Inuit

i'm a northerner,

have lived next to the canadian border most of my life

and have had a longing to go north.

further up.

way north.

i like the artifacts of the north, the tools, the clothing, the elegance of making 

with very few resources.

yesterday my partner came by

with a surprise for me.

he said, 

"i bought you a kayak".

i couldn't see one, 

but thought maybe he'd left it and we'd go pick it up.

he opened the hatch and instead 

it was in the forester

this elegant model

made for tourists for sure,

and why not?

i love this long, slim boat

and all the details.

i was messing with photo correcting stuff 

(apologies for the poor first photo)

and this happened: 

also this busy, warm week

i've arranged to have a roof put on my house,

taught, 

and gotten this in the mail.

the wonderful folks at Solva 

sent it

signed, no  less!

this is a book to cherish

and if you're lucky

to remember the rich

words

poems

spells

along with the golden 

brilliant

paintings.

even as a child,

i remember loving certain books.

almost unbearably.

this would have been one of them.

back on the ground,

here at zone 4

some of the last batch of paper i made finally dried.

white from Yoyo's Awagami kozo,

colored with earth pigments

including indigo from Maiwa

(and a little more kami-ito and shifu.)

i feel like i'm beginning to understand how these earth pigments

work with flax, hemp, kozo.