hard frost, coyote scat and porcupine

it was a tough weekend

a memorial for a friend and later

i was sick

with a foul intestinal scourge

 so for four days i had no walk

also

 i'm tutoring a student after school

 but today i set out

in late october sunshine

after last night's hard frost

22 degrees at 7 am.

 today was my third encounter with this

small one

 i become disconcerted when it walked straight towards me: bold!

eyes on me

on the roadside

what's up, little one?

i side stepped, and asked 

 why are you risking yourself

you who are called varmint?

why come out to the roadside

just to savor the new growth,

succulent though it is

when hunters are out with guns everywhere?

 the response was uncanny, 

but i know i was heard

and i know that this one decided to go back

 across to the north side of the road

and into the thicket

gray dogwood and poplars

as i marveled at those amazing feet, 

turning in toes, long, strong, and clever.

it was a walk in the crisp

colorful and cidery cold afternoon

and along the road, 

here and there

coyote scat. 

just to remind me there are jokes

i don't understand.

books and play

susan's book

 i can barely wait until i have

this book in my hands

(i did get to read it electronically)

lucky me!

this book came recommended

in a roundabout way from glennis dolce.

and i am so happily reading, savoring each page

every page has wisdom, and is framing experience for me.

i've found that dr. kimmerer is a neighbor (almost) 

her ted talk spoke to my heart.

she brings students to cranberry lake, 

each summer. 

cranberry lake is where my son first swam, 

and where i discovered a book in their tiny library

about something called designer bookbinding.

and then i met sally smith, who spent summers there

and winters in london teaching bookbinding.

she was my first binding teacher.

circles, connections, and love.

~~~

 fetching the mail i found this little one

the chickadees love the ditch there

right by the raod

 on my new path home

 more path treasures

 and i was playing 

with shadows

and sunset

and leaves

we country folk have 

a need for amusement--

books and walks serve me well.

~~~

students this year have healthy funny bones 

and leave behind

reminders 

so do other folks...at home today

  i found three stashes

this one in a towel awaiting me by the tub.

there was a very sweet mention

of one of my hortus siccus books

by bryan from when he visited jean.

thank you!

singing shifu

my four selvedge lokta shifu

it's almost ready for us all,

a definitive work about my heart's delight!

A SONG OF PRAISE FOR SHIFU

here's my story:

a very long time ago i read an article

in (the sorely missed) journal fiberarts... it was about a paper textile

japanese made, called shifu.

 written by dorothy miller.

well, as a weaver and papermaker, i was captivated.

thus began my search for the elusive textile shifu.

not long after this event, i found that dorothy miller was teaching a class 

in indigo dyeing and in paper spinning for shifu.

so i made my way to that midwest fiber conference and spun and dyed.

thus began my journey.

 susan byrd's new book, A SONG OF PRAISE FOR SHIFU

will be available very soon for purchase.

i have been a privileged first reader.

 i have seen the faces of the weavers,

photographs of the ones

susan studied with.

 i have seen their brilliant hands

 spinning and weaving.

susan has asked me

to send you all to her site through the hot link above.

(or here)

her text is rich and detailed

the photographs, copious

the footnotes are worth a book of their own (almost).

this book kept ringing out peals of music

YES! YES!

as i read. 

~~~

now, here's really really good news:

this book is pricey

and the proceeds, all of them,

are going to the shifu weavers themselves.

susan is taking the book to japan

(the money, too)

a gift to her teachers, the traditional shifu weavers themselves.

amazing, a full circle.

another gift:

the first copies will have

samples.

amazing and beautiful samples

paper and shifu.

the nearby

 i was driving to the mountains

from home

and this thing caught my eye.

so i turned around

and...was still puzzled

until...

zoom

 got as close as the canon would let me.

~~~

still wondering.

around the place...

...i'll know that fall is here

 recent prints

  summer holdouts in my neighbor's garden

 color

 softer color this fall

 moonrise and sunset on wednesday

and now the moon is really big

 old mystery full of books

 this fall and last fall color studies

genevieve sent me my studies from asao's class

 and a new book

 half sendack

 half blake it seems

wholly amazing.

reflection(s)

 the crescent moon appeared

 in puddles

 seen through the maze of brush

  the brush and the big trees 

were still 

changing clothes

 and i found someone's mapping

 and remembered that wooly bears track their own stories

with a plan on their backs

telling of the sort of winter we have in store

 this flower is growing in my sugar maple garden,

ok, a tree that the county workers felled

and brought the logs to me

to warm me in a cold winter,

that is, if the wooly bears

share their secrets.

and don't play games.

hey, maybe that grid

is the wooly bear score card!

bruised

 i looked 

as always

to the immense hilltop sky

 and saw a bruising

the word that hurts as you speak it

 but i looked longer,

past the sad colors

 and watched the sunset

take charge and play the clouds

 and even through the sadness

in my heart

 this

 and this

 and as i returned, this.

an old friend from my early days here

who had huge kindness in his heart,

 todd, has passed. 

we will all miss him.