long view

 vertigo for me

i hate towers and bridges,

and this one here is totally see through steel mesh.

shudder.

yet i persevered.

  i could see for miles

 and miles

 and miles

 and miles

 and miles

 and miles

 and miles. here

from the road to the new place i call home

 where this big one

 greets me as the sun

goes down.

 inside i examine

a woodcock

 a strange bird

that i learned

 when i fist came to the north country.

his call is odd,

his eyes way up high

his body awkward

and yet he flies here in spring and was, until a couple of days ago

still found here.

this one will be a meal.

i must get used to having fresh fowl around

as well as fresh vegetables,

and my favorites, 

the wild berries.

bliss

i can safely say there is some bliss happening

each day i wake to the sound of birdsong

and some nights i go to sleep to the sounds of...

er...

coyotes singing in the background as

a startled deer snorts

then

a gray fox

yodeling away with some firmness

i think she's a mama doing her best for her brood

and then

a very very angry raccoon

snarling and scritching for some time

probably has something to do with the gray fox and my empty barn.

once the convicts were found

the most local color took over.

and then there are the wildflowers...

a rich wet and cool spring has brought them on

brilliantly

in a way i can't remember!

and there is news:

Grampians Texture

the site is alive and kicking and the brochure is out,

the classes will fill up with some urgency

if i remember right from last time.

go over and take a look!

~~~

we work and work,

caliban press and me,

towards completion.

the map-fold book is done,

but some need a little stitching,

as per plan,

and the envelopes aren't complete yet

but it's almost done.

~~~

saturday i leave for my class 

at Women's Studio Workshop

am i excited?

you bet!

sometimes

sometimes the camera captures what you don't see

rainbow orbs 

as the sun peeps through

one or twice in a dreary

colder week.

looks like the planting farmer

was playing crosswords or cross hairs

or crossseeds

 clouds visit the neighbor's low spot

 and make patterns and games,

i resist running through.

 a walker left this behind.

i wonder why?

my 80something year old friend

scornfully says people are sucking on their bottles

even before going for a little explore

 into the woods

probably in preparation

for hunting 

 i am glad this land makes it difficult 

to find her bounty

 i decided to give these yellow wild ones a taste

often the wildlings are not delicious

 but this one was.

it barely lasted though, so i couldn't take it to school.

to share the perfect sweetness.

it's november now

and the bones of the land are beginning to show

before that white downy coat

hides it all away.

happy deep fall to you.

hunker down, warm your hands

and consider the year that's gone by.

so little

there is so little

left

after a day

of hooligans

 but before the day

the work day

 begins, 

there is

the magic

of fog

and warm

in november,

the bleak and bleary,

 (i have a secret)

this is my birth month

and i love the 

uncovering of the bones of the land