I hope this note finds you and your family well while we navigate the stark reality created by Covid-19.  Personally I’m oscillating between feeling both blessed and ragged; fortunate because I can stay busy planning things like our summer camping season, Fiber College and the new coat I want to spin, weave and sew, but raw from images of refrigerated box cars behind hospitals, service people without masks and empty streets.  

I hope that you’re finding solace in your handwork, cooking or books, and are able to take advantage of the time and opportunities created by social distancing to focus on projects that bring you joy, comfort and the chance to feel in control. Here in Searsport we’re getting the campground ready slowly by picking up fallen tree limbs, re-digging trenches and gathering up mountains of acorns that the squirrels didn’t need this winter. We’re also inside putting the final touches to the new Maker’s Guild Website we’ve dreamed about for years, which tells the story of our not for profit creative community and will showcase all the details of this year’s events when it launches in the near future. We’ve (finally!) learned how to use Cloud based software to polish photos, edit text and video conference…and sorting through images from the 14 years of happy gatherings we’ve enjoyed together has been comforting and inspiring! It’s fun to see how we’ve grown and changed….and makes the grey hairs I now sport seem earned rather than inflicted!

In past years, Fiber College (September 9-17, 2020) has always launched its calendar of classes on April 1st, but this year we’ve decided to do things a little differently. We’re on track to give you the very best line up of classes that we’ve ever offered, but given the way everyone is being impacted right now, it’s taking a little longer than usual to pin down some of the final details….and we don’t want to add another the pressure to people’s lives. And honestly, the launch just doesn’t feel right yet.  Even as I’m writing, our Governor has announced a new order to Stay at Home. So please indulge us for another week or two while we work out a few more details, give extra time to friends in need and show additional bits of kindness to the people who are keeping our groceries on the shelves, our community safe and our vital systems functioning.

In the meantime, here’s a taste of what’s in store. We gathered together the images (Steve wrote and played the music track) for this quick video previewing all the class photos that we’ll be posting soon.  We hope you enjoy it! Stay safe and if you feel as though you are swimming up a flooded Spring stream, pause and look at the birds that are singing from the branches. There is still so much to celebrate!

With a heart full of love and gratitude,

Astrig

P.S.  We’ve just adopted a bottle lamb…an Icelandic that Coral, our lovely assistant, has been nursing into health…This new addition to our wooly family makes us smile so expect way too many pictures posted to our facebook and instagram pages

P.P.S. If you would like to learn more about our nonprofit arm, Maker’s Guild of Maine you can click over to the website and at the bottom you’ll find a place to sign up for our e-mail updates https://makersguildmaine.org/