Crunch Time: Pebble Hill Show Approaches

two mosaics, same design,
two different routes
by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon

Though a week is left before the opening reception (Sunday, February 5th from 12:15 till 2:00);  Mosaic Woman and I have been spending the week gathering the chosen pieces, writing descriptions for them, filling out the official show paperwork (listing every piece), photographing new pieces, gathering hardware to hang everything, packing it up...

because tomorrow afternoon we will go to the gallery and create our largest display ever and what you can see...    Details here.

But what a creative month led to this time period of doing stuff outside of our studio.  At the Michener Museum we saw a quilt that inspired a thought, "what if I designed a piece, but only glued down the background and allowed Mosaic Woman to take over."  So I did with some creamy white glass, but I thought, "Why waste the other pattern pieces," so I cut the design out of orange glass and glued it on a separate piece of slate.

So now all I have to do is name them, price them, write tags, pack them, and hang them at Pebble Hill.  Oh yeah, there is the not quite finished Sophia Spiral Mandala in my studio and ...

Not so long ago a man asked me what prayer I had when it came to Nutmeg Designs.  My Response: To be surrounded by friends and Family at Pebble Hill.

North Penn Craft Fair where the mania begins

OK the mania is already here. Knowing, for just a few weeks, that we would have four craft shows in seven weekends... has kept us busy.

the first is this Saturday: The North Penn Select Craft Show is at one of the largest high schools I have ever entered. It is where my school taxes flow and it is where we saw those high school big bands playing a few weeks back.

so what else in the next 7 weeks ...

My classroom has 5 billion seedlings making more noise than made by any nest full of robins crying out for food.

I am still expected to teach my science classes even though horticulture has hit its busiest season. and I will.

Two big jazz dates will happen.

One big Cezanne date at the Philly art museum.

2000 minutes of icing and heating my shoulder.

10 more after school OT appointments.

a home garden that says, "OK, the shoulder is good enough. See you on Sunday." and it is good enough, if not feeling perfect.

a week off teaching but those seedlings will keep crying out for my attention.

and then there is a this fig tree ...

adult education

Friday nights on my friends' porch is one place I learn. When I hit the sidewalk, if I turn right I get to my church, if I turn left and left again I end up at a porch of some good folk who I met at my church. So with a beer or two, I unwind with friends while listening to their stories and telling a few of my own. The invitation goes out when the weather warms and ends about now and it is received by more of us than could ever fit on the porch, but we crowd on if needed. And nobody worries about perfect attendance.

I thought of this porch when I read this quote by Carl Jung- - ----

"We need colleges for 40 year olds to prepare them for their coming life. Our religions were always such schools in the past, but how many people regard them as such today."

This was quoted by Paul Robb, S.J. in his book Passage through Mid-Life: A Spiritual Journey to Wholeness. I have been reading a page or two each night following my examen.

So anyway, two weeks ago I showed up at the porch, after a crowd had formed, and three friends seemingly at once asked me when "my" adult class was to begin. Well, I ignored them the best I could, sat down by one and explained how busy my life was ---- how could I possibly find time to teach an adult class. clearly impossible. Ten days later, I am just home from teaching one.

The thought that entered and changed my mind was this ---- if getting a degree in spirituality is going to make me too busy to meet with my own community, to touch base on where God is surfacing or not surfacing in our lives, then something is wrong. Wisdom strikes again. So I took Sophia with me tonight and after a discussion on the images of God, I read a passage from The Book of Wisdom. It was given to me at Wernersville, and tonight I passed it on here in Lansdale.

This past Friday on the porch, books came up, and I was asked what I was reading for pleasure. And there I was again saying I was too busy with reading for my college class and prepping for teaching. My friend's wisdom carried with me, and now every night I am reading a few pages from Many Waters: A Companion to Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It is a pleasure to read her writing.

I am glad that though some call me "teach" at church, it is my church that teaches me as I make my passage through mid-life.