all the things

this morning:

four snapping turtles

one walking, two laying eggs, and one road killed

two whitetail yearling does

one kingfisher

one mourning dove

two crows

on the way to my house from Home.

at my house i have a big trip to get ready for:

Victoria, British Columbia: Seattle and Tacoma Washington.

books to sew

paper and supplies to wrap.

organization to attempt.

here's one of a pair of osprey we spotted on vacation

sublime pie in machias

and terrific haddock and clams

 a road killed subject for the sketchbook

 at pbi i met so many remarkable people.

 two young book artists 

had work that moved me deeply

michelle moode and woody leslie

 this is michelle's book 
PARTICULAR

she made the paper and printed it letterpress

it starts quietly and builds

 and builds

 the index

and woody's book 

Words and Vegetables

 this one tickles me

type plays with story and with space

 and this book

parsley

 more typographic play with story integral to that play.

 and I have been reading 

 this book is a long essay about aboriginal ways of living 

how different their relationship to land is compared to the conquerors

a story familiar, like the one here.

only that land is so much more fragile than north america. 

Nourishing Terrains and Braiding Sweetgrass are rich resources 
for my pondering.

 and here is, again, a turtle,

from nourishing terrains in australia

but seen, 
this time of year
 hereabouts on sandy roadsides, 
diligently laying eggs.

being here

what a day.

this morning i posted on the facebook shifu group page 

a notice about this

and within a little while i had eight new orders

plus one not yet verified.

holy cow.

anyway, susan byrd*

who moderates over there

said of course you should post about it. 

i went to the post office after the rains.

 (there were major downpours)

but not until after i got in a good walk.

 hence all the morning photos.

 i'm fascinated by the structures farmers build.

 even this one looks good

with round bales in the sunshine

 staghorn sumac is *almost*

 and here is the stag

 so curious that i'm out 

walking 

at 6 am

see his "horns"? 

 and now he's off.

 i've been gathering up the done blossoms

into the freezer they go

for fall printing.

 the button box

please, if you have a button related story

go over to this site and think about yours

and submit! 

this is perfect for the stitchers amongst us.
and who hasn't a button story?

  last night

for something different

i peeled up some slippery elm bark

and twined a yard or two

 which made my hands very happy

 i've been thinking about 
and
trying to process bark in different ways.

i prepped up a half dozen more

Poor (Wo)man's Asparagus.

 and this:

this is a new road into the woods.

as the crow flies it's about 1/2 mile away, 2 miles by road.

i tried to buy this property several years ago.
a new family purchased an old dairy farm and wanted to sell a bit of it.

i walked the land and loved the high rocky ridges.

but went to the owner with questions:

is that dump yours? what will be done with it?

for there was a dump on the land,

plastic toys and garbage and JUNK.

he was annoyed by the question.

and suddenly he could no longer quote me a price for the land.

the next year he sold that portion

and a hideous trophy house was built,

and then another,

and now, another road into the woods.

we would have been good neighbors, 

instead, mr. organic back to the land farmer,

has mc mansions for neighbors.

serves him right.
and i know about his dump.
so do you.
ha! 

* author of A Song of Praise For Shifu

still down under

i have some exciting news,

well, it seems exciting to me.

my almost neighbor genevieve nordmark and i

have been asked to participate in handpapermaking's

next portfolio, number 12, which pairs up olders and youngers

as collaborators to make art works for the portfolio.

this portfolio will be published 

to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

although genevieve and i are not quite 30 years apart in age

we are beginning to plan as soon as i return from oz.

Our intergenerational experiment seeks to consciously de-emphasize didactic mentor/student dynamics in favor of a creative melding of unique and vital perspectives in contemporary paper. We hope the finished paperworks will convey the spirit of youthful energy interacting on equal footing with the wisdom of experience. Each pair of artists will determine how to express these concepts visually through their work in paper.

i'm beginning to get a wee bit excited about this one!

(note: wisdom and experience)

~~~

while here i received the news that a few more copies of November, A Map 

have been sold

and my large 12 Moons shifu book has also found a home!

thank you alicia bailey and Abecedarian Gallery.

 in the town of the weird baby egg

some nifty buildings 

 and then a shifu two-day workshop

hosted by 

the papermakers of victoria

at an amazing old stables (a stud)

 these women all had great hand skills

and a lovely sense of community

and we made lots of beauty.

kami-ito stars!

 there were stories.
and terrific hand skills.
~

and below, this was part of the endless

beautiful attention to detail

now given over to artists and the community

instead of horses.

 there was some work by mark lander on the wall
and one of his critters and a valley beater
in the beater room.

 and everyone here thinks that flax 

is not my old friend of the blue or white tiny flowers and bast fibers long and strong

but new zealand flax!

 spinning kami-ito

some marvelous thinking was happening here.

 notes and first weaving

 some older experiments with paper and silk

which were great experiments

 a plethora of sampling and threads

 pattern paper and silk

 the warning:

 brushes

 deepening color

 something heavy and graceful to hang drying mitsumata on

 the effect of gravity

i continued on after this workshop 

to geelong, today to cape otway

to work with a friend.

 i had a great conversation with mary jane and wendy

at the school of lost arts.

 and in wendy's house

filled with books and textiles

 wendy showed me this amazing book.

after geelong 

and one more 2-day workshop

melbourne and then i turn east and north towards home.

where, i am told,

the robins and redwing blackbirds have returned.

i hope i make it

out onto the land

before the ticks wake up.