wake robin

retail

2012-02-03T19:16:00.003-05:00

i went to get new glasses

rene' said, oh i love your scarf.

the upshot was she wanted one.

i had made a new one unlike the old.

so i washed and pressed the bloodroot dyed one.

and showed her and she snapped it up.

so this is the one left over:

there's a commuter here

a young amish guy

going home

do you see the standardbred?

it feels cold and heavy this day.

chilled to the bone.

i am, however, being

nurtured, loved.

may you be, as well.

walking the dog

2012-02-02T18:52:00.001-05:00

this maple across the road

was sizzling, sizzling! as i walked today

wendy urged me on

but i stopped and listened

astonished

and that's how this walk was

i looked up and, stunned,

stopped

there was a sundog

i followed it to the other edge of the arc

and saw the barest

shadow of rainbow

and the drainages on hill road

chuckled under cold skies

more music

when i got home

the sundog followed

and i saw even more

a little later

the rainbow went pink and blue

indigo above

as sun set

violet snow

2012-01-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

i've seen this before

but today, i know

it's turkey!

(there were tracks)

they've been foraging on

wild grapes, so abundant

last fall

and then

above and below

lives

a reflection

fine walk

a mild winter day

gray and quiet

play habu

2012-01-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

playing with habu yarn on the stump

i had to put paper behind the warp to see it

it changes a bit with the lighting

but the paper and nylon thread is amazing

i love this furry little square

but didn't until i

added the piece of paper

winter color

2012-01-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

i have been complaining

of the winter

and the dreary.

this morning

just past sunrise

my driveway

swathed in

the inside of a shell

or a cecropia

swimming in blushing air

until it changed

this afternoon

these clouds

like tapestry

ushered in the

weather change

there was a bit of ice

on the drainage

and one calf.

i asked where is the other?

in the freezer, he replied.

lion's pelt

2012-01-27T20:59:00.001-05:00

the pages all hemstitched

all

and sections placed

india calls this silk

lion's pelt

so appropriate

so i have two of these books

my exemplar and the lions pelt

just beginning

ready for the story

an eye, jude?

te he

magic on lion pelt

learning magic thread

it's tricky

aimee yarn

also tricky

the stump.

the mac.

work.

strings.

third snow day this winter.

almost snowless,

but the ice was treacherous.

seeing

2012-01-25T20:51:00.000-05:00

in this bleak

weird winter

vision shifts

i search for red

my foil for sadness

what or who

has collected

these

in anticipation of

slim pickings

a touch of blue and red

wait

the road seems to wait for winter

which is playing games

for sure

vision shifts

wild vine

still has a few

grapes

just blue

row by row

2012-01-24T20:10:00.000-05:00

inch by inch

india's threads

climb

a delectable mountain

choosing correctly

2012-01-24T02:54:00.000-05:00

walking often solves many problems for me

personal. political. design.

in the last week or so,

amidst other concerns

i've been able to think through

the what of several pieces

seeing this problem

through the camera's eye

was so much clearer

i chose the blanket

over whip stitch

it's clear in the pictures

once i weeded,

two folios were picked out,

stitching's equivalent of back weaving

but no stitch is wasted in learning

just a little bit of string.

i now have several hours of blanket stitch

on the eight folios.

process

2012-01-23T17:49:00.001-05:00

the process of how a book becomes is

fraught with tiny decisions

and then i placed

maybe arbitrarily

the one piece of silk that was

just over 16" x 20"

and did a bit of math

and thought about page spread size

and divided the cloth into eight 5" x 8" pages

which would be folded into

pages that were 4" x 5"

i then cut the attachment slots

in this case the dummy was quite small

so i played with some silver oddments

to see how they are on the silk

a nifty thread in natural and dyed with copper

and a few other alchemies

the first cut

on this stuff i love so much

was the hardest

more to come...

