preparations, thinking and doing

nourishing terrains has captured my imagination

and i parallel it with braiding sweetgrass

and i unearthed this book while packing and prepping.

i imagine there may still be places where you can see paintings

that look to me like dreamings

having grown up near the great lakes

instead of my family's west virginia mountains

i feel a connection

ochre.

and now i remember climbing around in the red shale

of the niagara river gorge.

there's even a checkerboard

and a map

oh, love this one rich with imagery

and yet these are drawings of originals

i'm getting tidy here

almost

really

outside robin takes advantage

of a big driveway puddle

and this, this is a photo 

of the rock surface

taken 60 years ago

how lichen is changing the dream.

 this dream 

  my boat here is a pasture.

 where grows poor (wo)man's asparagus

that i didn't harvest

because it's needed by other ones soon.

 and on my morning walk i passed three

barefoot amish boys 

stairstep sized, on their way

perhaps

to sunday church.

my church will be instead

the songbirds

finishing the packing

thinking of the words and love of friends

and family and my love,

as i prepare to rise tomorrow morning

at three or so

to meet the plane in ottawa

for victoria.

a braid, of sorts

well.

yesterday.

i live about an hour's drive from tupper lake.

to visit the park (adirondack forest preserve)

i drive through vast stretches of forest,

known as the five ponds wilderness area

when i moved to the north country

35 years ago, i landed in star lake

down the road from tupper lake.

where, yesterday, i journeyed

to wind up at the WILD CENTER.

the meander path 

is human made and 

tinted with the iron of our geology

(there were iron ore mines closeby)

and textured with the trees.

  i left the camera in the car

so when i returned later to photograph, the bright light had 

turned to 

rain, so photos were challenging.

 the attention to detail everywhere

shake you up.

 these hold my hand nicely,

which surprised me.

 this!

 it's simple really

 but so beautiful

this architecture...

 so like outside

 in the small theater 

i sat in a fine seat

ready for a talk

given by robin wall kimmerer.

she spoke in story and science words

and read from braiding sweetgrass.

she held a braid of sweetgrass as she spoke to us, 

showed us pictures, 

asked us for our questions,

prompted some answers...

i introduced myself after

 (i'd brought my book)

but i'm afraid my copy is full of book marks and notes 

and from her talk i made more notes

 i did ask her to sign it for me

 she graciously did. 

i thought about her words

all the way home

through cranberry lake

and to my new home near the blue line.

when you get to meet someone you 

respect so much,

well it can be a watershed moment: 

it was.

it became evident to me that this woman 

is a teacher, and it would be such a fine thing

to be her student

at ESF in syracuse.

but for me, i will read her words

try to

remember her words, 

and talk to the plants with the respect that they,

our first teachers

must have.

IV, III, II, I

 thursday there was so much good news:

my sister claudia macdonald, 

got her masters in school administration degree.
she did it just days before she turns 71! 
my hero.
~~~

and my friend wendy

wrote about textiles and healing

in the on-line hand eye

with lots of captioned photos 
crediting the textile makers, too,

of her healing work with and children.

my first botanical paper and shifu book is there.
~~~

there was other book news in north russell:

this:

collection 

housed in this birch box

is a letterpress book set

published by the minnesota center for book arts

and the words

are excerpts from

braiding sweetgrass

genevieve nordmark

who just graduated from esf

(another masters degree!)

was interning at the center and helped with

making the cover papers...

she sent me this.

THIS!

she took it to dr kimmerer's office 

also at esf,

and had her sign it for me.

such a treasure,

words, well, they fail me...

the illustrations:

one in each booklet,

are lovely, too.

~~~

here:

fiber raining down

pink maple seeds, too.

circlet of sweetgrass.