this fall

my friends and family know:

this fall has been very hard at work,

the hooligans very challenging

i have the best assistant in the universe,

and yet

work has been overwhelming.

 so when this surprise, 

beautifully wrapped in translucent paper,

came in the mail

i thought: this is it!

 the beauty of this gift

has touched my heart. why?

 this is essentially a government publication

but

julie johnson oversaw that the research presented inside

was honored by

her beautiful handmade paper

fine photos and writing and layout

and, 

finally, 

it's bound with her own twined dogbane.

did she know how 

 it so touches the thoughts i'm exploring

about the honorable harvest.

 a few walks help me get through the tough days.

and

 some of the contact prints emerging from the 

depths of the old enamel pot

are extraordinary.

and then

another

 gift.

yuko kimura and i agreed upon a trade

her tiny, exquisite sample book

came, also. 

i am in awe of this beautiful work

 it fits

in the palm of my hand.

i am grateful to these amazing artists,

(lori, you, too!)

who add such grace to my life.

thank you.

harvest

 the honorable harvest has been much on my mind

 and this weekend i found myself marveling

over these seedheads

black eyed susans

lots of seeds to feed this little one,

and i almost missed it.

  old/new tub spent two years outdoors and has ecoprints

it's actually quite clean and shiny.

 around here you can be looking for stuff

 just walking

and you catch a cliff 

out of the corner of your eye

like this one.

i once watched a young man, sam,

spider himself up a far higher cliff.

i was in "charge" of him.

thankfully his skill

was exquisite,

as he crowned that cliff

waved hi to me.

 i've found a very intimate field

on my way home form work.

an amish place, 

small fields.

you know how when you ride a horse, 

or drive a team

or hike often

over a field

how well you get to know it?

i love that.

i was taking this sneaky photo

and then moved forward, 

and there was a young amish man, watching me, intently,

as i watch his corn ladies!

an honorable harvest

sunny quaking aspen

leaves,

nine for a friend.

i listened to this lecture this week: 

robin wall kimmerer speaking nearby

(i sadly missed it "in person")

autumn cow pasture 

about the honorable harvest.

it's happening here

i see amish neighbors

bringing in hay and corn using their big horses.

the gardens are mostly asleep

(you may remember what happened to mine)

but my friends are still eating

fall bounty.

my backyard and overgrown meadow 

i am harvesting from my friends 

the weeds,

and i find myself 

doing what dr. kimmerer suggests:

introducing myself

asking to share

and sharing what i make

with others.

it's surprisingly comfortable, appropriate

to say

hello, please, and thankyou

to wild grapevine.

 a few little grapes.

 the medicines at your feet,

 sumac, prunus, goldenrod, wild grape,

 common weed plants.

and a few pieces of aluminum, copper, and 

"hard" well water

an honorable harvest.

for beauty

and for the knowledge of books.

12 moons

home again

this book is making me happy

it's been shown and has now returned.

it opens up in

various ways:

as with opening our hearts,

and lives,

opening can be an adventure.

haptically

visually 

there's even a soft woosh.

 it contains drawing

printing

stitching

dyeing

spinning

weaving,

a winter of work.

or

serious play (as carol blinn calls it)

on silk, shifu, flax, cotton & lokta

paper and cloth.

 thoughts

dreams

escapades

fear and joy and sadness,

seeds

boats

thoughts.

 mapping consciousness,

if that's possible,

 fiber

 rich and luscious fiber

this book pleases me more than i can say

i am happy

i find that i want to hold this one

and imagine it accompanying

me. 

two sections

four x's

a bit of shell

filled with folded explorations

of season, mood, weather, luck, and happiness.

a book.

