New Streams for Energy

To quote my dearest Jhenah – “Energy is energy is energy.” The trickle of energy generated by sales of soap and other pretty things is being re-routed a bit. I’m going to try to break up with Etsy. I’ve been there since 2007, and it has been very useful. But it has changed so dramatically from being a place for artisans. So I’m adding Shopify’s buttons to the Shop page here at annabellaandcompany.com. First up are the Blodeuwedd in Flight rings.

In other news, grad school broke my brain last January. I’ve been on a year of academic leave since then. I will pick up classes again in January. I was uncertain for a while, because the damage caused by working too intensely took me down hard. Just thinking about returning was terribly upsetting. And now, I’m feeling much better, and am looking forward to the next course. I have a paper outstanding, and we’ll make a plan for how to hand it in. The faculty and department leadership have been unbelievably generous and kind – quite different from my experiences at American universities as both student and professor.

At work, things are moving along familiar terrain. Trudging, stress, panic, more trudging, more panic. The kids are, for the most part, dear and a bit lost. My work partner makes the familiar impossible situations possible. I treasure the downtime between insane production marathons.

I’ve been on this soapmaking lark since 1995. it has been a slow and steady accumulation of huge amounts of information. I’m slowly deciding about pitching a new and improved 25th anniversary of the first book, for which I have purchased back the rights. We’ll see where I am with a plan for the thesis process.

The rain was so intense today that it looked like movie rain.