Something to look forward to

I did pick up the kids' cold - a nasty bug that knocked us all over for the weekend. I am back at work today (I didn't feel that after six weeks off I could call in sick - and I am a bit better than yesterday) but my husband and number one son are at home sadly coughing and watching movies. It is still reasonably quiet in at work so I can catch up with everything I missed and have a day or two to adjust to the outrageous expectation that I stay here all day. And focus. Very hard.

One thing I did book in advance (so that I would have something to look forward to in the dark days of return-to-work) is enrolling myself in a beginner's weaving course at the ANU. It's at the School of Art, and they have an awesome textiles workshop where people are obviously doing very creative things ... and a small group of middle-aged ladies doing beginner's weaving. We have had two sessions so far and I'm enjoying it very much. It takes ages to learn how to set up your loom, which is quite complex, but towards the end of the second session I actully got to doing some weaving!

Isn't it exciting? The edges are wobbly (and the start is a bit worrying) but it is very cool that I can do something that is recognisably weaving after just a couple of lessons. We are using eight-shaft table looms; not the most complex equipment available but plenty difficult enough for us. There are massive floor looms, and computerised looms, and all sorts of exciting things in the workshop. This course goes through until October and there are further ones I can do if I want to take it further! Or print-making! Or photography! I might turn into crazy night-class lady.