Once again I am in Dubai airport. Though I am not convinced that
I have ever been through the same terminal or gate in all of the times I have
passed through. It is less of an airport, more of a town! Fortunately the
flight was pretty light on the passenger front and I had 4 seats all to myself
to stretch out and sleep for the night, though it was s good job that I wasn’t
hungry as, unusually for Emirates, the evening meal was inedible. Starbucks
have supplied a welcome caffeine supplement and I am waiting on the connection
to Birmingham in a hour or so.
I have left my eldest son with orders to be the ‘house
husband’ whilst I am away and already he is talking about changing the cooking
and the rota – I foresee chaos with a collection of three determined young personalities, and Brian cowering in the
corner trying to keep out of it all! (Though Alex with a chainsaw in his hands could be quite persuasive!)Understandably it is hard for Alex,
having lived at Uni for 3 years, being independent and having loads of friends
all interested in the same activities as he is, to move continent, have no
income, no friends and being further away from his beloved mountains and have
to take the role of domestic goddess for a few weeks. We are doing all we can
to get his job application for the police force underway and making connections
for him, but it feels like a slow business as life and work has to go on for
the rest of us as well.
We have been spending quite a bit of time getting the
university applications made for Bryony. She is applying for Medicine in both
NZ and the UK, which makes for interesting logistical issues as well as extra
costs. Cutting a long story short, she has a secure place in NZ now but still
hopes to get an offer from her preferred choice of Nottingham (UK). At least
she can gain confidence that she has been accepted at Otago for the course of
her choice, and, to Bryony, more importantly, she has a place in the only halls
with ensuites in the student accommodation! The application system for NZ
universities is completely different to that in the UK and we have spent many
hours trying to work out what is going on – thank goodness that is all over,
and by the time Amber is ready to apply we will be expert in the proceedings!
Travelling this time from spring in NZ which is just
starting to benefit from the summer sunshine to a UK in which I have been
warned to bring clothes fit for snow, plus samples for workshops and an
exhibition of work for the Knitting and stitching show has proved interesting;
3 days of packing, sorting, unpacking, rearranging, discarding and repacking
have been a little frustrating - I am
sure that all travellers have to get used to this, I am just not quite there
yet and still spend far too much time working out what to take and not, then attempting
to keep within the weight limit! Thank goodness I have a sister who is not much
smaller than me in clothes sizing and if I choose some of her looser fitting
items, I should be able to supplement my wardrobe to manage the coming 7 weeks.
I have l once again had to leave Brian in charge of
installing work at an exhibition which has to happen this weekend or next and I
am sorry that I have to miss the preview event on 3rd November.
If you are reading this in NZ and want to see the pieces,
they are at the Kiapara Sculpture Garden from 3rd Nov 2013 for a
year. If you can't get or want a preview, see my blog. These pieces are a whole new set of work using metal, wires and
huge yummy glass beads from India and recycled glass beads from Ghana. The idea is that they emerge from the planting
and will move and sway slightly on flexible fibre glass rods when there are
breezes.
I will ask Brian to send me pictures of them once in situ., then
probably have to go and rearrange them when I get back to NZ!! (not that I
don’t trust Brian’s creative instincts, but
... I just like to have the control!)
I was really sorry to hear that one of the first
appointments I will have in the UK is to attend the funeral of Norma Bean, a
colleague on the East Midlands Regional Committee for the Embroiderers guild. For
those who knew Norma, an enthusiastic member of Lincolnshire Branch for many
years, she will be remembered for her superb organisation of many inspirational
Summer Schools over several years, and her unstinting involvement with the
"Bonnets" Project.
During this visit I will be at the Beetroot Tree often,
please link to the newsletter to keep up to date, in particular we have
a special event on 26th October based on my 100 day project. .... please drop
in to join me. (No link on the website just yet - sorry!)
Let’s hope that the snow holds off in the UK and that I
don’t miss too much time in the sun at the beach in NZ, and that you all keep
supporting artists and being creative.
Alysn
xx
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