What a way to start the week. Quite a storm passing through and around our little island. Winds in excess of 50 miles an hour with gusts nearer 70 and now we have very heavy rain as the daylight disappears. Not much fun if I am honest and I don't see the week improving much.
No matter, I have had a lovely afternoon with two fellow craftworkers; Angie and Ruth. You will hear about them for time to time as I think our creative paths may well begin to work more closely. Angie makes the most wonderful cushions I have ever seen and a range of other fabric based products. Ruth makes a range of things including raggy circles which are just so sweet. We met over the mandatory tea and cake for a catch up and to see how we might support each other. Networking on a small island is so important and I think Angie and Ruth are both better than me so I need to get with the programme a bit. It was useful to share experiences and we have hatched a plan for Mother's Day and more on that in due course.
I have decided to set up a separate facebook page for Scottish Island Mum to divorce it from my personal page. The aim of the facebook page is to be able to offer up little gems of information about the island. This daily blog remains the same but the facebook page will allow me to offer things up as I think of them. I will be putting a direct link in the sidebar. For those of you on facebook just press like and you will get the status updates on your page as they come through. I had an interesting moment last night when I went on the Visit Arran facebook page and found a link to my island blogging page. Strange how the internal virtual networks weave their little pieces of magic. Reminds me of the elf and the shoemaker story when things happen while the shokemaker is sleeping.
Apart from doing some weather watching we did manage home school and Max and George are now converting their raw data on the EU into tables and graphs. At the rate they are going they will have worked out the best country to live in in the EU and we won't see them for dust. If it wasn't so dark in the winter I could be tempted by the Scandanavian countries. Their lifestyle indices are stacking up very well against the rest of us....I did manage to make the point to the boys that if Scotland votes for independence in 2014 we would have to start the whole EU application process again. It is all very topical in home school and I do love that we can make those sorts of responses as we are not constrained by a set curriculum. As a little unit we are obsessed with the TV show on saturday night to find Britain's brightest. I lull myself into a false positive by starting off quite well and then the old brain gives up far too soon. I listen as my boys sail pass me and I really believe that George has a computer for a brain. We like that it is testing different types of intelligence and we laughed when it basically stated that there is no such thing as multi-tasking. This does, however, blow a big hole in the female argument that we are better than men at it!
Despite me not finding enough time in the day to work with Harry he still managed to put in some hours on his diploma in health and fitness. He then emerges to calculate his body mass index and his percentage of body fat. I helped him with the measurements and prayed he didn't ask me to join in this particular task. His results were excellent with only 13% body fat with 15% considered as excellent. I thought he would be pleased and he was for a moment until he read the bit that said that top athletes aim for between 5-10% fat. That then became his next challenge. Harry takes fitness very seriously and combines theory and practice really well. I think this approach to learning will serve him very well throughout his life.
This week I really have to move from design into making as Mother's Day is on the horizon and I am by no means ready. We are painting the inside walls of the studio tomorrow and Pete will then lay the new floor. The plan is to make pieces of art specifically for this space so I am not expecting the studio to be finished until March. I am then hoping for some sunshine so I can run an open afternoon with tea and cake. I have commissioned a number of pieces from local artists and craftworkers and I am just hoping it will all come together. It might not be the grandest studio that ever did exist but it is mine and it is a place I will treasure. I have a leading contender for the name 'Hen Hut.' I like the simplicity of it but I won't be making a final decision until nearer opening time so keep the suggestions coming. A little bag of goodies is available for the person who suggests the final name.
Just gone 5pm and almost dark and time to charge around doing housework things. I have persuaded a very good friend of mine to come up to help me photograph some of the island in the spring. We shall set a side a whole week and will have such fun. The best pictures will be selected to appear on a spring photographic blog so we can all enjoy the island in the spring. I must just tell you that I am thinking beyond my Eigg work in the summer. I am wondering whether I could, over time, visit all the scottish islands. Not that would make a good blog....I need to stop having ideas and get the hoover out. Half an hour to hoover and an hour to find the kitten afterwards. Until tomorrow. xx
Picture is of the path at the dyemill in the summer. Love the green.
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