It’s been raining every day here at Penland—such a change from the dry, dying fields of North Alabama over the last weeks. Like a miracle, it rained on our cotton field, too (more to come on that next week). My father reports that we did get 3 inches of rain at my house and I love how he called it a “good rain.” “Long and slow,” he drawls. I know what he means. It has been the same here at Penland, but I have a pair of rubber boots and, thanks to a Spruce Pine store, a camping poncho. And the mountains here just feel like they are particularly beautiful in the rain… I believe that they call them the “Smoky Mountains” for a reason.

The studio has settled into a nice, easy workflow. Experiments abound and I see beautiful little fabric designs growing all around me. Looking forward to see what the weekend brings.

For me, the most surprising thing about this time at Penland has been the yoga sessions. I feel like I came to work on textiles and have landed in a yoga retreat. Included in your stay here at Penland are yoga classes at 7:00 and 5:00 each day. I find myself excited to get to each class and I’m thinking of ways to incorporate this into my life once I get back home. Diane from Gray Bear Lodge has changed the way I think of yoga and my body in one short week. Luckily, Diane’s lodge is about an hour from my home in Alabama and she is also here for the duration of my stay. Astounding.

I slept all night last night for what seems the first time in ten years.  And as I woke up this morning, I lay still and thought “Today I am going to do my Shavasana in bed.”  #TheGoodLife Indeed.