On Solitude and the Nature of Stillness
For the past month we've had our lil Granddaughter (the always amusing, 2 year old Tootiebug aka Klingette) full-time while my daughter and her husband are out of town. I'm crazy about this kid but let me tell you that full-time child rearing is a young woman's game! And at age 50 with a baker's dozen of chronic health + pain conditions it's been anything but a joyride for ya gurl.
So today my Mama came to hang out with the baby for a couple of hours so I can get out of the 🏠. I dashed around tossing on my clothes, hair in a messy bun and hightailed it out of there just as fast as could be!
The first stop on my short burst of baby free time was Office Depot to check pricing on making prints of my art quilts for my newly reopened Etsy store and upcoming pop-up shop at Stef-N-Ty's beautiful North End Shop. I found some cute new gel pens for my Girl Gang Happy Planner which put a smile on my face. I'm such a pen hoe, what can I say, good pens give me Spike Lee Girl 6 moments😉
The folks at Office Depot were very helpful with my countless questions and I'm relieved that I'm getting a handle on the practical things on my endless lists.
My stress levels have been mighty high this month as having the wee one has devoured every waking moment which really needed to be spent in the Studio creating new pieces of art. As a result I'm far behind where I need to be right now considering the timeline for the next 5. weeks No pressure,right?😲
So there's approx 2 weeks before the newspaper article on me drops. And 5 weeks before the pop-up shop!
There's a world of difference between my usual drawn out creative mode of working almost exclusively on comission pieces and doing short runs of letterpress printed and hand silkscreening and the present day in which I'm under time constraints (self imposed) to really start using social media and modern technology. I'm pretty old school and a happy Luddite so there's been a sharp learning curve along the way!
So I can check this off my to-do list. Next, I went to my favorite local diner (Geneva's Burgers) for a period of stress free stillness. This is the spot that my Beloved Klingon and I eat out at more than any other. The owner Rob always puts a smile on our faces, the waitresses are on point and the food is made just as we like it! They've got old school sliders, hand dipped malts, damn good breakfasts and my always favorite Greek salad with grilled chicken and extra beets. Nom nom nom 😍 did I mention that they never miss when my health issues require substitutions or avoiding the now (sadly) dreaded onions or garlic.
I've been able to rest my baby stressed nerves, have a good meal and dessert (hot apple pie a la mode) with a perfect cuppa joe. Did some reading on how to use the Blogger Dashboard and figured out how to add the follower options. So there's my progress into this new world of social media.
It's amazing how relaxing just a couple of hours without the lil one can be so calming and re-establish my inner balance. As soon as I slid into the booth and held the hot cup of coffee, feeling the warmth penetrate my hands, breathing in the well loved scent of restaurant coffee... I could feel my body relaxing. The Isley Brothers are playing in the background and in my heart I'm at home again. In my life I've spent more happy hours in lil diners and 24 hour restaurants then I could count.
While it's time to cut this short as my Mama is calling me to return home to baby duty but this short burst of time alone has helped recharge my internal batteries. Thanks for listening.
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