if…..

if your birthday

and thanksgiving

and hanukkah

are all the same day

i guess it's ok

to travel to toronto

to spend thanksgiving break away,

avoid buy nothing day

and come home on saturday

having

visited with two of the most amazing women in the world

aimee and wendy,

eaten a meal with paper people*

visited the ontario college of art and design

met amos kennedy (read his name with gusto and delight)

visited the japanese paper place

and wonderful nancy

eaten delicious soups and pesto

with dandelion and beet greens

walked in a city that's friendly and beautiful

visited soma (read with a sigh)

and looked at inuit art.

anyway,

that's what i did.

visiting the wendy/velma book

currently holding holy water! 

the prints

(i made one like this) 

amos hard at play 

aimee looking at prints that amos brought

for the ocad book arts fair.

we were a little disappointed that the textile museum

was between exhibitions, 

but we did find a quiet hidey-hole

to strip off some extra winter layers

so aimee could breathe.

and i found some friendly bones.

guess where…

i will be in february, over winter break?

Austalia!

i will be teaching three classes.

the first will be at amazing and wonderful

BEAUTIFUL SILKS

in Melbourne.

we will be working on paper as/on/in textile

in BOOK format.

a codex will be made by every participant

'twill be a medieval style

with very contemporary implications.

your very personal marks

maybe not words, though, but you'll be making

the stationer's binding.

a medieval version of a three ring binder,

only with tackets and hideyholes.

my amazing friend

and proprietor of Beautiful Silks

Marion Gorr says there will be

a couple of surprises, too

a dyepot or more,

imagine: indigo, cochineal, ecoprints…

making paper sing.

making paper string.

making paper speak and listen.

 ~~~

and then after Melbourne,

i will be in a more faraway place called

Grampians Texture

where i will teach first a two, 

then a four day workshop!

shifu

enough time to delve lightly, 2 days,

or deeply, 4 days, into shifu making

shifu Shifu SHIFU!

we will spin and weave and color up our

paper/thread/books. the four days

will be enough time to go very deeply 

into a formal book presentation of your shifu.

you will reach a bit,

work hard,

and expect some amazing work.

 i am very excited

and i am hoping like mad

that the weather gods smile on this winter traveler!

working at night

 working at night this week

parent teacher conferences.

i drove by the place where the geese still spend their nights

before it freezes.

 and by the corn ladies

(caught today in the daylight)

 and yes,

they do dance

 they twirl slowly

in the november wind

 allow themselves to be moved

ever so slightly

that no one (much) sees.

i did.

and

 i saw a ghost!

ghost prints

 indigo leaf

grown by josh for me

hidden away in my journal

in september.

today's journey

"you're not a human on a spiritual journey, you're a spirit on a human journey."

a quote from a pine ridge organizer of skateboarding youth

think on this--

 my neighbor's small barn, 

with stripy roof

 wild cuke, looks like my hair

 when mine first dries this happens

 last night when i stepped into the shower

i saw this small one

 after the shower it went outside

how do these guys get in my house?

mice galore this fall-

many, many trapped so far.

 today i went to lake placid

to drop off five works for an invitational show

the big little art show

opening next friday, should you be in the area.

don't know if i'll make the opening, but four of the rock books will appear. 

the fifth is too BIG.

 i went all the way to keene valley

 a somewhat dizzying drive when the leaves are off

 but it was beautiful

 at home there are a few things i wanted to share: from carol

 from therese

 carol's new book is out

 a wonderul gift from frank

 he certainly has a lot to say about spuds

and the like

i'm reading this,

another very fine book.

 and these came

 elissa campbell's work

yep, i won these!!!

and this guy got none of my 

excellent potato salad from

the lakeside deli in saranac lake.

it was watching, waiting.

morning commute

 work days are long lately

but on daylight savings time these mornings

 i get to see

waterfowl.

these geese are NOT swimming

they are walking on water--

ice actually.

 a bit further along my route i get to see these beings.

 i love the sunlight on them.

 they're practically lifelike

aflame, even

 and they exist only on amish farms.

where at each end of the day

i see teams of workhorses hitched and tied at the ends of rows

of corn grown against the dearth of winter.

 surprise!

 just outside of the town

where i'm working now

(and teaching a few extra hours)

there was what looked like a pullover of some kind 

(it's usually a car and a call on a cell phone)

it was, however,

a young man driving this hefty team

he was preforming a maneuver 

with the tree and harness.

the horses were getting untangled it looked like.

7:35 this morning.