BIRTHDAY

/ janpriddyoregon

I have received three cards and a Rubic’s heart [below], which was a little scary but I figured it out. Wish I could figure out who sent it! Both sons deny knowledge. Seventy-one today.

I was working on this shawl during the gallery opening. It has a really lovely handspun in the weft. The next one that I am working on now is more toward indigo and has already been sold. Fingers crossed for me because I want to buy a painting if I make enough to afford it.

It’s been interesting to weave in the gallery. The most popular question is how long it takes me to weave a shawl. [The truth is that I will make about $30 on each shawl after paying for yarn and the seller’s cut. Why would i want to know that?] It takes a week to wind skeins, wind the warp and dress the loom. Then most of the rest of the month to weave two shawls. [That assumes I have stared at the colors long enough that I know precisely what I am doing—which in this case, I do.] This warp is particularly “easy” to weave. I pulled all the best skeins.

Someone suggested I buy Koigu yarn “in bulk.” That would mean 20 skeins of one color, enough for warp and weft of two shawls, about $300. But I don’t ever use 20 skeins of any one color. I want twenty skeins of at least fourteen colors, which is what I am using in the current warp. This is done for love. [And selling work is the only way to buy more yarn—ha!]

At left, looking east to the sunrise. At right, looking west to the color over the ocean at the same time.

I weighed 122 pounds this morning, ran three miles, made tortillas and filled two bakers of enchiladas, spent long enough at the gallery to complete five inches of weaving on the new shawl, and worked on knitting a cashmere hat from yarn in my stash.

The greatest birthday gift Gary ever gave me is this bookcase. Mostly my favorite novels, with those on the far right books I will not be keeping and books I haven’t yet read.

Heard from Oregon English Journal today. They will publish two articles from me in their next issue. Nothing new about the novel. My post “Why You Don’t Want to Be a Teacher” has been viewed on this site 10.1k times. It has been assigned in the syllabi of two teacher education classes (to my knowledge) and the sad thing is how seldom people click through to “Become a Teacher” which is prominently linked. Because teaching what one of the best and dearest things in my life. There are plenty of things i could have done that would have paid more and taken less out of me, but nothing that could have meant more!

Isn’t it … odd … amazing? The pieces turn and i spent about five minutes scrambling their order and then fifteen trying to get it back, and then twist-twist-twist, I had it!

13 thoughts on “BIRTHDAY”

  1. Christopher Taylor white wrote a song called this will be our year–pretty or priddy much sums it up for me and us –my heart is better than the bookcase but you know what I mean–happy birthday jan kiitos–love Gary

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    • Two women have resulted in me being candid about my age: My dad told a story about his grandmother, Rosetha. In her day “a lady never revealed her age,” but when she turned 80 she was so proud that she began to brag about it. And then Gloria Steinem’s line about turning 40 and women routinely lying about their age resulted in people not realizing that this is what 40 looked like!

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