over at the new place 

it was cold outdoors

but 

thick walls and woodstove kept things cozy inside

there was a little 

happy dance in the clouds

at sunset

and those porcupine trails?

they multiplied

many times

but the wind came up

and blew them all away.

a cold wind, 

but warmer temperatures than we've had lately.

a little sweet present

came in today's mail

even the outer packaging

was washi.

moon and corn

a scrap of moon

hangs over the tree line

 this frozen morning

way below zero

 school begins late

 and the amish farms look huge and cold

 with the corn ladies

 hidden behind the unshooked planting

 how odd,

they don't look like food!

 but they are.

one has lost her head

 but who could blame her

 at 35 degrees below zero

it's hard to be cheerful.

books and porcupines

i often think in walks and 
in books as walks…

these thoughts in particular, 

were ignited by alisa golden…

maybe because i often walk in places that are deeply connected to land (not disconnected by concrete and asphalt) and are therefore punctuated by plants and animals and their relationships…at lunch a few minutes ago a porcupine made a zipper trail across my yard (from the woods behind the barn) to the arbor vitae near the road…that path is a tale of a limping sticky bear…what words does it think in, with?

what stories to tell?

what wisdom…or not

why take a journey across the plain of the yard

to the white cedar?

that trail is completely tell tale

and yet who, i ask you, who

is going to mess with this one?

a dog, probably, but what other yard visitor?

this one knows the way

to a penthouse lunch

and then home into brambly brush 

and then

anywhere

winter continues

to be itself. 

after huge cold 

and more cold

and ice 

and more

 came thaw.

finally the deer came out of their 

hidey holes,

yarded up

till it's walkable.

 fissures are filling up again

 and starlings gather 

to whistle and sing

and remind me that january's half done.

 and this small snow comes down

with a chill wind

 begins again to build up 

little drifts

here,

 off in the woods,

 close by in the fencelines,

and these, happily wait

food for those silly starlings

or other hungry winged ones.

and that porcupine

the one with the limp,

waddles into the front yard to eat 

an arbor vitae snack.

the mail

 a wonderful card happened 

into my mailbox

an unexpected gift from ronnie

 india's latest 

a booklet, a project,

an invitation

india using a leaf

as a spoon

is so very india

and a wee bit faerie

 a strong sheet of kozo

 envelopes

 a beautifully geometric bag

 dyed and woven 

by chinami ricketts

the flat winter light here doesn't show

the soft, rich variations of indigo

chinami achieved.

hunger, fear, evidence, joy

i have not been hungry, 

but there is

evidence

everywhere there is evidence of hunger.

this was under snow 

for a week or two

and with the thawing there is 

evidence 

 it's a hard winter so far

 but there is a bit of dancing going on,

no matter what.

who has such joy? 

 dear god where do they get the energy?

i, who love wintertime

 have been grumpy 

grumpy

between snow and ice and bitter coldsnowsleetfreezingrainice and 

a great weariness

and cold,

dead

fear

 someone, some small one

finds joy,

maybe?

 so today i walked

between warmth and flood watch

 the fields weird,

like lakes,

 with strange evidence

of who 

 WHO?

has

walked this way?

i walked freely, with a big stride,

no crampons!

yellow birch

 the new place

has yellow birch sills 

and now floors

upstairs.

 sills are oiled, 

floor just installed and unfinished

details unfinished still

but you can see it shaping into home.

i am reading 

to take new ideas into teaching:

and

 i've been looking at 

 drum leaf binding samples

 books made with paste

and paint and pencil 

paper pages, in preparation

drum leaf binding with paste papers 

for teaching in melbourne

at beautiful silks

an experimental class to push us all

and making new prints

to see where they take me,

to oz? or where they go

next.

and i have apps to do

nyfa grants. 

teaching workshops.

ugh.