Summer in the City

Seriously, folks, it was 65 yesterday in Chicago in mid-February. That's bananas if you ask me. We went on two walks with our sweatshirts and sweaters and NO COATS! It's almost enough to help you get through the fact that Chicago was voted one of the five most miserable cities in the country. I totally get that, though. Traffic, taxes, and the generally crappy weather get me down. Chicago is a tricky lady, though, switching it up with random bits of gloriousness like today. Yes, sales tax is over 10% but you can also find a miniature piano for free in your alley. Oh, Chicago, you test me.

I really think that sunshine is one of the great creative catalysts, and this recent summer spell has been no exception. My mind has been spinning with ideas ever since the weather broke. I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like (primarily because of a certain two-foot-tall sweetie pie) but the juices have been flowing. I also heard a great interview yesterday on Fresh Air with a filmmaker who talked about her process a lot. I'm blanking on her name right this minute but she discussed how location scouting is a big part of her process. She searches and searches by driving around (and seriously around, like around the country) and looking at possible places to shoot. And it struck me that I really think my own process has this same quality of, I don't know, browsing, I guess. I spend a lot of time browsing through the possibilities, having internal conversations with myself about the choices before me, making a lot of tiny judgements, almost unconsciously. In writing, I do a lot of reading but also a lot of initial writing and revising (which for blog purposes means I sometimes don't even make it to the writing part!) With textiles I go through my materials and collect things together. I also go through many patterns and options. You can see why Ravelry is a dangerous place for me. All of this makes for a slow process but it allows the things to evolve organically. In fact, I started this post yesterday.