Thursday, March 21, 2019

time and change in balance

i have put my name on a piece of paper~
a purchase agreement
selling my oldfarmhouse
and moving to the place i've been calling home, if all goes to plan.
this weekend, a warmer (relatively) night
the first night i've heard a welcome home timberdoodle
winging circles overhead.
also my first robin.
spring happenings hereabouts. 
here is my little beaver essay
a small black dot
 middle rear ground, just in front of the ice
moves left, becoming a log shape,
swims to center then left again
before coming close to me on the bridge, 
then swimming away.
not one tail smack, 
so this beaver wasn't worried about me.




and in the last photo it's heading towards me
standing on the bridge taking rotten quality phone photos

 this place moves me deeply
 and then i looked up!
 back down
 and 
 the next morning was cold and sunny

ice skirting streamside treetrunks
 i drive this road home to the farm
 where i found more springing
 and then a worm moon
 see the nest?
there's a ring around the moon
 and this is the best my little camera can do
hannah is moving me from blogger, with whom i have struggled
back to squarespace where my website lives
sometime this weekend.
fingers crossed i can adjust and we can converse on the blog
because blogger won't let me talk with you.

Monday, March 18, 2019

springing again

in march the sky is sometimes like this
though snow still covered the land 
(there's much less now,
only patches in shadyplaces)
 it's still pretty darn cold
 but spring is in the air
the deer are moving alot.
 one is hiding against this elevated deer hunting thing
at my neighbor's hedgerow.
 soon i'll be on my way to idaho 
for a talk and two days of kami-ito and shifu making
(see the last post)
i return and head to portland to peddle my wares at the book arts bazaar.
.
i'll have papers and books and prints.
and below,
these prints are really that strong. 
wild color gifts from the pot's alchemy,
even a few eucalyptus leaves harvested 
at codex.
 this little book that i carried home from melbourne that last time
is letterpress printed
(on lousy paper, unfortunately)
but it's cool 
and i'm wondering what would happen 
if i combined some of it with some other imagery...
this is how it begins...
another book.
 our bookish group met and we made little blizzards
all over my table
using up some drawings.
 a ruffed grouse was checking out the backyard 
 finding something left behind as the snow melts
 looking like the local name: partridge
 until there's something to attend to
 then the crown appears
and away with you!
no ruff display on this photo op.
there may be some news
soon.
but not just
yet.

Friday, March 8, 2019

more daylight

i just read someone's comment on facebook:
soon we'll have more daylight because of the time change.
what?
haven't they been looking around?
even here, 
in this long harsh winter with little sunshine,
the days grow longer, 
even if they are snowy 
and windy 
or just really cold,
so cold,
 i turned back on my walk the other day.
that person needs to go outside.
[as if the human grid of time
has a way of shaping the arc of days.]
inside i've been making prints.
really fine colors, patterns
appearing
happily surprising me.
 looking out my windows midday in the 9 degree wind
i saw a very hungry youngster
braving my yard 
for cedar.
hoping for food, 
eschewing that scary road.
 glad i dropped some bits from the twigs i gathered for printing.
but it's not enough to make that belly warm.
 meanwhile, 
keeping my hands busy, 
i spun up thread while waiting out the bitter winds.
i found a little of the leftover old lokta* to spin up.
here it is,
looking lovely in the early morning sun 
today.

*thanks to my australian friends
karen and robyn

and as some of you might observe, 
i deleted the swear word.
it's not my call to condemn if folks don't pay attention to 
their days.
and it's hysterical that daylight fades their curtains
within a timeframe that only they
can understand. 
here, the sun fades things if and when it does.
not, i might add, the contact prints on paper
or not that i've observed.
not once. ever.

Monday, March 4, 2019

marching orders

i love march and november
for the way the landscape opens and you can see
really see 
the bones of the land.
here it means hard walking,
 in november risky hiking,
(hunting season).
in march it can be mud season
or, like now, a foot or so of good snow.
i haven't been on skis this winter
mostly an arthritis in my foot issue.
but i do get out a bit and tromp in my mighty sorels.
today i collected arbor vitae (white cedar) and fern fruiting bodies
for the prints i folded, built, wrapped and cooked this afternoon.
i cut up some paper for kami-ito.
in the mail came a couple of things, this:
 japanese indigo in a soft mattress of fine flax
ready for spinning
and socks.
and then naomi velasquez sent this tonight
because i'm headed to idaho to teach shifu
at the end of the month.
i'd love to meet you there!
~~~
in other news:
i have seed for the spring: 
indigo and flax.
oh joy,
oh rapture.
~~~
tomorrow my what is an image class meets 
to make paper...
images.


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