at the press and around

2012-01-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

printmaking and letterpress collaborators

mark and melissa

i was mesmerized

as i watched melissa schulenburg

and mark mcmurray

make prints on a letterpress

for a broadside

melissa designed the block

and mark the typography

and mark is printing

and melissa inking

as a part of a series

i can't wait to see all of them together

~~~

wendy and i

went grocery shopping BEFORE

the print shop visit

on the road there was a deer carcass being eaten

by a hawk and several ravens

they were unhappy when i stopped,

turned around for a quick photo

when i first drove by there was much activity,

four or five ravens, one hawk

the appropriateness

of birds getting their winter lunch

knowing it's not free.

goin' rovin'

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

a furtive knock on my door

suppertime, dark

then quiet

i stand slowly, go to the door,

turn on the light...nothing

or so i thought.

i opened the door to a strange box

a truck delivery. with a thought for the driver

who braved the ice

inside: roving from a friend

spinner's delight!

a tweedy mix and pure white finn-gorgeous.

(and a directive)

thanks, carol dear!

silk and wind

2012-01-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

last night the house shuddered

when the big wind hit

rocked my bed

heart racing once.

the night before,

ice ice ice

rain

alone can be daunting

when the weather is huge

on my mind:

my country is winter

winter count

ultima thule

inukshuk

snow bunting

hungry white tail

sailing crows

deep. cold.

snow days

2012-01-17T06:09:00.000-05:00

using the camera was cold work

gloves under mittens

cashmere and wool and down

temperature had risen

up to

5 degrees now

inside and around these round bales

whole ecosystems thrive

even in the extreme of cold

wendy thrives in the snow

and cold

so do turkeys

who leave behind

arrows pointing the way

roses

glasses off

vision sharpened

things hidden

white, black. blue

wendy in drag

tis how she moves

never waste too much energy lifting

your toenails too high

resting in the soft

frigid comfort of new snow

looking east

mapping place, thought

2012-01-15T10:58:00.000-05:00

and i am not ready to publish

(blogger is wonky again)

but maybe

i am:

home

yakut farmstead, mammoth tusk, wood, 19th c, russian museum of ethnography
a grid
a map
a way to describe

to pay attention
to the
experienced

a place
a home
a wilderness
vast, unknowable

a way to be

in the landscape

to organize
somehow
that which we are puzzled by

land maps
booked in a map of pages and thoughts
tell someone

work maps
sewn together in
patchwork of
plant land soil mineral
materiality
place: here there where

frozen, and snow

2012-01-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

it started with some icing

the news is the weather

always the weather in this place

we're so close to it.

i spent the night at a warm place,

leaving home at dusk with wendy

the roads bad,

it took twice as long to travel 25 miles.

i decided not to worry

heard this morning that

power returned to my place at 7 last night

ncpr singing out to an empty house

all through the frigid winds

my house chugged warmly

cracks me up

i was lucky this time

and thankful.

1998--i was out of this house

for 21 days

then trees rained down

with thunder and crashing

after 5 days of ice

then snow

this was only a storm

thankfully

ice day

2012-01-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

aimee's gift

snow day

sample complete

stitching on silk

layering

note how the backside of the copper blue isn't nice at all

a final repeat

i learned alot about

stitching on this

strange fabric

more pages in progress

no stitching yet

out the studio window

electricity out for 3.5 hours

not bad so far

sleet, snow, and rain

2012-01-12T08:45:00.001-05:00

snow day

but no snow here.

ice.

we slow down

walk carefully

listen to the radio

explore what to do with this

gift day.

i am warm,

have some work waiting

and i have it to hand.

on the radio, a woman sings

"skating on thin ice".
~~~
go over to see this poem
of catherine's