12 moons.

book boxes

i learned to make a clamshell book box from

keith smith

at visual studies workshop.

then, years later,

i purchased gary frost's 

board book and mahdar kit.

i made one, then i made another couple,

and i bought a bunch of kits

to teach kids an illuminated journal workshop.

hedi kyle taught me to make a wunderkabinet, 

that was years ago.

you have to practice this sort of thing.

when made my edition of two books last year,

november song,

i had the amazing mark thomlinson make boxes for them.

worth every penny and the wait.

and today i found these 

two

book boxes.

on facebook.

unbelievable treats. 

posted by monica langwe and eden workshops.

can you imagine how precious a book would be to have such a container?

or how about the book being a container and the box 

containing the container...

and here's a third, from eden workshops

on facebook this morning.

sharing

 i will admit my chagrin

when i opened the work table drawer

amidst the measuring tools, the binding threads

the plastic bags saved for reuse

a little mouse had made ready for winter.

 the seed cache was lovely

but the mice in this old farmhouse

keep me constantly on my toes.

 and the rabbits at the new place

helped themselves to the garden

less than 24 hours before we picked 

for a special supper for visiting children...

 stems left, mostly.

last night

i had one tiny bite

of wild woodcock

eating from the land.
returning later to add this:
ticks.
my first known bite was not a connect
and i took three more off my body.
after the first frost
is apparently the worst time for ticks.

 i was shocked today to see this daylily

and took home the spent blossom

for bundling into the latest batch of contact prints.

while working away this afternoon, 

more tooth broke.

dentist tomorrow.

coyotes, nightly

they call, every night...

 We need to experience a landscape that is timeless, 

                                          whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and glaciers. 

                               To be surrounded by a singing, mating, howling commotion of other species, 

                                                 all of which love their lives as much as we do ours, 

                                      and none of which could possibly care less about us in our place. 

                          It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd.     Barbara Kingsolver

 teri windling quoted barbara kingsolver today, 

and part of that quote is specially appropriate for me. now.

i borrowed it.

so many of you have checked in

about my wee disaster

and that caring is much appreciated.

and all is fine, except those folded papers, that is.

~~~

then i walk out and see

even my neighbors, the cows

fully engaged in cowishness

and i need to get on with being human.

being a fiber/book/papermaker

and a weaver.

~~~

 this whole adventure with weaving on the stump

began with a curiosity about those four selvedge peruvian weavings.

and here it is, a book about just that.

 i've woven tiny and slightly larger squares. 

hundreds of them

mostly moro-jifu

many many experiments have resulted and there are 

four stump looms now,

one especially for slot and tab pages.

 my dear therese sourced these beautiful japanese shuttles

and bamboo quills for me

perfect for weaving longer cloths 

on the little schacht 4 harness loom.

here is the stump,

a little worse for wear.

it's been across the country, to australia twice

and to canada with me.

and spent many evenings in my lap,

as i dream of those peruvians

of long ago.

~~~

and today in our classroom

a miracle:

three girls and one boy

ages 13-17

were singing along with the radio.

our injured, damaged, and dear students, 

happily singing, together.

found

folks, 

i found my book and shifu sampler

and

thank you all for your support

 this is what i did on saturday

to fight off the demons

autumnal printing

it's getting good, now. 

and so there's a nifty moon.

kicking and screaming

  3x6 shifu

a folio

plus a stack of papers

contact printed with

 wild grapes and sumac and goldenrod and rose

yesterday

in response to frustration

in retaliation to that feeling of being devalued and used. 

today i saw over 20 wild

turkeys and deer.

everyone is moving, 

it's autumn and there is unrest.

yep, that's how i've been feeling

if it's not my tooth, 

one or the other,

it's work, 

a huge challenge this year.

then, 

friday i came home

to a package of my work,

returned from an invitational show.

part of the work is missing completely.

two pieces, shifu, one a very special piece.

hopefully they will come in another box.

in good shape.

but i have doubts because

another large paper piece was returned. 

folded. folded.

12 kozo panels, long and narrow, hung together as a series...

they were hand delivered, neatly rolled in a wooden box.

now the panels are folded.

all weekend i have been in that place

you go when you have been 

attacked somehow, when your work

is devalued. 

i can't understand how this happened,

i hope the other two pieces

are returned.

i have my doubts.

~~~

another solace is this place

still no functioning kitchen

but getting closer 

to habitation.

the west porch bridge, the south face,

and stucco foundation

at the new place.

some things are very good.