Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Is this thing on?

*tap*tap*tap*

Hello?

Ok, I think it's working.

I've been gone for a really long time, and have been very busy. I kind of dropped out of all social circles, stopped blogging, and even stopped commenting regularly on the blogs I continued to read. I pulled us out of as many commitments as we could get out of, and stopped running around every evening.

In short - I disappeared.

And I'm OK with that.

I've made so much progress toward finding my center, I'm getting so much more happy with myself and my life, and figuring out what is important to me. I've gotten rid of a number of non-productive activities, and added some that are more meaningful to us. My desk is uncluttered for the first time since I was...six? I have a small pretty envelope with receipts and papers I need to process, but there are no towering piles of paper threatening to take over my house and bury me alive. I've not yet conquered the clutter-beast, but I'm making progress and that makes me happy.

So I think I may be experimenting with blogging regularly again. I'm not sure what format it's going to take, since Ravelry has taken over the knitting part of my blogging. I just feel silly logging projects at Ravelry and posting them here - like I'm looking for praise or bragging or something. I know a lot of people do it, and I love reading about it, but I don't think that's me.

What I would like to do is start sharing some of my thoughts and notes on homekeeping and stitching and such that I have been keeping for the last two decades. I'm discovering so many more resources on the internet, so many books I couldn't get my hands on even five years ago.
And I'm poring over them, and gleaning so many insights into life and work in years past.

My joy, I'm finding, is in making the connections between letters and books and journals and history and following those threads through to what we do today, often without thinking. I love perusing the homekeeping manuals of a century ago and comparing them to modern versions. I love to pursue to details and tidbits that I find intriguing and interesting, and put them together with values and traditions to discover a new way of looking at things.

I would like to post these things, with the references from which the information comes, and start a conversation. I want to debate and discuss what I find with others who may or may not see the same things in the same words. I can't promise a schedule - I don't want to commit myself to anything right now. But I do want to play, to explore, to share, instead of always keeping these wonderful discoveries to myself.

What do you say? Are you in?

4 comments:

Julie said...

I'm in! Besides, we need to outline our book!

(That was a joke - hey, quit breathing into that paper bag.)

historicstitcher said...

Hey - I'm game for the book! I just wrote my first novel - I think I can do anything now!

You're the one that seems to be too far into the crap lately.

Alwen said...

What's really weird to me is how many people drew inwards this year. (Yay, it wasn't just me!) And all of a sudden I got energized again to DO stuff.

It feels good. I want to keep doing it!

Unknown said...

Hey! You're back! Yay! Yes, write about all that stuff. I'm interested. Guess I'm a little late, as I'm just now starting that kind of retreat. Good to know there's life at the other end.