a day of watching

 on the way home thursday

these amazing beasts were up high, 

i barely found the camera,

they were actually quite close and massive 

they're heavy horses

 wendy is better today

staying close by, 

checking in,

looking for my lead 

in between all the crazinesses after work 

a package lay 

unopened

 and has given comfort

 and more comfort

i lay my hands on this

and i could feel the stitched love

and so

a little piece of dyed shifu 

went to visit.

~

wendy? 

she's doing well on the meds.

and i am well

upheld by a great cloud of caring

and one phone call meant so much.

another trouble

she's my girl. and she's sick

last night she had an"episode"

today the vet diagnosed (in all likelihood) heart disease

(we knew of a murmur)

but it's so much worse.

tonight, meds and i will watch her carefully

if we're lucky, they will help

she's quite advanced

but coping well

i wish i had known sooner 

i hope it's in time to help

we must wait.

falling

 loss

 autumn

 some pale markings

unbundled

(a little over exposed)

saying goodbye

to friends

to flowers

and welcoming changes

thinking through

 this lady spent two days bellowing 

and part of one night

 i'm sure it had to do with losing her calf

or wanting to be bred

it's all about sex says my friend

there were dozens of these on the roadside

the same places where the snappers might lay in june

 fruit of the land

this wonderful russet stone  

is sharp 

on its edges

 silk

 i've been playing with

a cloud

ephemeral

strong

like families facing loss

~~~

i've been weaving

good bye

~~~~~

good bye ed. 
~~~~~

you left so soon, it seems to me.

you were, among other things, a fine papermaker.

passing

yesterday was a day of hard news

when i moved to this old farm

i wanted to know more about the landscape.

i had been living in the adirondacks, and now

north of the blue line there were things i wanted to know.

how to identify things. 

how the ecosystem here works.

so i took a class 

with the amazing dr john green at st lawrence university

we walked out every class

learning to dig and eat ground nuts

milkweed

identify scats, made a bird skin

at yoga yesterday i asked janet how he was doing.

john's heart stopped in july while he was swimming, 

vacationing, in a vermont lake

(john's heart had stopped several times before)

he was 87. i was away, and missed this sad news.

i remember him with love, respect.

~~~

at our house these candies, sesame seeds and honey

the kids long ago named dr. green candy

john would hand them out while hiking

and he gave ian one once. 

~~~

after yoga there was a festival in the park

news of several friends with pancreatic cancer. 

another friend with a long illness.

they are learning to live

and die, with courage and grace. 

to janet, and to cait and chris and ed and becky

i send my love.

to those who knew john,

i share this:

i'm out skiing with wendy, meet john also on skis,

 with his beloved tuck, black labrador, big grin,

on the kip tract, in the glorious snow.

his 70-something boyish grin, a greeting and a hug,

a little chat, and we ski on.

goodbye john.

process

left: wild grapes and some vine and leaves on thick silk,

dyed two days ago

right: indigo leaf prints...pounded onto the same silk.

the prints were washed after a week 

no color loss

abundance

 this is what i saw at 6:45 
on my way to work. 

i tootled along

and then i pulled over
couldn't help it

 i turned around and went back

 pulled out the camera 

and got out

 the geese were honking away

 i disturbed them

it seems

 i kept looking and shooting

 then four took off

 the color was shot with early light

and the red maples showing their true colors

the day

 large hands can manage a few boro stitches

boro and sundowners

(for you who know)  

 melissa reminded me

though she didn't know it

dogbane

 there were a few seedpods left

 so i harvested a packbasketful
in the meadow
(the hill mist and i used to charge up,
jump a fence at the top,
continue on...another life ago)
noted: a large scat. coyote?
bear?
certainly canine-like

 then went to get some wild grapes
i've encouraged them in front of my house
for birds
for privacy
for pleasure

 for a bundle or two

or shifu dyeing

i may take a big chance 

dye a larger shifu cloth

what do i have to lose?

caring through change

 it seems that caring

is good work

something to continue

to do

as worlds change

 in fall we gather

together thinking collecting

for the big change coming

i count on farmers to grow food

i gather at the market

~

my indigo dries in the garage

i am counting on color 

to fortify this winter

~

and the caring i found

through this strange interspace

~

you friends over there in the other world 

are in spring

while we are shedding the excess

green

waiting for snow

~

keeps me connected

~

i wove last night

after winding balls of lokta

from a skein

 stayed up late weaving

a video anchored me

my fingers dancing

over the warp

lokta shifu square

four selvedges 

spun dry

needle woven

on the stump

~
i was a little part of this
which makes me happy

 i've been dyeing again

tell tale fingers tipped in brown

 results on silk

 this silk is from the mountain

and i love it. 

sunset and earth colors

on three layered silk

winter snow on china silk

 Oh, Wendy, 

by aimee lee

and by the way, aimee got it 

exactly right

 photos borrowed from wake robin

 it's about love

 wendy loves her people

only. 

all of them.