red/hunger

2012-01-11T17:35:00.000-05:00

red caught my eye

it was so cold and my eyes were teary

i got closer

blinking

closer still

in fact

i got down on my knees

tried to see

tried

and it finally came into focus

and then

i saw another
~~~
it's a lean time for humans
i like that.
i'm glad
i don't have to find my food
outside.

dismal winter

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

i wonder

why this winter

keeps me

looking and looking

but still dismal

small snows

most days i walk wendy

looking at the land

an old friend

canada thistle

on the road shoulder

a paper plant

skies

rolling through

promise

bring strangely warm winds

these last two

are out the window,

one with flash

one sans

it's all how you look at things

community

2012-01-08T10:52:00.001-05:00

(val brought a star)

we decided to throw a potluck

and invited a few friends.

(and some we know only a little bit.)

this meant my dining table for four or so had to be augmented.

we added the library table

and clothed them both in red cotton cloths.

put 10 chairs around.

community.

my community looks like this

we sat down around 6:30 and five hours later said goodbyes.

hannah and i cleaned up.

our meal:

root crop salad

black bean vegetarian chili

sauerkraut and a somewhat korean version

spinach/artichoke spread and wheat bread

chicken caccitore
roasted sweet potatoes

various breads

wine and beer and tea and coffee

banana bread

rice and veggies

cookies and fresh yogurt

mourning dove outside my window

the faces and the conversation at the table were beautiful.

the quiet ones spoke a little more, the talkers waited.

we had much to share.

old stories

new learning

a bit of art and politics and farming and woodsliving.

three librarians at the table.

all booklovers.

the eldest: 85, the youngest: 26.

there was an odd tiny snow

community

answers

2012-01-06T19:08:00.000-05:00

we do have some snow.
maybe four inches.

the fabric i've been experimenting with is triple woven silk that is

rough and weird and not soft.

i am better,
thank you,
i think the headache/illness was a weird allergic reaction

so i've been looking around

seeing beauty in the simple lines of winter

well, not simple at all
a complex geometry
that appears to happen
spontaneously

but it's complex
complex

today at a meeting
i heard this:
he doesn't count
about one of my students.
i saw red.

allergies?

2012-01-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

woke up pretty sick today

so i worked a bit on these

while trying to reduce my head

from enormous to manageable

i tried silk and cotton threads
and india's favorite silk and cotton thread
(yes it's superb!)

on triple weave silk

still feeling fuzzy

like this photo

but the sampling is going well.

~~~

one of my favorite writers on book arts

is gwen diehn.

last winter i found her blog and then lost it.

one benefit of illness is hitting buttons on the keyboard
randomly

and, lucky for me, i found her blog again.

i read, and left a comment,

and that little bit sparked her to write today
(she's sick, too, poor thing)
~~~

hannah's writing internship proposal stuff
but is now out
knitting with katie and jody
at brewer book store
~~~

happy

2012-01-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

hannah came home to wendy's delight!

and katie came over

such girl energy

they all love each other

so much

~~~

some studio interruption is welcomed

i was working

on a new structure

with these silks

and looking back

at this work

from last summer

when she goes back to grad school

perhaps i will

have completed

a book.

doesn't matter.

she's here!

everyday graphics

2012-01-02T11:41:00.001-05:00

marks on paper that have meaning

meaning that i don't know

but have enough info

to speculate

intrigue me

maps

charts

lists

snail trails

rust spots

and

so i found this book

and found

delight

in these graphics

new year

2012-01-01T16:15:00.001-05:00

off again to the adirondacks

my sweetie longs for them

i'm content here in the foothills

i thought it was an eagle

but it was a raven

two actually

that we couldn't get close to

they had better things to do on new year's

the sky kept changing

rain, overcast

snow, sleet

sunshine and warm, too warm

all in 24 hours

oh, and fog and

did i say rain?

staying late in the season

they always look like old men to me

but i love the constant watching
and along the river
the big st. lawrence,
a huge flock of robins
not yet gone south,
like the heron

and carol sent me this:

fiber from...

lotus stems

in myanmar

happy 2012 my friends

new year

2011-12-31T10:12:00.000-05:00

old year

silk, cotton, indigo, eco cauldron

strings left from summer dyeing

canada goose from saranac lake

balancing

where the threads are going

where are yours going?

