e.a.b.

these first appeared on the landscape last year. now one lives across the road from my place.

the emerald ash borer is an insidious insect, menacing trees, mostly ashes, just like dutch elm  disease and chestnut blight once did, with the potential to do as much or more damage. ashes form a large portion of the treescape here. i like seeing these traps, hoping that what they tell researchers is helpful. mostly i hope they're not finding the bug here.


i made it back from a wondrous day on the black river, rafting. our guide matt was fine, and our combined group (three classes, all small) filled four rafts. another raft had a guide named chris. after rafting he was talking about where he grew up. turns out he is from here. rode the bus with my kids to school, and when he heard my kids names, he told me ian beat him up once. he said it all with laughter. i was sick at heart, how cruel children can be to one another. both chris and my son were different, ian was older and bigger. both have faced their demons, it seems, and are making the world better. but, oh.


after a week of unusual activity i am sore and tired, good sore, good tired. it's rainy, so i can't hang out the clothes. darnit. trying to wrap my head around some crativity, ANY creativity. so i wove, almost done, on that tapestry bag from my class.

snappers

5:30 am at wake robin

last night, after a day from july, sleeping was...warm. then add in power surges and a thunder storm. my poor ear, hairline, chin, and a variety of unreachable spots are hot after the visits by black flies, deer flies, mosquitoes, and one bot fly. kinda hard to photograph bug bites!

bad ear

anyway, i headed off to work with no time to spare but 3 miles away i turned around to come home and fetch my camera.

now this is some mama! snapping turtles like the roadsides here because of the nice, sandy soils built up, i think, from years of sanding the roads all winter. maybe 100 feet away was 

a younger mama, not quite  so large. i was careful not to disturb them (ha! these mamas would just as soon bite off my finger given the opportunity) because i want the eggs to have a chance. already this afternoon i could only spot one egg depository site from the car.

i so want to dig up a few eggs and 1) eat one, 2) raise one here in a bucket of sand in my home, and 3) touch one. i will do none of those things. if you could feel the intense female energy surrounding these ladies as they were working, right there next to speeding traffic, you would be in awe of them, too. this year my first turtle sighting was a painted turtle, yesterday i saw a dead snapper, and now these two, successful egg layers. indicating an auspicious four day weekend. 

the buzz

in my house there is a plentitude of cluster flies. that's right flies. they are the bane of old houses. they were joined by ladybugs several years ago, and we spend way too much time dodging their wild flights and watching them land in morning tea. they are spring and fall visitors, preferring transitional times, like me. the visiting setters are mesmerized by them, perhaps they think they're tiny little birds. wendy hunts them sometimes.


the past week has been bird-full, and about mid week i heard my first morning robin singing. this morning turkeys, robins, red wing blackbirds, crows, starlings, cardinals, chickadees the list goes on. i even think i heard a white throated sparrow. i don't know many of the voices i hear. one i haven't heard yet is woodcock, though they've been seen.


finishing up my second round of antibiotics and am finally feeling like myself. my friend once said after taking a fall from her horse, "i think i'm back in my body again". that's how i feel.


three exciting paper events this week. one is that i'm going to pbi, the paper and book intensive, this year. i'm excited to be in three wonderful classes taught by tatiana ginsberg, frank brannon, and melissa jay craig. my head will be bursting with energy and ideas after that! the second is that i have a serious inquiry about teaching, that may be a long-term event rather than a workshop, here at my mill. and the third was this:

i was comissioned to make this:

wendy's book

as some of you know, and it arrived and is being used. with positive results. more, perhaps, about that later. also one of my books, 24 nests, purchased by a friend, was given to a loved one, passing along the joy of this little book. i am reminded of the healing possibilities of art, the material objects that touch hearts. and passing it on.