return gift

before the trip to rosendale

i harvested a handful of st johnswort

and made a bundle with silk,

did a low temp cook

and put the whole shebang in a jug

in the sun

and subarued away.

 there was some color

 and some foam

 and some interesting smells

 and this

 a nice surprise amidst the unpacking

and all the sleeping i caught up on

 chris,

my australian student at wsw

made some mountains on flax,

the catskills,

and then the indigo vat

 got tired.

i woke it up a little bit

 and got some indigo after a little while
and got a wee bit of blue.

back home i slept a bunch and then

here the gray fox mama

put in an appearance in the side yard on sunday. 
i was gathering daylily blossoms 
and she, well, she 

had a nice fat rodent

in her jaws. 

she looked at me and then said she was leaving,

and off she went. 

she looked very comfortable here

and with me sharing her lawn.

but i won't try to find her den.
for you who know claudia
my sister
she had successful knee replacement surgery yesterday.
today i went to work to do 
reports.
tomorrow training,
then back to summer.
claudia will go to appropriate rehab 
and i will try to get organized.
today i found this again:

Osmia avoseta bees do not live in colonies. These solitary bees make their nests from collected flower petals. These tiny nests are about half an inch tall and hold a single egg. The mother glues the petals together with nectar and fills the inside with nectar and pollen before laying the egg inside, so that her offspring will have food when it emerges.

More pictures and info: http://bit.ly/LM91Kc 

Photo credit: J.G. Rozen, AMNH