~~~

happy

new year

a very good one

to you!

leah's snowflake

you!

~~~

what is joy?

2011-12-30T10:38:00.001-05:00

illumination

being stunned

connecting

rainbow

clouds

green

moments before flight

strength and vulnerability

nothing much...

2011-12-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

...to say.

this just appeared.

no kidding.

i am working,

pulled out a cutting mat, set it up,

and there it was.

i wanted to show you my new journal

and the bag i put it in

and on the other side of the table i saw this

there are a four circle sheets from st. armond

and this amazing journal

mohawk superfine pages,

case paper cover

seeing, sometimes it's so rich

even the dishes

touching, sometimes

learning, in this case to use flash

to capture the fugitive greens

oh, the endbands

do you make endbands?

i can't wait to use this

almost everytime i go someplace,

start something new,

beads appear.

~~~

blue oatmeal story, because i was asked.

i was a student, dyeing at home on old sheeting

with rit dyes, layering color, shibori when it was tie dye,

subtle when subtle was OUT.

aluminum pan for cooking the dyeing cloth

(you can see where this is going)

in the morning i made oatmeal

served it.

bleary eyed, not believing, i realized the truth about NOT

dyeing in kitchen pots.

rit blue oatmeal.

poison, maybe. i learned my lesson.

brown cloths

2011-12-27T08:14:00.000-05:00

when the amazing india's eco colour appeared

i had been playing for some time with rust

and mold

and alternative dye processes,

not knowing what, exactly, i was up to.

since the days of college and extreme frugality

i have been

using old cotton sheeting to dye on.

in those days, i used rit and procion dyes.

there is an unfinished quilt in the trunk--

in soft reds and blues

(the story of the blue oatmeal comes from this time)

anyway,

not long after i commenced reading eco colour

i was dyeing

bundling, adding metals, plants

(and a frond of eucalyptus from the florist)

several days ago i pulled out this cloth

and studied it.

it's fine.

the old cotton

sucked up the available pigments

in tidy patterns

for christmas, my daughter hannah

knitted a brown cloth. a scarf

to keep me warm.

her friend jody's pattern

apparently available on ravelry

(i don't do ravelry...)

two brown cloths.

both made from a few fibers...

beautiful

a little snow

2011-12-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

on christmas, we went to the mountains

there was caroling on christmas eve

and goodies, but on christmas

we drove in order to be THERE

where i feel both welcome and a little rebuffed

the snow came and went.

we returned home to delicious eating

and today there's sugar coating

too

and milkweed is decorated

(see that front moving through?)

and there were some strange stained spots on the snow

the origin, perhaps?

and melt chilled now.

waiting for the weather to change.

snow fall

2011-12-23T17:41:00.000-05:00

and deepening dark

except for one small spruce

here the cold deepens

not very much snow, actually

the old barn softens and freezes

so does the woods

night falls, the day after solstice

a bit before chirstmas eve.

this tree on a hillside, north facing

always surprises me

as i go home.

hugs to you all.

joanne kaar and angus macphee

2011-12-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

dvd joanne sent me about making a replica angus garment
fiberartist joanne kaar has made

her way as a fiberartist

doing some amazing work

she is twining, then looping a coarse but strong structure

i first saw her work when she was

blogging about her work

in journeys

which captured my attention, then my heart

she and gin petty were the two papermakers

that swept me away

and inspired me to consider

being public on the net
(and someone else really encouraged me...)

joanne's current project is

working around the theme of angus macphee

joannes' blog

from there you can search more about angus,
and the puppet theater that is performing
the weaver of grass.
joanne recently asked me if scotland is on my way to australia
so we can finally meet and visit.
you see, she and i did a journal exchange
for a couple of years, and we would
like to meet, in person.
and angus...he has captured my imagination, for he is
in some ways
like one of my students.

