The New Year - Off and Running!

Running isn't quite the right word.... It's been more like stepping onto one of those moving walkways, like at the airport. Moving merrily along at a pretty good pace, without too much effort. Things are in flux and changes upon changes are in process, yet I don't feel insecure. Just moving along wherever this takes me.

I had a whirlwind trip to Illinois to be with the family for Christmas, with only Saturday and Monday off, and then back home and back to work. New Year's Day was absolutely delightful. Church choir was on break, and I got to do the special music singing two solos: "Ding Dong! Merrily on High" and an arrangement of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (not the traditional tune). Dawn and her partner Kathy came to hear me (a rare treat in itself) and then we all went out to lunch. Later I went over to Dawn's and made gingerbread cookies for them, and we settled in with a movie for the evening.

The next day, I treated myself to a shopping spree, and bought some new clothes with a Christmas gift certificate from my folks. One of the items was a lovely velvety indigo robe with gold trim. It will do very nicely, both to wear around the house on days off (I'm wearing it now), AND it will be perfect as the robe for my naming/croning or whatever-you-want-to-call-it ceremony later in the year. I wish the trim were silver, but it is okay. I will make (or buy) some kind of stole to go over the shoulders and down the front, like an ordination stole. It will be silver with violet trim, or perhaps violet with silver trim. Perhaps I will knit one out of some interesting yarn with violet and silver metallic threads. Perhaps I will add three "birds" like on the Bradshaw family crest -- silver birds on a violet background?? Hmmm. Or should it be more like a baldric than a stole, worn like a Scottish tartan across the chest?

Also that week, I had a crisis in the kitchen with the hot water pipe breaking and water gushing out all over. The landlord was able to tell me how to turn off the hot water down in the basement, but not before the kitchen floor was flooded. I envisioned having to have the kitchen sink removed and part of the wall, but the plumber was able to put in a new section of pipe without any such drastic measures. Things were back to normal by noon on the following day.

Still, that spurred me to call the woman in Waconia that manages some apartments near the library. I didn't expect her to have an opening right away, but she did, and I went to look at it. It is in a nice looking white colonial building, called "Galway on the Lake", heheh. Yes, it faces Lake Waconia and is within easy walking distance of the library. It also has offstreet parking. The price (with a thirteen-month lease) is just doable with my present income, and no extra cost for the cats. In fact it is quite a bargain. I liked the location very much, but the apartment itself was very small.

When I expressed my disappointment with the size, she offered another possibility. It seems there is an apartment with 4-feet extra length in the main living room, and an extra room-length closet off of it -- big enough that a former tenant made it into a little computer room. Well! I would make it into a storage and cat room. And the extra square-footage in the living room would accommodate the piano and the harpsichord very nicely. Her niece is currently in this apartment, but she is getting married in May and they are looking for a house. I asked how much extra I would have to pay, and the manager said "Oh, I'd let you have it for the same price." I told her I would definitely be interested, and she will let me know what her niece's plans are as they develop.

My landlord stopped by a day or two later to check on the work of the plumber. We talked about a moving out date, since I've been bugging him to give me something in writing for months, and he thought I could stay at LEAST until the end of March. I told him about the prospective apartment, and that it could be May before it is available, and that was fine with him. Work has already begun on the empty apartments, but there is plenty to do yet, before they need to get to mine.

I've got to say, how could all of this have been any easier? I mean a woman walks into the library in December, I mention (don't ask me how it came up - I don't know!) that I am going to have to move in a few months, and it turns out she manages these apartments near the library. And all the rest follows. I still haven't SEEN the actual apartment, but I just know it will be perfect. Oh yes! She also said it had all new kitchen cupboards and a brand new bathroom. Should I be pinching myself maybe?

Moving right along -- I have set up rehearsals for the dance group which will resume tomorrow. I have picked up the packets for the Festival of Nations. I took my car in for an oil change, and it got a clean bill of health. My own health is good. The colitis has been in remission now since before Christmas. I am back to my normal schedule at work (20 hours a week) since the children's librarian is back from maternity leave. Yes that means less income, but more free time. It has been a welcome respite after the hectic pace of November and December. On the other hand, I've had two extra days of subbing this month.

I've joined a new online group, formed by a fellow Michael student. He calls it the Gaeia Goddess Matrix, and except for himself it is all women. Its purpose is to celebrate and nurture the feminine energies needed to heal the earth. He is quite serious about it, though I think most of us women involved see it as a bit of a lark. I have adopted Sophia, and call myself the "Know-it-all" Goddess. Topics have ranged from haiku, to harems, to Mayan astrology, to cats. Who knows what will develop, but it has been fun.

