There are days when the rest of your life may hang on the thread of someone else’ bad day.
For example…
The lawyer defending you has just been up all night with her sick child, and then she comes to court exhausted and less prepared than she should have been.
The receptionist at your HMO has just had a bad interaction with a patient and, subsequently, is out to stick it to the next person who annoys her. Because you walked in and innocently asked the wrong question, it’s you.
Or, you smile at someone, and this random smile postpones a mass killing spree by a day.
Thus, you may find yourself found guilty of a crime you did not commit; assigned an appointment with the least competent, least likable health care provider in your HMO; or, alive for one more day, having avoided the wrath of a mass murderer because you smiled at the right time.
Our fate often hinges then, not on our own actions, but on the randomness in the lives of the others with whom we interact.
Doesn’t say much for free will, does it?
I first saw the phrase in an old pharmacological text which I repaired. The original old blog entry about that is here.
Technically, spirit of bees was an ancient curative made in medieval times from extract of bees. But I was charmed by the sound of the phrase, the rhythm of the words. It brought to mind the buzzing of the swarm, the activity of the hive, the busy-ness of bee-ness. As a person who always has many different things going on all the time, and who is very much engaged in the busy-ness of being, I could relate to those words.
Acting with energy and purpose; this is the Spirit of Bees.
Lots of changes since the last update.
Let’s see… back in January, we had recently finished rearranging the studio. Apparently, things don’t change much because we are at it again.
We are still trying to make it all more user friendly, by making things more accessible. This time we’re moving all the books and book shelves ( 12 of them, all 8′ tall) from the back room into the main part of the studio, and we are transferring all the antique mall stuff and the excess ‘art’ junk into the back room.
Because everything is so packed into every nook and cranny here, just creating a new space is a major project. So I imagine it will take a couple months to get this all done, but it already looks better.
On the Gramma front, I hat to quit babysitting my newest granddaughter last March. It just got to be too much for both of the grandparents who were sharing in her care. So M. went to private daycare for a few months and is now in a Montessorri school. She’s doing great and of course she is the cutest and smartest 17 month old I know. The advantage of having taken care of her all that time is that she and I bonded, and she really loves her ‘Ge Gah’.
On the book arts front, I taught two workshops last Spring, one in California and one in Michigan. Both were great. And I will be teaching another one in Chicago in January. Nice not to have to travel for a change. I also attended an extended book arts workshop for a couple of weeks early last summer. That was good and not so good. Let’s just say printmaker will be joining papermaker on the list of things I am never going to be.
On the jewelry front, I have had more than the usual number of holiday orders from my accounts, so I spent a lot of September and October making a whole lot of jewelry. I’ve also had moderate success with my web site where I’m offering pieces from my production line of ginkgo jewelry. The link is over on the right, if you are interested. Free shipping from now until Christmas!
While I have enjoyed my foray into the book arts, I am really not sure of how committed I am to changing crafts at this age. It would have been a lot easier to do ten or fifteen years ago. At heart, I think I am still primarily a jeweler/or metal artist. And I am thinking more and more about moving back into jewelry again more seriously. Definitely not with production items.
After all these years I guess am still unable to decide what I want to do when I grow up. I think that’s been a theme running through my online journals since the beginning. Sad to say I have never managed to resolve that issue. Let’s see what this year brings.
Looking forward to doing Holidailies once again.
Happy New Year