success and failure

2011-12-20T18:43:00.000-05:00

a goodbye to two students day

and later on, a walk

frosted footprints from the day before

mine

see what the crystals did!

stitched together my treads

and then this

in a ravine

each year i see this travesty
of proper hunting

someone's trash

two carcasses

or rather two heads and torsos

this is someone's favorite trash spot.
a stream runs through

and so the trash gets dumped

every year. at least two does
this time,

all wasted but the tenderloin.
the other trash? tires, and etc.

hoarfrost

2011-12-19T05:44:00.000-05:00

hoarfrost iced every little twig at dawn

blades of grass

spruce needles

black eyed susans

all was frosted

five degrees

an inch of snow

winter has us in her cold

cold

grip

teaching shifu, paper, and books

2011-12-15T21:18:00.001-05:00

(changed, in process, artists' book, dyed lokta shifu, vellum, linen, poem,

collection of university of washington at seattle)

next june (from june 27 through july 11, 2012)

i have the very great pleasure of teaching in

australia

at the wonderful symposium

NATURE'S COLOURS IN THE CITY

at beautiful silks in melbourne

lokta shifu pages

i will be teaching in the ecotone: north country shifu

i would like to travel a bit

around the continent

teach, meet some folks, play in some dye,

or pulp...

weave shifu or build a book structure or three

spun kozo

maybe give a talk or demo.

so if you have an idea
for the weeks following the symposium,

spun and dyed kozo

about a place that might like to host

this north country paper and bookmaker

around australia or new zealand,

i would appreciate you getting in touch.

two rock books before binding, shaped handmade paper, found split rocks

i want to

learn a new continent,

and leave a few paperspinners

unbundled shifu pages for vellum book

and bookartists in another hemisphere.

do get in touch

or sign up for the workshop.

stationer's binding, shifu and botanical papers book

spun kozo bobbins

i will be happy to make some pulp and pull some sheets,

spin a yarn,

weave on a stump,

make some color

(or COLOUR),

and possibly

build a book

with you.

spring walk, artists' book, vellum and shifu

please get in touch with me here:

vdbolyard@gmail.com

rock book two, in process, found split rock, handmade, botanical, shaped pages

sewing, dyeing,

did i say i can hardly wait!

case paper and shifu cover in process

walking and books

2011-12-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

yesterday there was a little snow left

she loves it

today i took two girls walking around school

(which is in town)

for their p.e. class

suits me

and then taught my bookbinder

he has very good hand skills

and is comfortable piecing two pieces of hide together

for his wrap around cover

he "gets" sewing

this was his first pamphlet,

with a little decorative stitching

i showed him my byzantine binding exemplar today

he was impressed

~~~

on today's 2.5 mile walk

with wendy

i was gifted with

early spring

how weird this winter

so far

~~~

real things

2011-12-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

things reflected

refracted

the eye fooled

it happens frequently

glennis wrote about a machine that sews

like boro

i see outside

through puzzle of glass and screening

and still try to sort

inside from out

out from in

and i take a photo

of more boro

but that's not

what it really is

instead it's a fashion shoot

on newsprint

faded and sunprinted

but false as the machine

that pretends to be arthritic old fingers

piecing together a life

from scraps

what do we do about this thing

profit, commerce

that tries to make a buck

from thrift and modesty

and even poverty?

things i want to do

2011-12-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

violet and red

little river to the north

little river underneath

a little bundle

silk

unwound

a little bundle

cotton
~~~

these were my saturday doings.

nothing big.

a glorious day

dot

2011-12-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

a dotted dot found me

i didn't touch it

or try to do much

to it

but there it was

on my window frame

a dotted dot

if you are brave enough

to touch

you will

have a surprise.

i know better.

weather thoughts

2011-12-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

this oak basket,

come from red bird kentucky,

shows a grin in the window.

the sun melted the tiny snow away

here on the south face.

and the neighbors were

snoozing until we walked past

waking their bovine vastness

light on black

a sunbathing duo

on the ridge

i looked southwest

into the mountains

as snow clouds raced behind me

and the fugitive mountain

clouds play chase with the treeline

as night comes on

