove back to the main entrance and was absolutely thrilled!

After most of the day at Kings Landing, we headed for the hotel and a nice swim at the pool. We dressed for dinner and walked off to the greek restaurant we knew about in town about 5 blocks from the hotel. Unfortunately, when we got there, we and several other tourists were disappointed to find out that it is closed on Sundays! This was the beginning of our half an hour, 5 block maze chase around the streets of downtown Fredericton, desperately trying to find ANY restaurant that served something other than fast food! We finally found a great pub called the Snooty Fox and had a fabulous supper that did much to restore our spirits and get rid of the “grumpy whineys”. We headed back to the hotel for a massive game of Harry Potter UNO and then read in bed while the girls fought over who was stealing the covers and who had toes on whose side... Even in a Queen sized bed, they still managed to get on each other’s nerves until they fell asleep. My sister could probably correct me, but I don’t remember fighting with her that much over sleeping space!!

This morning, after another quick swim and breakfast, we headed off to the Passport Office under grey and cloudy skies that left me wishing I’d packed a sweater. We got through our business there with one little flaw... seems Quebec has changed birth certificate information to bring it in line with the rest of Canada and Vital Statistics... so my old Birth Certificate is no longer valid. Even though I used it to get my last passport (and it is still me) I have to send away for this new version. Sigh! If they had let me know about this when I was up there in June, I could have taken care of it then. Just as we left the Passport Office, the heavens opened, so we ran a few blocks down to the Science East hands on science center and spend over 2 hours exploring the exhibits, helping the staff move baby stick bugs onto new raspberry plant stalks to eat, setting up domino mazes etc.

On the way home from Fredericton, we stopped to explore Old Orchard Crafts and the village of Gagetown where Flo Greig, a potter whose work I adore, has her studio. Nick and I received a magnificent salad bowl of hers as a wedding present 16 years ago and have added a few pieces to our collection since then. We have always meant to try to find her studio and stumbled across it today as we tried to find a place to eat a much overdue lunch! She happened to be there when we wandered in out of the damp and it was such fun to let another artist know how much her work has meant to me! We headed home a new addition to our collection and some great memories of a village we’ll go back to explore again.

Sadly, New Brunswick seems to lag WAY behind Nova Scotia in terms of properly promoting its craftspeople and making it easy to find them through brochures, signage etc. Having been in Nova Scotia just a few weeks ago, I am saddened by the difference between the two provinces...

Now we are home again and ready to get orders off in the mail etc. It was fun to turn the chore of dropping the passports off in person into a fun family adventure and strange to think that we’ll be doing that run again in two weeks time to head down to the show in Charlotte! Where has the summer gone??

Thank Goodness It’s Friday!

Friday night is Date Night in our house and the kids are just finishing up their turn on Animal Crossing before we bundle them off to bed, pour ourselves a nice glass of our new favourite wine. It is called Terra Rosa by Jost and is a light red wine that can be served chilled. The perfect thing now that the thunderstorm has rolled through and the humidity has broken a bit. My files are at the printers and so will be ready for Charlotte. We have one model to stitch up to show off for a September release, but Nick has done as much as he can from my rough pencil sketch. I need to graph out the image in the middle for him to be able to work from a real chart for a change.

Tonight, the work stays in the basement, the Hoffman order can ship out on Monday instead of racing to the airport to catch a plane that leaves in less than 15 minutes... I’ve spent most of my week in the basement staring at a computer screen and it is time to take a break!

Life is good. I know that Laurie and Yoshi are safe, although my sister was out and about during the latest round of mayhem in London. I can’t wait to see my new nephew and my fast growing niece in just over a month at a family wedding the in Ottawa area. I had an awesome workout at the gym today and in less than 45 days, I get to be She-Hulk at Dragon*Con. Life is cool!

Have a wonderful Friday night!!!

Crawling Through Files...

Sometimes this is the stage of the design that I hate the most, even if it is one of the areas I am most qualified to do (and one where I am able to save myself some money). Being a graphic designer lets me layout all the files and hand a CD over to my printer camera-ready, but the larger the files or the more complex the design, the more chances there are that you will overlook something important, miss a spelling mistake etc.

I get to the point where I peer at the screen or at artist’s proofs so many times, I can no longer be objective about them. I grab friends, teachers and sometimes even total strangers to look over the proofs, begging them to read them through in case there is an error. Most times, I find them about 3 days AFTER they come off the press as I am folding them to send to distributors. Sometimes it is eagle-eyed stitchers who notice things as they are stitching them while the design is only a few weeks old. (You know who you nimble needles are!!) Then there is nothing to do but grit ones teeth, scream loudly in the basement where the neighbours can’t hear you and call the funny farm, post corrections to the website if the FTP is cooperating and then hope that next time you will catch everything.

