snow

it's snowing steady and hard today.

yesterday i had one of those days.

it could have been really really bad.

but it wasn't.

i subbed in my old school.

on the way my car made a big stink-burning rubberish.

but i had to get there.

let me report that this class of sixth graders was pretty challenging

and not at all fun.

after school the car still smelled bad.

i stopped at zone 4 to pick up the milkweed papers.

 the photo above is 'enhanced', below is not.

the sheets are WILD, WILD.

 i hand beat the fiber

the first time in too many years

 and you can see it's way underbeaten,

 but oh, it's beautiful!

after, i went to 'my' mechanic's shop

and the verdict was: a frozen brake caliper.

a woman was there picking up her car.

she turned to me, 

and it was marilyn,

one of my riding coaches from my 30's.

i hugged her probably too hard. 

it was terrific to see her. 

and she drove me the five miles home.

(i was so very happy and still am!)

where i sit, without a car, for the duration.

 my porch, just now

i will be teaching at nancy zeller's beautiful  longrigde farm 

next august,

papermaking!!!

please go over to the website and take a look. 

this year sandra brownlee and i are teaching,

(not simultaneously)

we will make clouds of pulp and 

other delights. 

if you haven't been to longridge, 

and you are considering a summer workshop,

you are in for a treat.

do join us!

humans persist

 roxanne was a high energy

positive

inquisitive

and experimental 

table mate. she worked in hot pink

to push herself.

 dorothy considering our

"blind" stitching

 out my window

at the place i was staying

appaloosa sky

 considering kantha

 batik discharge

 kami-ito

spun by therese

brought for me to see

 her sweet spindle

 something holy

 something old

 something borrowed and blue

 betsy's marks are formed

of fire and light

 graphic delight

 workshop hands

made things with string

dorothy made string

to document place

 and i kept sky watching

while filling up my car, 

for example

 patterning under my feet.

 a simple 

little structure

suitable for kids and smaller sampling

sorts of books,

textile sensibility/

some of our small books

with that nifty easy binding

betsy's little book

on a spiraled pie basket

that held betsy's wool,

beautiful!

so, this kind of class makes you think and try things unlike

the same old same old

but the women students were grand in this group.

hearts of diamonds and rust,

caring

meeting and knowing one another,

in 5 days you can dig

a bit deeper, 

in your own work and support each other.

we all wanted to keep going.

we will,

just not at longridge farm

or with dorothy caldwell,

both of whom we will miss most dreadfully.

i am making marks with a certain 

kind 

of

difference, now.

shifu at long ridge

i checked before i took to the highway yesterday:

no more dead kestrels.

thankfully.

today

i'm back in new hampshire

 at nancy and jack zeller's beautiful long ridge farm

this notification never ceases to amuse me!

and indicates i'm almost there.

three days devoted to playing with paper

spinning it into yarn, making a few marks,

and making textiles.

i am well taken care of here

and if the devil is in the details,

well,

the zeller's are demons for sure!

it's raining cats and dogs today,

but that makes spinning paper a bit easier

so i am a happy teacher!

summer schedule

 the moon was hiding

above the new place

i saw it

barely

 one roof is green now

happened while i was away, 

rain will make music as

we work

 i hung this to look at

and the morning light caught

this landmap of cloth

my neighbor put up a sign

with a correction

that tickles me

ever resourceful are

north country folk.

last week was filled with errands 

driving to get the mac battery fixed (200+ miles)

and eye appointment and oil change

prep for three upcoming classes

the morgan and long ridge

(there may still be room...)

 but in my little nearby town,

canton,

i sat on the bridge abutment
between oil change and optometrist  

 and watched and listened

as the grasse river

vigorously hurried

north.

hot papermaking

it was HOT.

HUMID.

but my amazing students persevered. 

krista, emily, nancy and betsy

(and the amazing organizing nancy

has slipped away)

all beautiful, all so happy!

 a first at long ridge: 

drying paper on the sheep barn 

interior walls

 better sheets,

better and better

 expertise beginning

 some small moulds

 arbor vitae

 white cedar

 HEAT

 and then rain

 trial run for the arnold grummer press

 it rained on sunday

 cats and dogs

 and the weather finally broke

 too late for papermaking, 

but we did some grand work

 anyway

 everyone can now

go home

and complete the entire process

and make their very own paper.

HURRAH!!!