Finale: Day 365: Madeline Whiton McLain's Birthday

OK, so to start off with on this final day of Weaving On a New Loom it is my niece Madeline's birthday. YAYAYY Maddie. Happy Birthday Dear!!!!





Then, before anything else I wanted to make sure you all knew Swimmer was healthy, happy and out in the remade coop with the others. She is laying an egg a day. And she is clearly still Emma's pet duck.

I had lunch with an old pal today. Oh it was so nice to be able to reflect on the whole year. 2010 was hard for a lot of people. For some reason people had to face difficult circumstances, they had to find their real friends, they had to find health and they had to take it a day at a time. I took the opportunity of knowing I was walking into a round of grief to document this year. To display that grief is one part of a larger weaving. I think I did that, but I also have to acknowledge that it's really hard. Grief takes the wind out of your sails.



But community puts a lot of it back in.



What else? I tried to read the whole blog before tonight to see what the patterns were throughout the year. There are consistent characters and there are some patterns, I think, but not as clear cut as I thought would happen. It is true that the beauty in the world feeds me. That is pretty prevalent in this blog. I think I learned how to take a photograph during the year. There is some good poetry that I will pull from these pages. And I think I'm actually ending the year on a healthier note than I started it on. (That's impressive when you think of the last month for me.)



To end, thank you for following this blog this year. If you have any requests for copies of photos or you want to come to the show when it happens, leave me a message on this blog. I will check it periodically.



In the meantime know that the process hasn't ended, the public part of it is changing shape. I now need to find some lone time and I think by March or so I can do a show. So, Happy New Year everyone, and take care of yourself.

Day 364

Ok, maybe it makes no sense to you, but to me it did. I spent the second to last day of this process learning how to print. Paul brought me his printer, we went out and got paper and ink, and we played. It was really fun. I had a really good time.



Tomorrow I will be intentional about shooting.



But today I played with pictures, I also got to remember the beauty of the year. There was a lot of beauty. There was a lot of love. There was a lot of grief, and sorrow, and there was kindness and care.

I am awfully lucky.

Anyway, 364 Days.......... I'm pretty impressed.

Day 363

I spent a good portion of the day in a spa. YEP!!! We did aromatherapy steam, hottub, massage and Reiki. YUP!!! Need to do it once a month. Need to add another 30 min in the beginning. Really nice place. I'm happy tonight.



That took up a big part of the middle of the day. Afterwards we went out to a late lunch, so by the time I was ready to start shooting the light was crazy. So here's some shots with the new lens just before 4 pm.





This evening I have thrown away at least 300 photos from the year. I went through the month of March. I need to throw out more, but it is a good start. I also threw out over a garbage bag full of paper today. I'm beginning to be able to thin out in here, to simplify, to start a new, or at least fresh. I'm excited.

Day 362

Gerard, Rhys and I went to a photography store today and I bought my new lens and some new little toys that let me download photos once again. YAYAYAYAAYYAYAY!!!





While I was sick I really thought I was going to have to throw photography out of my life again. I thought I'd never be able to focus again, neither with my eyes nor my brain. Oh my God, I thought, am I really just going to throw this whole thing out, forget I did it? And then today, I realized I had something to look forward to and I didn't just loose the whole thing to some hole in my brain.





The other thing I did this morning was read my journal from January 2010. Very interesting how intentional I was in the beginning of all this. I wrote some good stuff that I didn't post, I may have to do some editing for my final blog posting.
Very interesting.

Day 361

Went to Staples to find a cable, they don't carry them, I have to go to Hadley. Soon; before Saturday, promise. Today the pictures would have been of snow. It snowed for real today. I woke up to snowplows. I did get out of here for an hour or so, but for the most part I worked on this blog. I reread July and August. That was hard.

This aging stuff is too hard, and I'm not 60 yet. I am definitely going back to the Y this week. I need the pool.

So I have been thinking about pulling this to a close. I think it is important for me to find a different venue for my photos and to go back to writing seriously. I am disappointed in how much writing I did this year, so I know I'll do more in 2011. I'll try to do a reading this year. And I will definitely do a picture show. I think the pictures will say something as a whole. I'm curious about the process, I'm excited by the idea.

I'm grateful that people have read this blog.

Day 360

by Emma

I have had a good day. It is snowing, the first real snow of the season. I got up this morning, talked to friends on the phone and got a little time alone with Ember and then went to the Coop for lunch.

I am back to being myself. I feel much better and I think one more night going to bed early will be quite helpful. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get up and see a nutritionist. I'm not sure I'll be able to get out of my driveway, but I do feel as though my new life is starting.

I am so grateful for friends who are just there. They help me feel more anchored. I need to feel anchored at the moment.

I am so grateful for family that wants me to be part of their lives. I want to be part of their lives, too. I get to see Jason and Claudia this week.

I am so grateful for clementines.

So, I hope I can get a cable to download photos from my camera to my laptop tomorrow. I'll try and then the last 5 days of this project can be back together again. I am going to stop though. I feel as though I will have accomplished what I set out to do and that the next stage will take place. I'll let ya know what that is. Meanwhile, sleep well all!.

Day 359: Merry Christmas

It has been a wonderful 24 hours. I had a lovely Christmas Eve with old friends. It felt peaceful and calm and kind. We all needed those things. Not to mention the food was great.



I slept well last night, too. And just maybe my body is beginning to feel more like itself again. I cannot believe how sick I got, but I know it was a signal. I am taking heed. I am paying attention. I am spending the month of January on me.



I love my Goddaughters, I know no one whose been following this knew that, but today I saw them both. They both make me happy. Kora's not a kid any longer, but she is a lovely person who I just like being with a lot. And Emma is turning away from being a little kid and is developing such a wonderful sense of humor and a sense of others. She is wonderful to be with, too. I feel anchored to my life around her.

Christmas is supposed to be a time that we take stock in what we do have. I'm very rich with good friends. I am covered in red velvet. I feel very lucky and blessed tonight. I hug all those I love and wish you a Merry Christmas and a lovely sleep tonight.