Back to peering over files to avoid the basement screaming in a few weeks if at all possible. This is the only cool place in the house. Poor Wuffles is still upset about living in a fur coat through a Canadian summer, but at least our dwarf hamster is down here in the basement with me!

Tea With The Dragon...

This past Saturday, Moncton played home to a new needlework show. I had been asked by fellow designer, Jo Gatenby of X’s & Oh’s who organized the CNSS, to do an afternoon event that ended up being called “Tea with the Dragon”. It was great fun trying to explain to people, who didn’t understand exactly what I do for a living, what the event was all about once they’d seen the posters around town. Several people I know asked me how long I had been involved with Dragon Boat Racing!!

It was really fun to spend time with the people who showed up for the event, despite a glorious summer Saturday outside. Nick and I had driven back into town from Nova Scotia, where we’d rented a cottage for the week to share with my Mom and John. They stayed with the girls at the tail end of a drizzly week to enjoy the sunshine and beaches while Nick and I drove back for this special event. Our local shop even got to premiere Dragon of the Deeps fresh from the framers!!

What fun it was to spend time with those who gave up their Saturday afternoon to share tea and goodies, laughter and stories with this dragon. It was such fun to meet new fans, new colleagues and to look out at the audience that included some of the wonderful stitchers I have grown to know over the years through the spring and fall retreats at Camp Wildwood. Seeing your smiling faces around the tables meant more than you will ever know!!

As much fun as it was to unplug for a week and even end up totally out of cellphone range, vacation and escape time ultimately is made more precious by the very fact that it can’t last forever. I’ve come home feeling recharged, replete with lobster and other great meals, card gamed out, slightly sunned and far more in touch with my whimsical side as I explore a new passion... painting rocks found along the magnificent beaches here in the Maritimes into fantasy landscapes and magical wizards. I have plans for these in the fall and am having great fun bringing out what is already trapped there in the rock. Best of all, no one will be able to slap these suckers on a scanner and share them!

So it is good to be home in the midst of a sweltering heat wave, though I miss those ocean breezes. This is the weather we thought would never arrive back in the depths of January. Canada is such a country of extremes!!

The Essence Of Summer...

I remember what summer felt like as a child... open days of possibilities, fluid time and warm sunshine.

My Mom and John are down for a visit and our adventures are recapturing that sense of endless possibilities that I remember from the summers of my childhood.

We need to all take the time to just PLAY. For designers, artists, writers and musicians, I think it is crucial to be creative in ways that have nothing to do with our “job” so that we remember what is is to play and to get lost in that creative spirit that was so effortless as a child. Children turn any opportunity into a moment for pretend or impossible adventure. Good movies or novels carry you away into other worlds. The simple act of unplugging from a daily routine can help us remember that each day holds a thousand possibilities in it for change, adventure, creativity, compassion and imagination.

What magic will you create in your todays and tomorrows?

Tragedy and Relief...

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with one of those “panic attacks”... a rush of adrenaline and fluttery stomach then the long tossing and turning to try to get back to sleep. They sometimes happen before tradeshows or big events when my list of things to get done feels a bit too long. Sometimes they have happened when tragedy has stuck someone that I know, so I am always a bit jumpy when they happen until I find out that everything is OK.

I dozed off a bit but woke up before everyone in the house and snuck down to work on the cross stitch design that I’d worked out in my imagination while trying to fall asleep. Funny how some designs just flow out onto paper so easily when others take over 2 years to get just right! The queasy feeling persisted and then Nick turned on the radio as everyone got up and heard about the explosions in London!

I’m not sure if my feet even touched the stairs as I flew down to the kitchen to dial my sister, Laurie, who is now living in London with her husband for the next 5 years. We turned on the computer as well in case we couldn’t get through by phone, but luckily, she answered the phone and we were all able to hear her voice. She is staying put today and watching the news for updates as so many of us here in North America did on September 11th. After the sense of optimism and celebration that Live 8 and yesterday’s announcement of London winning the bid for the 2012 Olympics, this is a sad reminder that the world can also be a dark and scary place.

My prayers go out to everyone involved and all those who have been struck by this tragedy... as well as prayers of Thanksgiving that Laurie and Yoshi are all right!

The Magic of Grandparents...

