It's a good thing that it's Friday today - I have really been looking forward to the weekend all week long. And I have managed to get the deadlined thing done before the deadline (well, a day before, but that counts, right?) and will be able to really enjoy the weekend as a result. Hooray!

Textile Forum stuff is also in the works, and I hope to have all the stuff together for an update for the participants and an update to our website on Monday afternoon. Another thing to look forward to, and coming up as fast as Xmas has a habit of creeping up come November.

But for now... weekend!

If you have been planning to visit Durham, you are in for a little bad luck: The Durham Treasures exhibit area is closed and the textiles that were on display are in storage for an indefinite period.

But there's some good news, too: 
The reason for this is that the Cathedral is embarking on a major development of its Claustral buildings, which will see the Shop move from its current location in the Great Kitchen into the Western Undercroft (where the Treasures exhibition used to be). A new sequence of exhibition spaces in which we plan to display many more of the Cathedral's collections will be created in the Monks' Dormitory and Great Kitchen.

You can read a little more about the project, called Open Treasure project, on the Cathedral website. There's also "News" (longer term stuff) and "Notices" (short-term info on closures, events and restrictions) on the site, so it's probably a good idea to check in there before leaving for Durham.

I will be taking the summer break that I have hinted at, and thus there will be no blogging for a while. It's time for me to relax and recharge the batteries, and to take some time off for blogging so I can write again with vigour (and less braindead-ness) after my return.

I hope you will all have a lovely summertime with sunshine, nice weather, fun and relaxation!



Regular blogging will resume on Monday, August 13.

I feel... braindead. Like I could really, really use that summer break. So it's a good thing that it's coming up!

And since my brain is already more or less in shutdown mode, here's a pic instead of words.

"I can has Friday?
...
What do you mean YOU HAVE NOT MADE IT BE FRIDAY YET?"

It's summer, and I will be taking a break from work, starting the end of this week. This is really nice, and I am very much looking forward to it - although there is a stack of stuff left to do before I can go with a good conscience, so the next few days will be devoted to that.

And then... time off! Relaxation, hanging out with friends, and going for a swim whenever I feel like it. Hooray!

Today's work day will be a tad shorter than usual, since I have to go to the doctor's to refresh vaccinations - TBE (FSME, for the German readers) and tetanus are more than due, though thankfully not that overdue that I would need a new basis vaccination.

We're living in an area with infection risk for TBE, which is basically all of Southern Germany, and I like being outside, so that as well as tetanus is a smart thing to have. Both are infections that are not easy to treat once you have them, but with a very good protection by the vaccination... so off I will go to get myself protected.

And tomorrow... I will tell you about the outcome of my spinning tests, which are now more or less finished!

We have full-on summer here now, ripe strawberries, lots of sunshine, dry weather (the lawn has become Extra Crispy Summer Edition again) and heat, heat, heat. The season for iced coffee and icecream and hanging out in the garden in the evening and enjoying the sun.

Unloading the car yesterday was a quite, quite hot affair, so I am happy that I did not have to do the presentations in heat like that, but in a rainy night instead. And today's agenda mostly lets me stay in the comparatively cool indoors, where I shall endeavour to catch up with all the paperwork that has accumulated again... boring to do, but a good excuse to stay in the cool.