Even more fun was my birthday weekend. It was the Wild Welsh Winter Weekend, planned and pulled off by my friend Danny Proud in Madison. I had been invited to come and teach Welsh dancing -- all expenses paid. I took Friday and Monday off with vacation pay -- something I haven't had for years! It turned out that the language teacher backed out at the last minute, so I ended up helping with the language classes as well. We had an excellent turn out for the dancing. I was helped by Todd McCall and his wife Jude -- former dancers with Traed y Ddraig here in Minneapolis who also moved to Madison about ten years ago. It was great to see them again. We had live musicians for part of the afternoon. There was supposed to have been another band for Sunday's session, but they also cancelled at the last minute. Good thing Todd and Jude had their tapes and CDs, because I didn't bring any, expecting live music!

We had dinner that evening at Brocach Irish Pub. Wonderful food! But wouldn't you know -- another glitch for poor Danny! They told him they didn't have any reservations for the 50-some people that were showing up, and some didn't get their food until 8pm or later. It wasn't the "Noson Lawen" (like a Ceilidh) that Danny had planned, but ended up being more of a pub sing. Even that wasn't entirely satisfactory. It was too dark to see the song sheets, and difficult to hear over the general pub din. BUT I got a large piece of Chocolate Torte on the house for my birthday, and everyone sang Happy Birthday in Welsh. I thought it was a wonderful day!

After Sunday's sessions, I went on to Geneva, Illinois to spend a few days with Becky and family, like I always do for my birthday (and Connor's and Cash's.) With the kids in school, Becky and I got to do something we've wanted to do for ages -- window shopping in all the cute little Geneva shops. She took me out to lunch on Monday, where I had some kind of avocado and scrambled egg crepes. Yum! I did very well at not spending money, until we went into the Southwest Trading shop. I did not intend to buy, but they had some native American flutes. Now I have wanted one for a VERY long time. But it needed to be just the right flute. I saw one in Durango on a family camping trip once that had a rabbit carving tied over the flue. I almost bought it, but it was expensive so I hesitated, and that flute has stayed with me ever since. I think we tried to go back the next day and the store was closed. I've never seen another flute with a rabbit block. Usually it is a bird. And so I've never bought one, because it wasn't THAT flute.

These flutes weren't anything special, but I wanted to play one for the fun of it. As I was trying the two that I had seen on display, the proprietor brought out a third flute that I had NOT seen. OH! It was beautiful! Red and white cedar with turquoise inlays along the top between each hole. The carved block was a bird, of course, but a very attractive one. Turquoise is one of my favorite stones, being my favorite color. I felt drawn to it immediately, like I had been so many years ago in Durango. And when I played the flute it was absolutely effortless. It might have been playing itself. It was part of me. I didn't hesitate this time. I wasn't about to spend another twenty-five years regretting not getting it. And there were the "truth" tears...

I'm holding it now, and I've just played "How Can I Keep From Singing." The first tune I played on it, at Becky's, was "Amazing Grace." Just before the trip, I had gotten my annual holiday paycheck. We don't get paid for holidays until the end of the year when we get this extra check. It was quite a bit more than I expected. I've earmarked some of it for moving expenses, but I was glad I could give myself this very special birthday gift. I think I will also get the software I need to create and publish my beaded flower patterns.

I've decided to give myself another gift as well. It's been a LONG time since I've been able to do more than a book here and there. And I probably won't be moving until May. The money will be there. I know it will. My dear friends Kathryn and Joe are having a Michael gathering in Atlanta the weekend of February 25. And it seems as if EVERYONE is going to be there. Last night, I couldn't stand hearing everyone online making plans and talking about it anymore, so I checked out the cost of flights to Atlanta and it isn't nearly as much as I thought it would be. I have plenty of vacation time yet to take. The only potential glitch is that I have promised to do a Welsh dance gig in Willmar, Minnesota on Feb. 25. So I emailed Audrey and she seems to be willing to take that on if I go over some dances with her. At worst, I would still do the gig and fly out to Atlanta on Saturday evening instead of Friday. I'm pretty sure I can get Friday off and the following Monday. I'm not sure about Tuesday (if I couldn't go until Saturday) as there is already a sub scheduled for Karla on that day.

This is further complicated by the fact that our branch manager will be gone by then. It turns out SHE had applied for the Hopkins job with Hennepin County and got it! It is not a managerial position, but it is close to home for her (5 blocks away!), and she wanted more time to spend with her baby. Her last day is February 22nd. Anyway -- I AM GOING TO ATLANTA. I'm just not sure yet which day or for how long. But it will all work out, I'm sure.

As for the library, Susan's position will be open, and there will be some shifting of personnel going on in the next couple of months. I'll apply for it, but I would expect it to go to the branch manager at Watertown, as she lives in St. Paul and it would be a much better commute for her as well as being a bigger library. That will then leave HER position open... How that will all play out, I don't know, but it's certainly possible that I might end up with a different position at a different location. And then I might or might not move to Waconia after all! At the very least, I will have extra hours until the position is filled, just as I did while she was on maternity leave last spring.

Stay tuned! Things seem to be changing daily around here. But all is moving in a very positive direction.