Friday, November 7, 2008

Hambidge ends with a bang!

Quite literally!

I ended my fantastic stay at Hambidge with a fall to the floor on the day before Halloween. I still have quite a shiner from the episode. Here I am on the night after the fall -- still at Hambidge and taking a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror to commemorate the event.



So, as you might imagine, the last couple of days were not quite as full of walks in the woods and art making as the previous ones. The fall put quite a good perspective on things though ... like "better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!" OR "you ought to have your head examined!" OR "you really fell on your face about that, didn't you?!" OR "put the right brain to work" OR....

Sometimes it takes a lot to get me to stop, look, and listen.

So, the falling down part has made me stop.

It reminds me that I have to look at the step I'm taking at the moment. Part of what caused me to fall was that I tend to be focused on where I want to be... not where I am. Moving too quickly beyond this moment, beyond this space I now occupy can cause a problem as was so clearly pointed out by the plywood floor of Brena studio.

Listening to myself is something I can put off, frequently. I hear what I'm telling myself but I often do a Scarlett on what I hear, the "tomorrow is another day..." thing. Yes, but today is today. What must I attend to today, in my relationships, in my home, in my community, in my artmaking?

Americans have now stopped, looked, and listened for the future. I hope we're on a better path but we have to take careful steps to where we're going. And we have to listen to all. I truly believe Barack Obama will bring into the administration people who will be able to look and listen, and act for more than a few. There aren't easy solutions but I believe we can be hopeful for our American future with this choice.

8 comments:

  1. owww. That looks painful. I had one of those experiences a year and a half ago only it did literally did stop me....a badly messed up ankle.

    Hope you are up and running soon. I liked what you had to say about our new president. My prayers are for him and the promises he is making. He has a tough row to hoe.

    Sue

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  2. Sue,
    About the eye...looks worse than it feels! Thanks for the sympathy. Sorry about your ankle and I hope it mended quickly.

    About the new choice, Judith Warner's blog entry today was very eloquent: http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/

    Tommye

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  3. Oh, by the way, the specific link to today's entry is:
    http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/title/

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  4. Golly, Tommye! I'm glad that doesn't feel as painful as it looks! I have learned to be very careful since my mother-in-law died from a simple fall. More recently (in the past month) an aunt fell and will be paralyzed from now on. I'm glad your fall was not worse. I guess we do just need to 'be very careful', as my 2-year old grandson is always saying.

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  5. Yes, Kathy...it looks worse than it feels, luckily! I'm sorry to hear about your mother-in-law's death due to a fall, and also about your aunt! I don't think of myself as "old"--although my 61st birthday is approaching rapidly--but this article in the online NYTimes gave me chills:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/us/08falls.html

    Tommye

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  6. Hi Tommye...

    I'm glad to hear about the healing, too. Hey, a visitor to the gallery today asked how to contact you because he would like to learn about weaving, and I passed on your contact info.

    Jeff

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  7. I'm sorry to hear about your fall (which now was over a year and a half ago) but thank you for the posts on Hambidge! I leave in two weeks to begin a five week stay there...I can't wait! Thanks again for posting!

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  8. Bea,
    All's well that ends well... and my boo-boo healed just fine. Enjoy Hambidge! Wish I were going back this year.

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