Canada Day weekend was such a blast!!! We went camping on Prince Edward Island in the backyard of one of our best friend’s parents and got adopted by the whole clan for the weekend. “Nanny Harrington” bakes far too well for me to live anywhere within walking distance of them! The kids played on the beach for hours, visited a petting farm and held baby bunnies and kittens, watched fireworks over the North Rustico harbour until almost midnight, raced on red dirt roads, played soccer on a homemade field against the grown-ups, ate lobster and mussels galore and had a wonderful weekend with their friends.

Now, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mom and John for a summer visit. All day long it has been “how long until Nanny and Grr get here?”. I’m just not used to having them home, under foot, when they are this excited!! Of course, I am also excited too because Nick and I are going to disappear for a night, tomorrow night, to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary one night early, so maybe I am eager for them to get here too!

Mom tells me that being a grandparent is full of all the magic and less of the pressure of being a parent. It is nice to know that someday I will be driving MY girls crazy as I spoil THEIR kids rotten!

Celebrating Your Country...

Tomorrow is Canada Day and we plan to celebrate it in the birthplace of Confederation, Prince Edward Island with some very good family friends. We’ve checked the tent, packed plenty of sunscreen and bug stuff, but I need to get my web site updated for the weekend before I go. Nick has taken off his watch for the summer since he officially finished at noon yesterday. This year may take a little longer to unwind from, but this weekend away should help.

For most of us in Canada and the USA, this weekend (Canada Day for us on the 1st and the 4th of July for my family and friends in the USA) is one of get-togethers, celebrations and also, some patriotic pride in our countries. This year, while I still feel incredibly glad and privileged to live in a democracy and in a country with as many resources, opportunities and wealth as Canada, I cannot suppress a twinge of regret.

Canada’s Health Care System USED to be the envy of many countries. We used to be a country that prided itself on taking care of our sick, our elderly, our poor... We used to be a country that built great rail and roadway systems, made sure that green spaces were protected, invested in science and education so that our futures would be bright...

Sadly, our country seems to be placing more emphasis on business above all, rewarding the friends of those in power and of cutting “costs” (ie. education, health care, etc.) while still wasting MILLIONS of tax dollars on frivolous things.

My girls are learning to speak out for causes they believe in and that they have a place in any democracy. They drew posters and we went as a family to a City Council Meeting to protest a land swap that will see over 23 acres of the park near us turned over for commercial development. They are frustrated that their lives are affected by a bunch of “grown-ups who don’t care about the bunnies and squirrels whose homes they’ll be hurting”. But they are also learning that their actions can be noticed. The whole group of supporters trying to stop this “done deal” clapped when the girls posters were praised in the council meeting.

What does it take to turn a country around? I’m not sure. I do know that it begins with each individual doing their best to make their town or community a caring one. It grows stronger every time that someone speaks out against injustice or tries to correct a wrong. ... and it blooms into something beautiful every time a group of people remember to look towards the future with a vision for what a country could be instead of just reacting day by day, crisis by crisis. Let’s all take time to dream this weekend!!!

School’s Out For The Summer!

I remember that ineffable sense of freedom. Coming home on the last day of school with my report card in hand and the sense that the whole summer stretched before me full of possibilities to play, sleep in, read and draw.

Today was a blaze of summer glory, despite a weatherman’s prediction of thunder showers and rain. The girls brought home their report cards and bags of papers that look as if they have been shoved into desks all year long. Our neighbourhood gang of bus stop moms and kids gathered at one person’s house (thankfully not mine this year) for a party this afternoon as we nibbled on wonderful food and watched the kids race around with water-soaked sponges to lob at each other or bounce on the trampoline. The kids topped off the party with bowls of ice-cream sprinkled with “pop rocks”, a type of candy that fizzes and explodes in your mouth.

How different to look at summer through an adult’s eyes. Why do we lose that sense of wonder and play so easily? Is it because our routines are interrupted without school to keep things on schedule? Is it because most adults wish that they too could have a long summer to rest, recharge and just play? Perhaps we tend to romanticize that freedom a bit as well because I can remember all too well those mornings of sheer boredom once I had run through my initial list of things that I wanted to do. How long will it be until I hear my girls complain that “There’s NOTHING to DO!!” ???

After my rant and sadness at the beginning of the week, I come full circle to a sense of peace. I have had the files removed from the site thanks to a supportive contact in Russia. I have let my colleagues know about who can help protect their designs and even if those files spring up somewhere again, I have stood up for my rights. I only wish that one of the infringers who really felt they were doing nothing wrong had the courage to use their own identity so that we could see who a court of law would side with. I guess that is why so many of them lurk behind false identities and petty words.

