I am a night owl. That is part of my personality, and just the way I like it.

but on the other hand

I am an insomniac. I lie awake, thoughts racing through my brain, the chance to sleep flying out the window as dawn and the alarm and the work day loom ever closer.

I think I sabotage myself in part, because I enjoy the night so much, and maybe I even worry I would be less interesting if I went to bed earlier. I know that's weird, but we all have these little self-illusions. One of mine is the image of smart, creative types pulling all-nighters, black coffee in hand, cigarettes burning. Okay, I don't smoke, but you get the picture.

So I am giving it a try. I am drinking herbal tea, Dr. Stuart's Valerian Plus, to relax me before bed. I am drinking tincture of valerian in bed to quiet my mind and let me drift away. And to round out the night I have finally invested in one of those dawn simulating clocks. The light gradually comes on over half an hour, which triggers your mind to do natural waking hormone stuff (you've got to make sure it's enough lux and full-spectrum - hubby with a flashlight pointed at your face will not have the same effect!), then your alarm goes off at the set time, with birdsong, or surf, or froggies (you can have beeping or the radio, but hey, I'm being a good girl and going to bed, at least grant me my whimsical chirping alarm sounds!).

So far so good, I'm waking up more willingly, and haven't pressed snooze yet!

So here we are, in at the deep end like always. I had my first class today. It's called Visual Poetry, and it is all about dwelling in our imaginations and responding to different stimuli, especially poetry, words, phrases. Our teacher is a working artist who collaborates in transatlantic projects and explores the contrast implicit in her English-Maltese roots. We had ten class members today, although several may yet turn up. It was quite challenging. We were working with a whole new technique, layering up drawings by using different ways of tracing. I will share when I've finished my piece, next week.

Tomorrow morning is drawing. I am worried about it, but working on staying chilled.

Saturday we have the first Foundation day. We will have to present our projects. But beyond that I don't know what to expect. Big stuff in baby steps.

Look at all this fabric yumminess. Waiting to be stitched up into crafting aprons inspired by this amazing, generous, lovely girl.