I checked out of the Harbord Motel this morning…returned my key and ate breakfast at Mrs. Bourland’s kitchen table. At the shop, Tex and I went over all my notes. Some of them didn’t make any sense at all…we untangled those. I’m glad I stayed the four weeks. It let me get a little settled in here. The first two weeks, everything was new…and I was terrible at all of it. I was stitchin’ wobbly lines, breakin’ pegs, hackin’ tiny bits of sole leather away with the lip knife. I couldn’t even pull a tack out the right way. (Somehow I thought having a web page about cowboy boots for 3 years was gonna help me out a bit…as if!) But after 4 weeks I can see some improvement. I’m glad I kept those first practice pieces of leather, the ones where Tex just had me sew around the edges…and around…and around. I’m better now. I’m better at the lip knife and the pegs and the tacks. I’m starting to believe that Tex is right when he tells me I just need to be serious about it and practice. I’m going to go home now and practice.
