august heat

the spent madder dyebath waiting for me to pour it into the perennials

started to grow some other life forms

and then i noticed the spoon.

 the bowl and half the handle took a refraction bend 

and created a non-shadow shadow.

 and became disassociated from its reality

 i mistakenly got some watercolors on something and used them as finger paint

and a little bleeding from the last of the big orange day lilies.

 left in my full sketch book

(thank you Sarah Bryant)

 indigo dyed shifu on a piece of flax pigment colored Hark! paper

as it becomes another book cover (maybe my next sketchbook)

 this hot august weather makes morning mist

 which burns off

HOT

 and then there were some new neighbors visiting.

this lady came by and surprised me.

she seemed contented and happy to have new eating

so i tootled down to my neighbor's where i thought she lived

and was met with an ornery response

"those aren't my cows.

see-there are mine"

i must say 

 there was a little herd, actually, where she pointed.

and a few minutes later her son came along on an atv and took the cows home.

the north country orneriness sometimes rubs me the wrong way.

not a word of thanks, instead an accusation.

the cows were very pretty

wonderful browns and roans, my favorite cow colorings.

i would be happy to have these ladies

across the road every evening,

if only they weren't loose, because of that hazardous

55 mph road between their usurped pasture

and my place.

a potential disaster.

i know. 

i watched another neighbor's loose horse be put down

after a car hit her, broke her leg

one winter morning, years ago.

i'm feeling a bit haggard and ragged because of this humid heat.
~~~
so, 
in other news,
i received a wonderful bit of travel funding for my Maiwa trip
professional development!
and i had yet another nail in a tire
almost 2 inches long,
necessitating a new tire (thankfully i didn't have to buy all 4,
because with 4WD all have to be the same and this set was new)
and my vacuum broke,
meaning two (so far) trips to the repair shop.
60 miles away or so.
it's a summer of little joys and a few issues.
the summer feels like it's changing, almost over except for the heat, 
it's really only just turned the corner
towards autumn.

a day or so late

 just before the moon was full

i walked in late afternoon

to the east, the moon rising

 to the west the sun setting

and the neighbor cows

 well, i've taken to talking to them.

and they look at me.

they seem to be staying close to the barn

and the round bales in the yard.

there's a new baby

 chocolate amongst the beautiful mamas.

and this itchy girl

made good use of granite.

 holding fast to normalcy

i am hoping for hope.

these beautiful beasts whose consciousness i can't grasp

and the birds, snow buntings, chickadees and bluejays

(at night owls call)

these things ground me and remind me

that our beautiful mother will be here

before and after me.

i keep turning off the news.

i will make milkweed paper today.

happy thursday

Ah haptics..the word for what we learn from our hands. A whole different part of our brain lights up when we read a paper book compared to screen...hang onto that old paper and take it in...

chela metzger

~~~

 it's hot

so hot it took me a while

to see that my camera was on

a weird setting

 but the cows, calves,

 and here,

the bull

put on a sunrise show

 and the sun kissed

my neighbor's thing

 my garden is on third blooming

 my table a mess as i prep

for the cleveland classes

 my salida journal

 a busy family

getting FAR away from me

and some pink for aimee!

happy thrusday!

tuesday doings reported

not bad, really

seeds in a nine patch

for sophie, jude, india, and roz

 basswood

these make walking on my driveway 

a skating rink in august.

watch it!

milkweed.

 two cooks, pots full of fiber

potential paper

stripped bark, chiri, and stems

a tiny bit of mulberry

 crinkle experiments for carol

mutual accord

on an evening stroll.

thinking through

 this lady spent two days bellowing 

and part of one night

 i'm sure it had to do with losing her calf

or wanting to be bred

it's all about sex says my friend

there were dozens of these on the roadside

the same places where the snappers might lay in june

 fruit of the land

this wonderful russet stone  

is sharp 

on its edges

 silk

 i've been playing with

a cloud

ephemeral

strong

like families facing loss

~~~

i've been weaving

 i was grateful to see the sky shining bright as i drove home after school. 
the cloud bank was far enough south to not bring more snow. 
but it was windy and cold, beautiful.

a new arrival at my neighbor's. 

i saw two new calves. 

they tickle me, and all of the cows came over to see me. 

i had no goodies, but i told them they were very very beautiful.

my mailbox had a couple of surprises...

a note from a duck(!), 

and the catalog for the threads of feeling show. 

if only i could get to london to see this thing. 

indeed, the book must suffice!

 the latest hand/eye online has another wonderful article 

by wendy golden-levitt. 

you can see the hands of some of the children she works with, 

and some of the textiles that help them do their work.

and a shifu book.

some big snow.

the top three feet of the chimney came down in a huge ice storm in1998, i think.

brought down buy the grandfather maple that you can see the remains of. 

 a third of the tree became firewood last year.

 today it's crotch high.

i did walk into the yard, briefly, before i walked wendy.

the depth of snow is almost frightening without snowshoes on.

i have a feeling that this catalog will be a challenging thing to read.

but i will begin tonight.