November, and what could have been....

It is November, and that is never a really good month for me. Until this past week this year’s November-weather hadn’t been as terrible as it can be, we actually had days of sunshine, some cold, some not too cold, and some were even beautiful and sunny. Perhaps after a bit of early morning fog, just by the river. 

Then this past week was terrible and very depressing, but today is nice again, any half glimpse of sunshine is so welcome! 

 I just wish I could live in a country that has a different weather scheme.

Actually, for a few days during the week before last and last week it looked as if this dream might come true.

My husband suddenly started talking about an open position in Bogotá, Columbia, and whether I could possibly consider living there. We started a bit of internet research about the city, the conditions, school options for my son, and a basketball club and began to like the idea. I thought through how much of a change it would mean, all the things I would have to give up, and what it would mean to embark on such an adventure, moving to another country. At least I would have had a head-start on my husband as I have already been studying Spanish. Can’t say that I am anywhere near fluid, basically it is still in the stages where I always feel the incompetence, especially in listening und understanding when my teacher talks to me - she has by now changed into normal conversational speed, and she is not a small talker. And I should study my vocabulary on a more regular basis… But it’s good enough to say, yes, that’s an adventure I can face, and I wouldn’t have to start from scratch.

So there was the smell of adventure in the air, a possibility for a total change. Until my husband talked to the organizers of the whole thing, found out about conditions that applied first to his own application, and the necessary preliminaries, and to me, and everything fell to pieces. It  would have been virtually impossible to get a work permit for me, not even to talk about the things on his side. And although I would have been willing to give up all the things here for an adventure and new experience, I am not willing to do that to be damned to inactivity in terms of working/earning money. And we would have needed a second income to supplement what he would be making, as additional costs would apply. So that was that. Not possible, and a bit of a disappointment, too. Not that Columbia had been on the top of my personal list of countries I could well imagine living in before this discussion, in fact, it had not even been listed. But it was a teaser, very welcome, enticing. Now November is even grayer than before, if there is such a thing as a comparative of gray!

During the week I finished writing my article for the Patchwork Professional magazine and sent it off half an hour ago. 
I also started getting ready for the possibility of snow, and soaked some pieces of fabric in soda ash. After all, the article in the magazine is on how to make good use of special effect fabrics like snow-dyed fabrics, I might as well be prepared and have new ones on offer.

 

Not much sewing went on, as I was also dyeing the next selection of the fabric club ‘on the side’. Now I have four of the six colours sitting in the basement, waiting to be ironed. 

One of the least liked parts of the whole process, I admit. I’ll just have to split it up a bit - iron one section, start dyeing colours no. 5 and 6, iron the next one… A busy rest of the Sunday still ahead of me. And by the time I finish writing this, the sky has clouded up again, no more glimpses of sunshine. Might just as well hide in the basement!