Scribal Day
My arm is tired. Heck, my whole body is still tired from yesterday's work; so much so, I slept in very late today, and got to today's Scriptorium at one of the member's home a little late.
I spent today practicing my calligraphy. It was nice spending some time away from the kids for a bit. I am finding that my hand is remembering most of the letters in the hand I am using, one of the gothic hands whose exact name escapes me right now.
This evening, I pulled out another piece of paper, marked my shape to write within, drafted the guidelines, and set practice pen to paper. I finally got most of the words down in correct order, only forgetting one word this time, and only a few letters were messed up. And it all fit in the shape I was going for, in the practice sized hand and pen, which will be a little larger than the final pen size, so all is good to go to transfer it to final paper, so I can do up the calligraphy and hopefully, not mess up too badly.
But today also reminded me of something else... to live, as if you don't have tomorrow. To do as a Mom, not just what the kids need from me, or what my husband needs of me, but what I need from me. One of the ladies is in ill health, and it is looking like she is on a difficult road. She is a fighter, and I am praying that she will beat this illness which is going on in her body. She has a lot to live for, and I pray she will remain for a good long time to come. But in talking with her, she has in the past focused so very much on her family, that she doesn't know what would make her own self happy. And I realized that in some ways, I don't know what things I would do today, if I knew I wasn't going to be here tomorrow. I do know that housework is not very high on that list of things I must do (but I need to do it anyways).
I am glad tho that I am doing things, small things, that do make me happy. Doing this scroll for someone I don't know makes me happy. Doing sewing, and gardening, simple reading, and helping others in costuming stuff makes me happy. Helping the lady look to what she can do for herself made me feel good in an odd way (I really do hope she does something enjoyable for herself - whatever it may be). And so, while I have yet to make that trip to England to visit lots of museums, the islands in west Scotland, the pubs in Ireland, or various other places around the world... at least I have CostumeCon coming up, which is just for me, to make me happy.
I spent today practicing my calligraphy. It was nice spending some time away from the kids for a bit. I am finding that my hand is remembering most of the letters in the hand I am using, one of the gothic hands whose exact name escapes me right now.
This evening, I pulled out another piece of paper, marked my shape to write within, drafted the guidelines, and set practice pen to paper. I finally got most of the words down in correct order, only forgetting one word this time, and only a few letters were messed up. And it all fit in the shape I was going for, in the practice sized hand and pen, which will be a little larger than the final pen size, so all is good to go to transfer it to final paper, so I can do up the calligraphy and hopefully, not mess up too badly.
But today also reminded me of something else... to live, as if you don't have tomorrow. To do as a Mom, not just what the kids need from me, or what my husband needs of me, but what I need from me. One of the ladies is in ill health, and it is looking like she is on a difficult road. She is a fighter, and I am praying that she will beat this illness which is going on in her body. She has a lot to live for, and I pray she will remain for a good long time to come. But in talking with her, she has in the past focused so very much on her family, that she doesn't know what would make her own self happy. And I realized that in some ways, I don't know what things I would do today, if I knew I wasn't going to be here tomorrow. I do know that housework is not very high on that list of things I must do (but I need to do it anyways).
I am glad tho that I am doing things, small things, that do make me happy. Doing this scroll for someone I don't know makes me happy. Doing sewing, and gardening, simple reading, and helping others in costuming stuff makes me happy. Helping the lady look to what she can do for herself made me feel good in an odd way (I really do hope she does something enjoyable for herself - whatever it may be). And so, while I have yet to make that trip to England to visit lots of museums, the islands in west Scotland, the pubs in Ireland, or various other places around the world... at least I have CostumeCon coming up, which is just for me, to make me happy.