while I'm away
It is a strange thing about working for yourself, you have the most demanding boss. I can handle her most of the time, she needs to be assuaged with bouts of hard work, punctuated by stretches of creativity. Mostly I have it under control. However, when I throw a new project into the mix, she can balk. My husband and I have been talking about checking out potential locations outside the US to spend some time in in the next decade. One of those places we have in mind is Portugal. She's been a bit cranky lately.
Tomorrow we get on a plane for Lisbon. We'll spend a week there, in an AirBnB to get a feel for life on the ground. Then we'll rent a car and drive up to Porto, slowly, and spend three days up there, also in an AirBnB. Portugal has turned up on all sorts of lists of great places to live in Europe for expats, so I worry we may be a bit behind the curve, but we are going to see it and make our own decisions about it. I haven't been to Europe since London in 2012, I am looking forward to the perspective being away from home brings.
Fear not, I am not abandoning AGOS for overseas shores. For 2018 I am at work, behind the scenes, coordinating both Slow Stitching and Slow Fashion-which will return!- to take place here in Maine in the Summer. I am investigating adding another event to the line-up, but will leave that hanging in the air. I harbor fantasies of running a retreat in a far flung place. Perhaps Portugal will be one of those places.... I am going with that idea in mind, to look and see what is there. So while I will be 'on vacation' for the next two weeks, as a true small business owner, and boss, I never fully turn off, and will be exploring Portugal's fiber and textile landscape. There will be more than a few glasses of Portugese wine, some tasty seafood (polvo!), and a couple of those Pasteis de Nata to help me with my research. I am already planning a trip to Retrosaria, and as many Flea Markets as I can drag Don to. Who knows what I will find. If you want to follow along with me, I will be posting on Instagram. There is a link on the right hand side of the page here.
Otherwise, I will be quiet here for the next two weeks. I have been editing photos from the Summer and am about 3/4 of the way through. Thought I could get it done before I left, but.....
Below are just some images that I will share without comment. There is still a full post coming for each retreat.
