It has been a very eventful summer for all of us, I know. If you have read this column over the years, you know I am always ready to see summer wave goodbye. This summer, in particular, has been very tough for all of us and for very different reasons than most of my usual complaints. I sure hope the change of seasons, although “legally” is still nearly a month and a half away, brings positive changes to us all this year.
I am starting to feel a little hint of things shifting right here in my own brain, although it is probably sixty-something years of habit more than anything else. I have barely had time to touch anything creative in the past three months, and it seems most everyone I know has been in the same boat. Yesterday, I got a reminder that I am signed up for a quilt retreat in early September so that will serve as a good segue into fall creative pursuits. Then this morning, I got an email from an online art person I follow showing her traveling art kit. One of the things she had in her kit was a hand-made coptic-stitched journal. That caught my eye and sparked up more of the creative urges. I will be getting out my long-dormant book-making supplies and trying one of those soon.
I did manage a few productive things this summer—like knitting a small but very complicated project, which probably played a large part in keeping me sane. I read an article a few days ago about the best ways to keep mental acuity as we age, and knitting was one of the highly recommended activities. I am glad to know there is science to back up my regularly stated assertion that the world would be a better place if everyone would just learn to knit.
I have also managed to do a little reading this summer, both actual books and audiobooks. It has been such a relief to return to reading after many years of being basically unable to focus long enough to finish so much as a page. I would like to emphasize how valuable Samantha Vargas at the Rylander Memorial Library has been in pursuit of recovering my long-lost bookishness. I went by the library a few weeks ago looking for a book that had been recommended to me. I did not find it but found two others, and by the time I finished those, Samantha had ordered the original one on Interlibrary Loan and had it ready for me to pick up! Membership in the library also offers the Libby app, which enables me to download e-books and audiobooks from the Central Texas Library system, all for free.
But, the transition to fall is still just a glimmer on the horizon and there is still a lot of work between here and there, at least for me. I will be here trying to muster the self discipline to stay on-task so I can make the transition guiltfree, but those coptic stitches and half-made quilt tops are calling my name.