What I've been up to

You may have thought I had fallen off the planet—no hat posts, not even a painting. What happened to the milliner from Maynard, Mass?

Oh, what a year 2012 was! There was just way, too much healthcare. In fact, by the time August rolled around, I thought I might explode if I had to pay one more copay. But in the early September I had an MRI of my spine (I have some various spinal cord conditions), and that MRI made my neurologist send me to my neurosurgeon in Boston. The neurosurgeon decided that it was time to clean some things up. So I spent eight days around Thanksgiving in the hospital—it was ok. My husband brought me a latté every day, and brought his laptop so that he could work and still be nearby.

I had similar surgery as a child, but I'm far from being a child, and I forgot how much it would hurt. Still, it ended and here I am. I'm still recovering—the neurosurgeon says that it will take 12-24 months for all the nerves to heal up—but every day gets a little easier. I'm in physical therapy two times a week and am both making progress and learning a lot! While in the hospital and when I got home, many of our friends and family pitched in to help us out with childcare, meals, you name it. I am so grateful for that—I was able to rest for a good period of time.

I haven't made any new hats yet, but I did get my last shipment of ten or so out to the Peabody Essex Museum before I went into the hospital. I've gone to the studio a handful of times, and in that time I've been working on a painting. I should be finishing that one soon, and when I do, I'll post images of how it progressed.

In the meantime, here's a link to a video of coverage of the Hats exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum. Sorry I can't embed the video—you'll have to click on this instead: A Party on Your Head I still have to get myself out there one more time to see it again.

Linda Hartigan, the Chief Curator of the museum, who we see at the beginning of the video, bought one of my more interesting hats from the PEM boutique in the first days of the show. I felt honored to have it go to her. (The photo in this post is of the hat she bought. You may recall it from my February blog post Pretty Things). I love this hat.

Do yourself a favor and go see the show. You'll find my burgundy hat under glass in the American Gallery on the first floor.