fun in the sun

after several years of blog visiting and emails

we met in person

Bryan and I picked Velma up at the airport

hi Velma, welcome to Victoria

we spent a day together before the conference started

Bryan was excited when he opened his boxes

he couldn’t remember if he’d sent these!

we had a private lesson making bamboo reeds

cutting bamboo looks dangerous

this is the correct way to start the string

a  string half hitch between each thin bamboo strip determines the dent spacing

this is as far as I got

after each day at the conference I was so tired my brain didn’t work

I need to finish before I forget how to do it

then I would have to go to Japan for another lesson!

Bryan left this small cloth tiny sashiko stitches on two layers of fine cotton

well used, soft – it speaks to me

and this little bamboo basket he taught in his class

with toonies and loonies – they weigh you down and make holes in your pockets

I spent an entire day

taking all the paper off the display boxes – that I’d spent hours putting on

flattened all the cardboard

sorted paper and plastic

and took it to the municipal recycle

conference work is not over when everyone goes home!