Monday 25 June 2018

Knock, knock. Hello?

Anybody home?

That’s how it feels around Lupey Loops at the moment, in more ways than one because I’ve either been physically out (not at home) or I’ve been so tired and addled with brainfog (from being out and about) that I’ve felt like “the lights are on but nobody’s home” in my head!


I’ve been physically busy and managing to get out a lot more since this blog first began.  Most outings have been important obligations but June has brought opportunities for some more pleasurable, voluntary outings:

•    Attending AFL* football at Adelaide Oval.  This year I’ve got to all the Crows’ home games so far except for one, when there was a special social event being held on the same evening that I could not miss.


•    Revisiting ‘the old stomping ground’ for Saturday afternoon SANFL* football games – that’s the best time to watch a footy match.  I’ve enjoyed it immensely.

The Pilgrim Uniting Church is home to
the largest pipe organ in South Australia.
When certain pipes are opened,
the five-pointed gold star ornament spins!


•    Hearing talented voices in the Adelaide Eisteddfod Society’s Choral competition in the Pilgrim Uniting Church (built
in Gothic Revival style in 1865–young in European terms but ‘old’ in Australia!)

•    Meeting friends for long overdue cuppas.**


•    Marvelling at original artworks at the “Colours of Impressionism” exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia, including works by Manet, Monet, Morisot, Cezanne, Renoir, Sisley, the Pissarros, Gauguin, Caillebotte, Seurat, Signac etc. which are on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.  I was surprised at the emotion these works stirred in me.


•    Investigating the world of autonomous vehicles.  I’m planning to ride one later this week!
 


As the film character Ferris Bueller put it:

“Life moves pretty fast …
If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” 

This year was certainly moving too fast. The end of May brought the end of urgent deadlines, leaving June to pick up the pieces of a challenging year to date.  Phew!


June has been for breathing space; refocussing on my health, home and heart (my spiritual heart). The regular weekly schedule is a tight mix of health and household commitments.  By the time everything I need to do is done, including rest, the remaining time is precious.  For months, this precious time has been eaten up by bureaucracy and campaigning and it is time to stop before I end up in the hospital again.

The choice to replace those chores with joyful experiences was important for stress relief.  While it felt good spiritually to get out and about for my heart, my health was still struggling; e.g. an outing to the city to visit the exhibition left me exhausted for days afterwards; and the home organisation is running behind with barely enough energy to catch up. 


And crochet?  No energy (or time) for working on my own designs or special projects.  Crochet has been purely therapeutic, sticking to simple projects and trying to tidy all the loose ends (that have been waiting to be tidied since Maker Faire last year).


Two of my crocheted items can be seen here,
displayed in the cabinet at the 2017 Royal Adelaide Show.
At this time last year, my dreams for 2018 included a bunch of hats to contribute to the upcoming Beanies to Berets Exhibition, restocking Gallery M with more scarves, getting stuck into my own design work (so many ideas but no opportunities to put them into practice) and enter something in the Royal Adelaide Show. Pretty ambitious.  I anticipated that I would have to put all of that ‘on hold’ this year which is why they are still dreams but they will not be dreams forever! 


What do you dream about for your crochet and other crafts? 


Thank you for being so patient with my irregular blogging this year.

As July approaches, my intention is to return to the blogosphere properly, get back to the crochet and reconnect with you. 



Jodie
x x x 


* AFL: Australian Football League. This is the national Australian Rules football league: http://www.afl.com.au/
 SANFL: South Australian National Football League which is the state level league in South Australia for the national football code Australian Rules Football: http://sanfl.com.au/


** ‘Cuppa’: Australian colloquialism for a ‘cup of’ something, traditionally a cup of tea.  The meaning extends beyond the literal ‘cup o’ tea’ to refer to the act of spending time together and sharing news over a hot drink. 







