Typical Christmas

I always get sick. No pause button. Making things: potting bulbs. Cookies. Sewing special things for Mama and Oliver and Henry. Something special for McKendree. I should be more selfish and go to the gym.Coughing and hacking is not attractive.

My dog Phoebe, is good to take a nap with, which is what I did today. Now I'm looking for my work blog address and login because I read a fabulous article in the Harvard Business Review about Social Media Branding. All true.

So I found my personal blog and felt guilty. So I'm posting this half-assed blog and now I'll try a few more gmail addresses and then go wrap some more presents. Besides, my beer is upstairs.

It's All About Balance

I am in the eye of the storm. With VMFA opening in less than 2 months, everything needs to be done. It's a daily dance of making priorities about who to call back and who to call. A balance of which creative new efforts to compete and how many standard communications to maintain. How to upload on every community website? Which initiatives most important to promote? Knowing what's happening all over the museum. Finding ways to integrate these discoveries. And a biggie: migrating content to the handsome new website. Not enough time. Which ones are most important? How to communicate that VMFA is not just your mother's art museum any more?

I am humbled by the passion and commitment by my colleagues throughout the museum. Many of the leaders in my division are fairly new to the profession. This infuses us with fewer sacred cows in our efforts, but also less adherence to traditional cultural communications. Is this a problem? Who knows? Staff reductions acerbates the challenge. I repeat almost daily to the wonderful and stressed staff at VMFA: we must be kind to each each other, respect our choices and give each other plenty of understanding when we are puckish and pushy about what we feel is important.

And then there's life. Striking a balance now is especially difficult. I am working long hours, nights and weekends trying to complete as many efforts as possible. Thanks to a pal, I am training for the 10K which is a good discipline. At least one yoga class weekly is non negotiable. I try to eat well (when I eat) and sure do appreciate my dog and husband. We walk every night, sometimes in peaceful silence. Joe has grown weary of my absence and of this computer.

And then there is family. Sloan's Labor Day wedding, generously scheduled after VMFA's opening. Our grandsons who grow and change daily. Our other children and entire extended family, especially my beloved mother. They are what is really important in my life, along with the nurturing of my soul and spirit.

So I'll stop so I can dress for church. And this afternoon I'll spend some time in the garden. The bird feeder needs to be refilled, and I can take the screen off the pond. And finish the NYT.

Spinning a yarn

They say olfactory senses are the most powerful for memory. That was certainly the case when I entered the Pauley Center parlor and smelled raw fleece. I majored in textiles in art school and spent several years after graduation teaching traditional textile arts. Spinning wool and flax on a variety of spinning wheels was a perennially popular practice.

I still learned a lot from fiber artist Judith Towner of Clotho's Children Handspinners. She demonstrated fiber spinning techniques to an attentive crowd, mesmerizing us with exotic drop spindles from many cultures and with skeins of yarn spun from wool, cotton, flax, alpaca, angora and even Lhasa Apso. It’s easy to imagine spinning enough yarn for sweaters and blankets, but think about ship’s sails!

Judith mentioned the Fall Fiber Festival, which will be at James Madison’s Montpelier October 2-3. It’s a lovely day full of beautiful handspun yarn, every kind of weaving, spinning, and knitting demonstrations as well sheep shearing and the ever popular sheep dog trials. They have various breeds of sheep on display and of course sell raw fleece, redolent with the natural lanolin which coats very fiber to make a sheep water resistant.

I’ve marked my calendar, yet again inspired by VMFA!