extremes

i will tell you that it rained.

HARD.

beginning around 3 AM it rained 

all day monday.

there were floods, the roads underwater

washing out a bit

and just down the road from my house

i eased past a van 

that hydroplaned sideways in the depths.

 i've never seen such rain here

 and then again it rained thursday

and water was standing in the yard. wet everywhere.

saturated.

my job has been to heal.

which is on its own schedule

not the one i want it to follow.

 so i've been around the place a lot

(sleeping a lot)

which now really is jungleized.

and i'm watching this year's teenagers.

all awkward

and funny

and i've been

 enjoying the hollyhocks

that began at my friend's house

years and years ago.

 on the front stoop yesterday

the bunnies were bold.

they are all eyes, ears, and nose

and leg

 sweet cottontail.

a shifu heart from a friend

warmed my heart

and another card with shifu and spun gold!

it's still july,

but i've felt august and even september

playing games around the corners.

two sunny days, now.

i'm thinking of the end of august

when i will be co-teaching one book arts class twice a week

at st. lawrence university

with melissa schulenburg.

i'm really happy about that committment

giving structure to my autumn

without the responsibility of a full teaching load.

 i'm happy to be working with students again.

this time older and a bit more mature, maybe.

~~~

back from my walk

and i realize i'm not back yet. 

i forgot my manners.

thank you all for your well wishes. 

i am healing well, more slowly than i had expected, but thoroughly

as far as i can tell.

things are working a bit better, 

though naps are still necessary.

again, thank you.

shifu and healing

the summer 2017 issue is out

 and i am so happy to be part of it.

paper as textile,

paper as practicing empathy.

seldom have i been so proud of my work

not because it's so grand but to be part of this issue

in the papermaking community

astonishes

and delights me, too.

 my article is about my observations of how shifu

facilitates healing

 and there's a sweet sample of humble lokta

paper and kami-ito.

which Mina and friends put together for the issue.

 there's work here that is new to me

 and my dear friend aimee's work as well

 a lace bark cap here

 and julie's work 

(which I have seen, yes, but have never met her)

 two samples in this issue

plus full color!

 when i finally climb down off cloud nine

 i will take some time

read this one in depth.

and enjoy.

 in other news here

i had a lovely mile or so walk last night

 and i felt terrific.

 i saw my first goldenrod in bloom

which means the summer really has turned

 and sunset creeps into the long days now.

change is coming.

weekly reader

one strange week.

because health care is difficult here,

i had surgery at a small distance. first the pre-op visit 

2.5 hour drive to and from tuesday.

surgery thursday 3.5 hour drive leaving at 4 am, home around 5. 

 now, there's a vacancy where an ovary, her cyst and a fibroid lived.

another of the weirdnesses age and menopause bring.

 healing progresses, i am really quite well.

don't ask me to dance or anything.

even though the neighbor has built himself a tiki hut,

(wendy warren, take note!)

which i could visit.

 even though...

the light shows each evening 

move me into a state of glory

 and the little blessings of my garden

 the inky daylily drips

 and the bunnies keep an eye on me

 in my overgrown backyard

still untamed after returning from the west coast.

 the unused one,

all of this beauty nourishes and heals.

 ...and daylily blossoms

gathered up 

for dyeing.

a big thank you to all of my friends in the ethers.

(and my friends at home)

who have supported me

sending love and whatever prayers you pray,

it all matters.

i am healing from this small surgery

and have little excuse in a day or so

for not getting some work done. 

for now, this overcast sunday morning

for now, i might just take a morning nap.

margaret and milkweed

milkweed is blossoming in some places here at home,

this one hasn't quite, yet.

in the pacific northwest

i travelled from Victoria BC to Seattle and then Tacoma.

part of that trip was by a big ferry.

 and once in seattle I had a wee time out, 

in a lovely hotel that took very good care of me for two nights.

i found this place, 

where I was served a chocolate by a well-dressed staffer,

on a tiny paper server thingie.

 then Kate took me home 

where i spent time sleeping in a lovely quiet house in a beautiful garden.

what could be better than 

hanging out with good people, a poet and a conservator, both printers,

in their beautiful home?

 one evening, between workshop days,

we had a little supper party

with Joan and Margaret visiting.

 joan is larger than life wonderful

and margaret, a name i'd heard for years...

 they were both my students,

but more,

margaret brought her shifu

 which she modeled

and then put this coat on me.
i wore indigo shifu.
it was warm and perfect

and this bundle of cloths
shifu all
i held in my arms and didn't want to return.
it was a precious gift
to hold Mrs Sakurai's work for a while.

Margaret's beautiful hands
and the bundle

 it was a blessing

and margaret herself...she's a horse girl!

i thought i'd gotten my horse late in life 

my 30's, but margaret, she was in her 70's!

and then the final day.

 happy kami-ito spinning

 student work

 Hazel and Gabby

both were once mere phantoms of the ethers,

now real and beautiful

and hugely imaginative and hard working.

 some brought nifty lights to help out

 patricia grass,

another famous name came with her shifu covered book of tea

 and Linda came with washi...

and then there was

 kami-ito knit

(this precious gift is now in my teaching collection)

 and knit recycled cashmere

 prep

 a little indigo ink stick work

 joan, the amazing

 indigo ink on mitsumata

gabby

shifu dancing

 a good how to present your work!

 and then i went to tacoma and stayed with Lucia

saw Catherine and ate her good soup, 

talked to the PSBA

and had several meals in the presence of this great one.

 there is good to look at art in the airports

where i spent a lot of time on wednesday

after lucia dropped me off.

i headed home finally at 11:30 on the red-eye

arrived in ottawa 7-ish.

drove home, and relaxed.

 i didn't take many pictures really,

none of the papermaking at Debbie's home 

with Lucia and two very friendly cute pups.

and to all of you, my old and new friends and my one-time students,

a HUGE thank you.

really.

i felt so welcomed so treasured even.

i still feel surrounded by caring.

today, pre-op, thursday, ovarectomy.

recovery then, maybe, some papermaking!