California Odyssey Part Three: The Happiest Place on Earth

After a fabulous 10 days of writing and beach-walking, I sadly said goodbye to Ventura and headed southward toward LAX to return my rental car. The drive that day was worthy of a post all it's own. People in my weaving class had recommended the PCH as a route, and I decided it was worth a shot.
Or several shots...

The Pacific Coast Highway meanders along, well, the Pacific coast. The scenery is spectacular, and the traffic is fairly light and easy-going. It was a fabulous drive, and I wound up at Santa Monica just as the sun broke through the marine layer and made the day even more beautiful...

It was a lovely way to transition from peace and solitude to the hustle-bustle of one of the world's busiest theme parks. And transition I did!

My daughter Lexi flew in to join me, and we had a wonderful time. We rode the rides and ate the food and just hung out...

We met Goofy...

...and Donald Duck...

...and Tigger!

We had fun...

My whole family are big Disneyland fans, and we know a lot of the little ins and outs of the park. It's almost like coming home for us to visit both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, and I think that I have way more fun with my kids there now that they are adults than we did even when they were little.  It was great to connect with each other and play.

I've been home now for almost 4 weeks, back to my hectic life, and the rested feeling is long gone. Life marches on, bringing with it the frantic tedium of day-to-day, interspersed with bouts of stress and nonsense. But all I have to do is sit down for five minutes and remember California and it all fades away. The sights and sounds, the people, the learning and growing, and the sheer joy that I found on that trip have altered me forever.

But when you boil it all down, no matter where you come from, and no matter where you go, there's no place like home.  And my home is, truly, The Happiest Place on Earth.

Commercial Break

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I have launched an exciting new project, and I could use your help.

I am developing a new web series about fibre and the people who raise it, process it, and work with it called Fibre Optic Television. I am very excited about this project, even though the size and scope of it seem a little overwhelming at times.

If you want some more information about what I'm up to, you can like my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fibre-Optic-Television/367460223365034

Or you can check out my Indiegogo fundraising campaign: http://igg.me/p/409743/x/224608 and maybe even throw a couple of bucks my way to get this thing up and running.

Hopefully, if a few people are willing to help cover the travel and production costs, I will have this series recorded and ready to air by early January, 2014.  I'm really excited and I hope I can get the rest of the fibre world excited, too.  Spread the word!

And stay tuned to a computer near you...

We will now return you to our regularly scheduled blog.

California Odyssey Part Two: Ventura and Points Beyond

When we last left the tale of my California Odyssey, I had packed my bags and trundled my new loom into my rented chariot and travelled down the mountain to Ventura.  I was, all of a sudden, in a new town without adult supervision.

Ventura is a lovely little city on the California coast, just north of the Malibu area. I had rented a cottage that turned out to be in a lovely little spot on top of a hill just above the Mission, walking distance from downtown and the beach. It was a quiet and extremely charming spot, with a huge garden that was constantly filled with the singing of birds and the buzzing of hummingbirds. I had a view of orange groves up the side of a mountain, and a wee glimpse of the ocean. But mostly, I had solitude.

You see, I am writing a book. THERE! I put it on the interwebs for all to see. I am writing a book about spinning. I do not have a publishing deal, I do not have an agent, and, frankly, I do not have a deadline. But, I am writing.

I had started chipping away at an outline and an early draft in January, but life being life, there were too many distractions.  I got the flu, we had medical appointments, there was laundry to be washed. Life. And a wee bit of procrastination. So we figured a change of scenery, a break in the routine, would be the answer.

Turns out it was. I wrote every morning until I ran out of words, or until my fingers started to cramp from the typing. Then I went on an adventure.

I would walk down to the Mission...

 
or out to Surfer's Point...

I walked on the State Beach...

...or out on the pier ...

And I had bigger adventures, too.

Through one of the women I met in my class in Ojai, I was introduced to Randy, a spinner from Santa Barbara, who invited me up to her community for a day. So, one drizzly morning, I set out for Santa Barbara, where I had a marvellous visit with Randy and a tour of that gorgeous city. The rain had lifted by the time I got to Santa Barbara, and we talked fibre and spinning before heading for lunch on the terrace of El Encanto. We continued to talk fibre and spinning through lunch, when we were not distracted by the incredible view. And we talked fibre and spinning as we drove around and explored Santa Barbara until it was time for me to head home. And, I TOOK NOT ONE PICTURE. No, not a one, so I have to rely on my already sketchy memory to remind me of the beautiful day. Or, maybe, I will just have to go back.

Then there was more writing and more meandering around Ventura. I discovered the whereabouts of the local Trader Joe's and stocked up on some of my favourite goodies there. I rambled through the shops downtown and treated myself to some new clothes. I even checked out the Local Yarn Shop--Anacapa Fine Yarns, (which leads to another story that I will tell later, because it is not a story about Ventura or the lovely folks at Anacapa). Did I mention there was writing? I know I have a lot to say about yarn, but...WOW. I have a LOT to say about yarn.

After a couple of days of just hanging out, I set out on another adventure, this time with one of my classmates from the weaving class. We went to Solvang to visit Village Spinning and Weaving. Solvang is a stunning drive north from Ventura along the Pacific Coast and a quick turn inland, where you suddenly find yourself in a totally different world. Solvang's architecture and layout is based on a Danish village, so you see things like...

...windmills on the main drag...

...and Hamlet square.