~~~

at work, a kid in crisis

and me,

my constitution seems to be

fighting the flu

again.

home early, and a nap.

dealing

2011-12-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

the frustrations of paperwork or red tape

which should now i assume be called

computerwork or cybertape

are hard to fight. when i do

email mysterious people with complaints,

i get vicious responses

or none at all.

thankfully i went for a walk

and saw my two funny

friends

maybe the fog is not just in the air

maybe

it's just that the winter is

long

coming

there was snow today

a little

fighting into december.

but the warm wind

coughed it away.

this weirdness of money

all of it

frustrates me.

and then i see these beautiful

high bush cranberries

in the murk of late afternoon

and know that these few things

are indeed worth something

no money

but

cranberries.

chauvet cave

2011-12-05T20:04:00.000-05:00

these images, where the wall and the space

and the paintings and the seeing

meld into something huge

this i understand

and fear

and dream

what hands, whose?

monday monday

2011-12-05T18:32:00.000-05:00

wouldn't know by the weather

but the small brown box in my mailbox

was a little promise

for my birthday

and christmas

pat and butch sent this

yum.

cinnamon candy

strong sweets for weary tongues

and a delightful found object

from a flea market

eight dishes in the porcelain

what for?

and frustration

ughhh

with the weaving

broken ends

before the ends were tied up

i became all entangled

tangled

unenuntangled

unfurled

bummed out at my fumbled fingers

frustrated.

this sometimes happens

and only the love of a friend

saves me from fuming.

(uselessly, i might add.)

and then a special package came to

shock me out of my fuming.

smiles!

(i will share that story later-)

another passing

2011-12-04T14:38:00.002-05:00

a canine friend, one of my friend's dogs, has passed.

she was 13, a doberman, who survived many changes in her life.

the final, after going to live with him, was the arrival of first one puppy

and then three years later another.

(these photos taken two weeks ago)

lena
a big, rough, strong girl,

accepted big changes in her life

welcomed and learned to play like a pup with them.

wendy she had a different, rough start with,

but they eventually became allies and could ride in the car seat together.

and walk in the woods together.

good bye dear friend

wendy and i will miss you.

where i live

2011-12-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

i couldn't NOT share this:

val white, children's book maven at the canton library

posted this on facebook:

While hunting yesterday, a friend saw two porcupines mating.

He said they were nowhere near as careful as one might think.

~~~

somethings just gotta be imagined!

december

2011-12-01T18:10:00.001-05:00

i woke to a morning

of a tiny snow fall

cold northern fingers

reached down to surprise us

dazed as we were from

perpetual autumn.

branches reach

into the sky

or not?

a little bit colder now.
~~~
and later...
book/library/thoughts/images/words
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!!!!!

after and fuggish

2011-11-29T17:50:00.000-05:00

thank you all,

i had a lovely birthday,

beginning with a phone call just after 6 am.

the day was overcast, but it was fine

a message came from aimee giving me permission

(she wasn't the only one!)

the little back door garden had a surprise.

blossoming on my birthday

today it's beginning to look more like winter, but it's just fog

a foggy, fuggy day at work

no matter

yesterday was like this

calls from my kids, with *mail* coming today

and family, and friends checked in.

~~~

the cave of forgotten dreams was amazing

the artist(s) could draw. 20,000 to 30,000 years ago

lines were made with mastery.

they were rich, beautiful,

beautiful.

the 3-d glasses were not so fun.

but i'm glad i went.

55

2011-11-27T18:05:00.001-05:00

yes, that's how old i'm going to be tomorrow.

i will go to see a movie,

herzog's cave of forgotten dreams.

today i had a phone conversation that made me think.

and an email, too.

and while i am celebrating becoming older,

a friend i never knew has said good bye,

leaving stones.