I also have a sense of Joy and Wonder. Dragon of the Deeps has been such a pleasure for me to stitch. Even though I am painfully slower than my model stitchers, it has given me great satisfaction to watch this design come to life beneath my needle. I can’t wait to see what the reaction will be to this pattern in Charlotte. I am also glad that I have a career where I will be able to enjoy some of the summertime with my children, even if it means doing most of the work at night or when they spend some time playing together. They are at such a fun age!!

So here is a toast to the arrival of summer holidays for our family. I can’t wait until Nick joins us after HE finishes working on Wednesday!!

FInding Hope Through Tears In Song...

The transition to reality after being away is never easy. At least the girls were excited enough about seeing their friends and all of the last week of school activities to get up out of bed even when their bodies were still on EST.

The first day of summer here was glorious and the kids ran through “Ollie” an octopus sprinkler after school with some friends while the moms tried to stay out of the way and chat on the deck.

Not to bad... but then I needed to send an e-mail off to close down a Russian site that had 36 of my designs on their pages for trade or sharing. A Dragon Spotter had reported the site to me while I was up at Mom’s, but since I didn’t have my contact’s e-mail with me, I waited until I got home, not knowing how much was up on the site.

Tonight it drove me to tears. For whatever reason, I just sat there and bawled. At that moment in time I thoroughly understood Teresa’s decision to take a break from cross stitching. Why pour so much of yourself into a design and pay to have it printed when someone can steal it and share it will others so easily?

I took a break to watch this week’s Canadian Idol and called in to support the young girl from New Brunswick, but as I watched her chase her dream, I felt even more discouraged tonight that after almost a dozen years of designing, I certainly had far less to show for all my efforts in terms of financial stability than someone who had spent the same amount of time in another job. I called my Mom, just to have her say “awwwww”, which sort of helped, and then got down to work on some graphic files for a client.

I put iTunes on in the background on my other machine and one of the first songs that came up was from the Touched By An Angel CD... the song Testify to Love by Wynnona. When it hit the line of the words “Every corner of Creation lives to Testify” I felt oddly comforted with the sudden knowledge that I was being true to what I have always felt called to do... create images.

If the ones that I make in cross stitch are more vulnerable to technology, I will keep shutting things down, speaking out, trying to find ways of protecting my work better etc. I will also continue to explore other, less vulnerable ways of using my images, but I will not let this take away the joy that I have in creating things that try to make the world smile, or hope, or dream a bit more than they did before.

I will learn from and be inspired by those around me facing adversity with such incredible courage, instead of watching how the world encourages “having it all” regardless of who you hurt.

Fatherhood...

It’s Father’s Day today and we have to head back home on the train tonight. The girls called Nick this morning, sad that they couldn’t be with their Daddy on Father’s Day and yet delighted to spoil their Grandfather, Grr. Not having had children of his own, he inherited my brother, sister and I in our late teens and has merrily thrown himself into the role of grandfather with complete abandon.

My own father gave me far more than someone to look “up” to (I still do because he tops me by almost 5 inches!) I learned how to dream impossible dreams from Dad, how to imagine worlds beyond our own through science fiction and fantasy, a love of travelling to new places and meeting new people and how to sing Tenor harmony to name a few of the things that spring to mind.

I was glad we had the chance to see my grandfather in Montreal this visit. It is wonderful to still be able to have a Grampy around in this year that I turn 40. I have been hoping all day that there will be some good golf on television for him to watch.

Father’s Day is also when I think about the people that cae into my life through my marriage to Nick. Since Nick’s parents also divorced and remarried, Ken and Jerome became new people to appreciate in our lives.

Today, half a world away, my brother Dave also celebrates Father’s Day with Owen Charles and Anne safely home from the hospital. I wish him sleep enough to be able to function at work tomorrow and the joy of having all of his now larger by one family under the roof together at last. Sleep will come again eventually!

I also think of my sister’s husband, Yoshi, who has embraced his role as uncle in a totally different culture with such grace and enthusiasm. Whether playing Barbies and Uno or discussing Pokemon and Disney movies with his nieces, he is adding a richness to their lives that they treasure.

Father’s Day is not just a celebration of biological procreation. It is a day to honour the many men in our lives who build us up, grant us wings, challenge us to be more than we are, soothe our souls, inspire us, nurture us, enchant us, make us giggle or simply add richness to the tapestry of our lives.

Happy Father’s Day!