after break

 landscape tapestry

so familiar, 

i see almost daily

this backside of my land

beyond the ecotone

 afternoon flat light and little snow

keep my boots wet, 

wendy's coat soaked

 the snow is rich manure

for poor men this year

 who knows what she sees now,

certainly the snow

clouds and shadows.

she rolls her head into the crunchy snow

her body no longer follows the lead of her exuberant spine

she looks over her shoulder

at me. yes?

she is quiet and tired after half a walk,

will make her chatty border collie

grunt-talk when we get home

until i feed her

then she will rest nearby

a curl, a comma, of dog.

 the ecoprint on cave flax paper 

has me pleased.

busy times

despite me keeping space

marking time here and not there

i am busy.

 washing the rugs

 a short stack for india

 color

 colour

 sky

 wendy continues to run 

i said run! 

 a little dyepot with bundles

 maples and others

 spotlit

 a sunbleached fenceline

 my poem for the bloodroot and violet book

home from the show

 one of the bundles 

linen and paper

silk from that pot

we are like seeddown

silky

windblown

fruit.

new and new

i have spent delicious time

inside a new book

reading and waiting

terry tempest williams has published this:

when women were birds

fifty four variations on voice

it is beautiful, hard, confusing

compelling, comforting, solid

and light as a feather.

(the physical book is also beautiful)

 the rock there

it connects me to what i've been seeing

birds birds birds birds birds birds birds

~~~

i watch the heron nest,

there are three fledgelings now

with wind sounding like ocean.

~~~

and at home i watch my place here

and the new place i will inhabit

in a year or so

a new ecotone

all ecotone in fact

an old farm

structures

long in decay

now a private place open to sky and dreams

and land. old geography, new to me.

we will honor a dream begun by a young family

but reshape it into

a place to grow old in

it will change

it will be the same.

~~~

little fiber, except yet more shifu

but spring and change is here.

old barn in winter

 i was talking with my son

ian

today about our old barn

 it's a place full 

of memories

for us all

but ian, somehow,

who never seemed to love it then

loves it terribly

now he is so far away

 so these little plays 

with sunshine and shadow

wendy and me

are for him

we know how you miss this place

and love this building

and respect it's spirit

and this is a place 

i'm learning a bit about

on a very cold

biting cold

almost open

 north country day

cold night

last night i came home after walking wendy to a gentle sunset, noticeably a bit later now. but it was cold, around 5 degrees, and i wasn't dressed properly. earlier in the day my daughter photographed two yearling deer in the yard, they like the food here in deep snow for some reason. (they have hundreds of acres of overgrown farmland, so why they come here is a mystery.) i talk to them, though. they seem curious about human voices. and last night i realized i have a cold, again, but in my line of work it's inevitable. 

it's my hope to soon post links (links!) to other wonderful places on the web. this morning, early, i got up to make arrangements for a sub, and meandered around the web. a nice way to have tea and toast and homeopathic cold capsules!