Had a good, if tiring, day yesterday teaching the jewellery workshop. It involved an hour's drive to get there, and a five-hour session had been planned. I think, with hindsight, it would have been better to do a four-hour day, with an hour for lunch, though it was good (unusual, for me) to have time to spend thinking and doing things carefully, rather than the usual bull-at-a-gate approach, trying to get through too much in a short time.
The ladies were friendly and fun, and all up for having a go. The things they produced were to be admired and the day passed in a good-humoured frenzy of activity. They only stopped for a delicious communal lunch - to which I was invited - and by the last hour of the day, the mood was noticeably quiet and weary.
We cleared up and exhibited our work and congratulated ourselves on the dot of 4pm and I drove home, surprised that by the time I arrived I felt creaky and drained. Each student had gone off with a basket of great jewellery to be proud of - at least four pieces each, though some did seven or eight. Mission accomplished!
I keep my blog as a personal record of what I'm up to, which might be seen as working towards "An elegant sufficiency, content, retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, ease and alternate labour, useful life". I'm certainly not there yet. There is quite some way to go!