ending avoidance, avoiding distraction

It is finished....

after weeks and weeks of avoiding, I finished the project without a hitch on the 9th, delivered it to the purchaser on the 16th. It was nice having it about for a week. Here are two views (click to see larger).





So what are the props to get them up to window level, you ask? On the right is my New Jerusalem Bible, on the left is The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Not a professional photo shoot, but the only place in the house I could get shots of them side by side.





Speaking of avoiding, it looks like we are avoiding the Olympics this week so we can get back to our normal routine which does not include TV. Thus there is more sleep, more reading, more art, and even more time for silent reflection.

Last night I was taken to the parable about taking the log out of your eye before you take the speck out of your neighbors. At school, it is much easier to see the results of a student and staff power struggle, when I am not the staff and when I have admitted to doing the same. So when I see one and want to make comment, it is best to add in that I too have dug in my heels when it was just a matter of thinking I SHOULD have control over the situation.

Well, I have two weeks to relax and do some log removal from my eyes.

a bad strategy

Mosaic Woman and I often speak of strategies that....

Avoidance is one of those. Avoid a problem, a conversation, a project, an issue, a desire, a difficulty, a love, a promise... and you do not get rest.

I leaped into a commissioned project and it flowed till it was one step away from being finished. But it was something new and I was filled with fear of doing something new. Thus I called on avoidance and the project sat. I avoided researching the task, I avoided talking to the woman who had commissioned the work, I avoided doing any stained glass work. Clearly it was a strategy that was working quite well.

But the kingdom unfolds and if we take advantage of situations that come our way...




in this case it was a catalog from Delphi glass and a prompt from Mosaic Woman who was looking through it.... "There are some tools here for cutting zinc came..." and the avoidance was gone. Well I could have screamed and ran from the room, but at that instant...



then two days after the package came, the one who commissioned the project in the midst of a tour walked into my room. Asked about the status and praised me for my work at the school and in my studio. Telling the person with her and my students of my talents. She heard my story and my apology and my promise to complete the project this weekend.

coming out of avoidance is not easy. But there is help out there...







all these photos were taken in Ithaca, NY on the way to Jazz in Rochester and make up part of St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church, which we came across doing one of our favored activities--- walking about.