The downtown area is filled with lovely little boutiques and quirky shops, and, of course, Village Spinning and Weaving, where no small amounts of time and money were spent. We had lunch, then meandered the non-spinning-and-weaving shops for a while, then discovered that it was farmer's market day.

Now, I am a bit of a farmer's market junkie. I cannot walk away from one empty-handed. I went to the farmer's market in Ojai, I had been to the one in Ventura just days before, but we had to poke along through this one, too. So I managed to toddle on home from Solvang with plenty of yarn and a big sack of strawberries and veggies.

More writing and beach strolling, with a bit of weaving in the sunshine...

...filled up my week, and before I knew it, it was time to move on again.

I was actually a little sad to leave Ventura and my little nest, but that didn't last too long because my next stop was Disneyland!

Stay tuned...

California Odyssey Part One: Navajo Weaving

Hey!

I'm back.

You may recall that when I last checked in, I was in a bit of a funk. Not so much a funk as a period of distraction. I was not interested in spinning or knitting, I couldn't write a coherent sentence to save my soul, and I was flitting about, keeping busy doing nothing.

I will freely admit that I did plan a period of nothing in my life after the stress overdose of the past few years, but I had no idea it would be so...well...boring and crazy-making.

Fortunately for me, though, the brilliant man that I married saw this coming and sort of forced and adventure on my restless spirit. He was getting a little tired of me saying that I would write a book someday and then spending my days baking bread and folding laundry into shapes that would make an origami master green with envy. He wanted me to focus, and I couldn't focus when there were distractions like trying to find a way out of walking the dog when it's 30 below. And he knew that it would take an adventure to snap me out of my funk. So he gave me a budget and set me loose on Expedia.

I looked at The Tropics and Europe and Asia. I pondered a snowy cabin in the woods, and a spa in the desert. And I finally decided that I would go to Arizona. ("Wait!", you say, "Isn't this about a CALIFORNIA odyssey?" Yes. Yes it is. Hang in there, I'm getting to it.)

I hunted for plane tickets and vacation rentals and museums and libraries and all the things to do in Arizona. And one of the things that drifted through my searching was a Navajo weaving workshop in Canyon de Chelly. This one little thing piqued my interest in all things string that had been laying dormant for so long, and I started to hunt around for information about the tour and the instructors. This led to the discovery that the same instructors were leading a workshop in Ojai, California the week prior to the Canyon de Chelly class. A longer class, for a lower cost. A search for Ojai led to some interesting points of interest, some fibery, some not. And I found a great deal on a vacation rental in Ventura, not far from Ojai. And it all clicked. A seat sale came along, then a deal on a hotel room in Ojai. There was room in the workshop for me, and I even had that stroke of inspiration that started the book.

So, off I set for Ojai. I knew Ojai was north of Los Angeles, so I flew into LAX and hopped into a rental car and set off for Ojai. The GPS told me it would be about an hour and a half, but what it didn't tell me is that the first 45 minutes was on the busiest freeway in the known universe at rush hour. Eight lanes of traffic, all changing lanes and zinging past at light speed, and me not knowing where I was going...EEP. However, I managed to survive and get to the relatively quieter 101 and to Ventura without incident and up the now dark, windy road to Ojai.

The next morning was day one of five, and I was introduced to the basics of Navajo weaving. And I was instantly in love. I had been told once that maybe I should just accept that weaving was not my thing (and by a fairly famous weaving teacher, too!), but I had clearly just not found the right kind of weaving yet.  I was waiting for Navajo weaving.

I worked away on my little rug, loving the flow of the yarn in my hands and the rhythm of the beating of my comb...

I made mistakes and learned to correct them. I concentrated on keeping my edges straight. I made a little rug. Not a perfect rug, but MY rug...

The instructors, Lynda Pete and Barbara Ornelas, are sisters who are fifth-generation Navajo weavers in the Two Grey Hills tradition. They shared traditions and stories of their lives growing up as weavers and taught fumbling newbies like me to weave with great patience and humour. Linda was the patient soul who taught the beginners, like me and Rene....

...while Barbara worked with those in the group who had taken classes before and had an idea of what they were doing, like Steve....

...and Leslie...

...who seem to have grasped a little more than the basics.

One of the high points of my week came when Barbara was spinning warps on her mother's Navajo spindle for our warping workshop...

Well, technically, she was respinning commercially spun singles, driving more twist in to make a sturdy warp. Knowing I was a spinner, she explained the techniques and showed me the right amount of twist, then let me try...

I had nowhere near the speed and skill that Barbara has, but I have a far better understanding of the Navajo spindle now and have ordered one to practice on from Lynda's husband, Belvin, who also built the looms we used.

I finished my rug, along with a few others in the class, and Barbara said a traditional Navajo blessing over the rugs. We cut the selvedges, and I brought my ends home to plant in my garden so my rug will always know where it's home is.

I took the warping class, too. Which didn't go quite so smoothly. I made a really dumb mistake, crossing my warps at some place, which led to Barbara having to unwarp and rethread a good third of the warp by hand...

My job was to keep tension on the warp yarn as she worked it back into the selvedges, which meant I spent a lot of time with this view...

I was terribly upset by the inconvenience that I was putting the teachers to, but I learned a great lesson about patience--using it when I work, having it with myself, and the gift of the patience of others for the mistakes learners make. And in the end, I had a warp for my next rug...

..which I began weaving the next day when I moved to Ventura and Part Two of the California Odyssey.