At the office

It's the PERFECT office for the small amount of time that I need it.  A sensual blend of warm lighting, deep heady aroma of coffee, interesting people-watching opportunities, wide space, and walls covered in great art- this month, some of mine!  This place I call my "office" three days a week is the Middle Way Cafe.  I have about an hour and a half between when I drop Willa off at school and when I have to go to work.  I've become very attached to this cafe/art gallery and I've come to really look forward to my cheap cuppa drip and time spent here with my laptop- editing photos, networking, researching my next art venues, FB'ing, and hopefully fitting in more blog perusing.



My spot under the long "s" painting

  It's been awhile since I've kept up with my blog roll and I'd like that to change.  FB is fun but also a major time sucker for someone with Attention Deficit Disorder.  I love that I have been able to keep in regular contact with SO many people that I probably wouldn't if left to just using snail or e-mail...and it's great for promoting my art, but it can also be so vacuous.  I find with spring here and the summer approaching that I'm missing the plethora of fabulous, ideas and inspiration that I have found within my blog list.  I have yet to see if some of them are even in existence anymore!  Life changed so much once Willa started full time school.  Gone were our days filled with little adventures of discovery, creating and crafts.  Abridged versions of these were relegated to the weekends.  I work more, took on an art career, and weekdays have become so much more busy with daily routine-lots of driving and evenings filled with trying to keep some semblance of tidiness in the home, fixing dinner all while Willa re-loads from a busy social day with some solitary play.   And all of a sudden it's bedtime.   I STILL hate not having her at home.  HATE it.  But she is where she needs to be for her age and is thriving and happy at our Waldorf school.  And on the other end of the spectrum, I'm very happy - and surprised -to have launched my art from the kitchen to the walls of local galleries.  And my work at the clinic is enjoyable, too.  But I can't wait for summer and the chance to get back into the rhythm of the "old days".  Morning walks to see what's new and alive outside, little road trips, picnics, creating outside in the sun, challenge hikes, and that spontaneous child-led learning-for BOTH of us.  I have a need to revisit the places where I have learned so much...about myself, about parenting, about the philosophy of the Waldorf environment, natural learning, ...to where such an  abundance of creativity is.  I've let life get TOO routine, and although the struggle to fit more of the past's routines into the now, consistently, is exhausting to someone with ADD, I need to make more of an effort.  It'll be easier when school is out. 
But for now, time to close down, leave my pleasant office and head to work.