Related Posts on Lupey Loops




"Beanies to Berets - Bigger and Better", 21 June 2018: http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com/2018/06/beanies-to-berets-bigger-and-better.html

"Adelaide Maker Faire 2018 News", 3 April 2018: http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com/2018/04/adelaide-maker-faire-2018-news.html

"Marching into April (Update)",25 March 2018: http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com/2018/03/marching-into-april-update.html

"Battling Bureaucracy", 3 November 2017: https://lupeyloops.blogspot.com.au/2017/11/battling-bureaucracy.html

"Royal Adelaide Show Results 2017", 17 October 2017:
http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com/2017/10/royal-adelaide-show-results-2017.html


"Fun at the Beanies to Berets Exhibition and Sale (Part 1)", 20 September 2017: http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/fun-at-beanies-to-berets-exhibition-and.html

"Broomstick Rainbow Finished for You", 10 June 2017: http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com/2017/06/broomstick-rainbow-finished-for-you.html


Other Resources


Adelaide Eisteddfod: http://sacomment.com/aes/eisteddfod/ 

Adelaide Eisteddfod Society: http://arts.sa.gov.au/organisations/adelaide-eisteddfod-society-inc

Art Gallery of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide: http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home  





Gallery M, City of Marion, South Australia: http://gallerym.com.au/

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html

Pilgrim Uniting Church, 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide, South Australia: http://pilgrim.org.au/
Royal Adelaide Show: http://theshow.com.au/

10 comments:

  1. My mother used to always say everything looks better after a good nights sleep and a shower, lol. Hope you come back refreshed. I'm out blog walking this am, and stumbled here. Always nice to meet fellow bloggers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to meet you too, Sandy! Welcome, and thank you for taking time to say hello and introduce yourself. Your mother is wise and I think you follow in her footsteps because I read on your blog "The more yarn you add to your shopping cart, the less room you have for junk food." That makes sense although I'm not sure if that kind of logic would undermine my stashbusting efforts. ;-)

      Happy crafting!

      Delete
  2. Good to hear from you again! I think I might have retired from blogging - my Mac and Blogger doesn't seem to like each other and it is just too much schlep to figure it out :-P I think I'll stick to reading blogs, reading more books and get working on my yarns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's good to hear from you again too! I often wonder how you are going and check your blog every now and again. The technicalities of blogging can be a bit much sometimes. I know what you mean! For some reason, I am no longer receiving emailed notifications when visitors leave new comments on my blog so I have been late in replying this week. I also don't know whether the lack of notificaations is to do with the new changes to Blogger features or whether something is simply broken.

      Your decision to step back from blogging is understandable given the circumstances. I will miss seeing your makes and learning about your beautiful country on your blog. I hope we can keep in touch. Maybe Instagram?

      Take care. xx

      Delete
  3. Nice to see you back! Seems to be too busy in your schedule. Beautiful and colorful crochet. I am planning to make one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! It is a busy life. What do you plan to crochet?

      Delete
  4. If you are out and about having some fun we are all behind you on that! Good for you feeling strong enough to get out and enjoy so many wonderful events. I am sure you are tired and need to recuperate afterwards but it is worth it. I am dreaming of some extra energy and cool weather, both seem far off in my future.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah Meredith! If only we could order buckets of sleep and energy like we can with yarn - how useful would that be? ;-) I would send some to you!

    June was the month to have some fun - boy, did I need it - but you are right: I am so tired. It turns out that I have been suffering a vitamin D deficiency - hardly surprising I suppose since it is the middle of winter and I've been rugged up in winter woollies every time I go out so there hasn't been much chance for the sun to get through to my skin. I wonder too whether the MCTD/SLE interferes with the processing of vitamin D.

    If June was for fun, then July is for picking up the pieces around the house - catching up on a backlog of jobs that I was either too tired or too brainfogged to handle. As I plod through my paperwork, I will think of you buried in your report writing and offer you cyber-camaraderie in our chores.

    As long as we can find a few minutes to pick up our hooks and needles every day, we can survive!

    Hang in there! xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have missed you. Since getting home from our two month road trip I haven't been very good at catching up on my blog reading. I am glad you are feeling better than the past summer. i am sure the cooler weather is helping you get out and about more. Sorry to hear about the maker's faire being cancelled. You have been busy and I hope you are enjoying all your cuppas with your friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mary-Anne, I've been the same with getting behind on blog- and all-sorts-of- reading. It was nice to grab a block of time to review your travels and especially your many finished projects. I applaud your productivity in the craft department.

      The cooler weather is my friend. It is definitely beanie, scarf and hot cuppa season in southern parts of Australia and I miraculously managed to submit some crocheted hats to the Beanies to Berets Exhibition this year. I surprised myself! I would love to have a cuppa with you one day. Maybe we could organise an online one somehow. I reckon that would be pretty cool.

      Unfortunately for blogging, life in general has not slowed down and here I am mid-July with plenty of posts to write and catch up on so I had better end here and get on with it.

      Delete