fair

 sugar maples are turning, 

and so are so many others: 

popple, red maples (showing off, for sure)

sumac and virginia creeper.

rich grape and cider wine smells, too.

 a bit of longridge indigo STILL on my right thumb

 and then i met frieda.

 and her man mark

 who talked about falconry,

but really about animal behavior and biology

 and this royal one, a barn owl

 who has ears

that work by means of feathers 

(and a whole lot else)

 looking over her shoulder.

at 

paul smith's VIC

old time skills festival

saturday

 we brought home three lovely goat cheeses

from asgaard farm.

riches.

getting along

 so this little girl is my favorite of the heifers next door

it's her very pretty face

 though her buddy looks good in the evening light

 over at the new place cellulose takes on a new meaning

for this papermaker

 a little stream 

 runs through the field

under the dirt road

and away 

and i had a grand mail day

yesterday.

5 books,

delicious!
~~~
but, there is more. 
this week, friends lost two very dear ones.
both losses unexpected.
love to you.

v, traveling

they call them skeins of geese

not me

~as i walked home tonight~

the walk started in daylight but i came home at dusk

their calling was overarched by first one coyote call, then a clan

just letting us all know coyote business was at hand.

neighbor dogs barked in return

huffing up big chests no doubt

but the geese continued on.

i saw them as i walked, after the woodcock flushed 

flew across the meadow

to a spot suitable for a few more morsels

before darkness.

and then grapes and apples and scents of other 

lesser fruits assaulted my nose.

and then there were seven flurrying ducks.

i knew, knew i would see a black bear tonight. deeply. 

there was a tiny cottontail

more geese, 

and then two whitetail flushed so close i could see their eyes

watched their enormous tails

bouncing like those balls on the films

to follow along with the words

when i was little

flee all the way across the big meadow, and then the ecotone, there

up in the sky

only geese.

in a, as a, V

V

i never noticed they were more connected to me

than i knew

my initial

has a mapping meaning for those

fall travelers.

this week: a little bit better

i pass this every morning on my way to school

 and this on the way home

 on friday,

amish farmers getting in the corn

 two young heifers visited my driveway the other day

 and on the other side of the drive

wild grapes

 cattail

 fiber

always looking for fiber

 thistledown

prickly wonderful

 tiny seed fibers

big arbor vitae bast fiber

mostly deep under and inside 

on this fence post

 and color

 the colors of the meadows

just perfect

and the big moon above.

autumnal equinox.

it's time.

time to get some studio work done.

almost time, that is.

perspective, focus, and weariness

 following this ragged trail of september

an ecotone called illness

 has me thinking about looking

and focus

looking in or at

not being in 

framing experience and telling the story

 has everything to do 

with focus

perspective

 and so last night

i went for the first walk in days and days

 it felt just right

known

abundant

sparkling in newness

 saturated in familiarity

 it's all in how you see it

how you be in it

 as the light

following the sun's lead

began to fade

 i found a rosy blessing over the meadow

painted a few high leaves, even

something to reassure and hold.

~~~

my sister, bless her, checked herself out of the hospital

after a second noisy roommate 

rudely arrived.

she's home with her daughter helping.

wild tales of the plucky bolyard gals,

a trip out of the big floods on the big thompson,

the intricacies of modern medicine

and some time at home to heal.

thank you for your thoughts, prayings, helps,

i've passed them all on.

(this has all been difficult because 

it's the beginning of school and newnesses all around,

and we both work with high schoolers.)

feeling cooked

focus here

has come a bit undone

with a madly unexpected middle of the night trip to the hospital

with my very ill sister

preparations and phone calls,

tests and tubes and beeping

sitting and being

in the ugly rooms of the place of healing.

my life on hold

while i attend to what's not only necessary

but is my sacred privilege.

but oh, it is exhausting work.

she is bettering, her far flung children are 

winging back. (one through the mad floods of colorado) 

makes me think

about some of jude's recent words

focus. spectrum. listening deeply.

relief

thank you all

for your good wishes.

the finger is healing well AND

there seems to be no damage to the tendon.

PHEW!

 you know,

paper, 

before and after

 i read this.

you should, too

solace in old farm land

helps keep me sane

as i navigate through new things

at work.

the kids?

as always, i love them.

monday monday...

...can't help that day.

today: a sick day. already.

rats.

what happened? 

last night i smashed my own finger,

(my precious finger, the one with the tendon hurt 

then healed a while back)

in the ups box. HARD. 

yep. it's nasty, but the tendon is intact. 

the cut/bruise

is right at the nail and tendon attachment.

ugh.

 i need a distraction,

so here's some gold

 habu linen

 that i spun up

a while back-not today

 into a lovely thread

 slippery and strong

and ready to weave.

hopefully the finger will actually heal as quickly

as the swelling went out of it.

constant ice and ointment

are helping.

geesh!