~~~

yesterday i walked in the old meadow and woods, down to the stream.

i found a tick on my sleeve.

back home i checked for more.

i showered and shampooed

remembering that little crab scrabbling up my arm.

it wasn't a deer tick, but it was a tick.

i've never seen one here before

~~~

and that is how life is, changing,

always changing,

the great cave holds mystery, or graffitti?

does it matter?

what matters is that fabric

called life

which can break and be mended,

it may be dark or light or dense or gauze

this making and wearing a life

is essential. it's light

like feathers

like milkweed in the wind

and heavy, a stack of army blankets.

dense, worn, used.

spring walk

2011-11-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

because someone asked

i will show

this

spring walk

the first

of the shifu

and vellum books

using stationers' binding

tackets & vellum

lokta shifu

ink & linen

spun, woven, dyed

knotted & recorded

a watershed book for me

the beginning of an adventure

in paper, words, vellum, textiles

& a tiny vellum button

stitching

2011-11-25T10:09:00.002-05:00

beverly gordon: textiles: the whole story

this book is stretching my thinking from the prosiac everyday

to really seeing where this textile thing

where it comes from for me.

(my mother's birth name was weaver)

and then i noticed a little thing

stitches on the cover

india flint: second skin

and this lovely book

yep also stitches on the cover

which sent me to my sketchbook

so i could play with threads

and then i noticed my shirt

waffle weave linen

flax shirt, beginning to go

but next it becomes paper

i'm the second owner

and then i got back to thinking about books

those stitches WERE on books

me: spring walk

where a book may go

following the stitch

~~~

hellos going out to all the saggitarians

like me, celebrating their births

thanks, jean

(even though i can't get it turned round right)

fiber memory

2011-11-24T18:55:00.001-05:00

bounty

there was a time in my life when i made many many baskets.

most were free form, woven from red osier dogwood.

they were so far from this work
by judy mulford

i met judy mulford at a symposium.

even then, 30 years ago almost, she was inspirational,

her work truly awesome.

this morning i enjoyed an interlude of snooping around the internet.

one of the great pleasures of this is that i can see work that,

living so isolated,

i do not see.

and today i found this image of a work by judy.

i cannot attribute this photo, please forgive me,

but i honor the maker.

thanksgiving

2011-11-23T09:02:00.000-05:00

on the internet, world wide

in the north country

in new hampshire

in portland

in washington

in cleveland

in toronto

all these places i have been

as guest, as friend

as student, as teacher

all this

since last thanksgiving.

and i send out thanks to you all

and wish you peace.

~~~

good earth

2011-11-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

iron in the earth

this is a strong colored earth i found

while walking in the woods

just a small spot

but a color unlike

all around it.

dyed sugar maple leaves

many of us are interested* in how

color is imparted on cloth

on paper

from natural, non-poisonous sources

bloodroot on lokta

one of my favorites is bloodroot

which i source regionally and sustainably.

~~~

in other news

two out of three who took their g.e.d. exams passed

and one, one of them,

i will take a little credit for,

that one could NOT write an essay

and he did it.

~~~

thanksgiving break. sorely needed.

~~~~~

*passionate

inside the blue line

2011-11-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

wendy loves this place

do you see my girl?

she made two HUGE leaps, the kind i haven't seen

her attempt for a year

since her diagnosos she has trouble

jumping into the car.

it was a cool day, the water very cold

i love this hemlock's new architecture

i can look at it all day

soon it will become the forest floor again

two 13 year old dogs

and their people walked into lampson's falls

water is very low

coal in the thin november light

steep falls,

sometimes deadly

roots for saturday