(t)here and back again

 i received two men's robes

both cotton indigo that my friend found in japan

 i promptly washed them.

the lined one had accumulated years of dirt and dust which 

i washed once 

and rinsed at least a dozen times.

 both pieces dried on a very  hot day in a very 

short time.

are scented now with north country summer

not dust.

 the ikat patterning on the lined piece

 and the lining

 nearby

 the chimney brick with the lichen patterning sits in the sun

it has become the perch of some bird--lots of what we as kids used to call bird-do 

but still color that inspires me.

 i have been making some contact prints with the square flax sheets

and cloth, this is old cotton 

 here you can see a flax square

and the red daylily spent blossoms.

  the flax square still wet

 concrete steps are the perfect background, if narrow.

 and i made some more linen paper.

justaposition:

a.  plain raw flax paper                                           b. linen fabric, my sister's pants by Flax

c.  two sheets of the above with fabric inclusion    d. linen paper (made solely from above 

                                cloth 

 i decided to travel to maine

and then i undecided

 and took a happy walk yesterday evening

 overlooked by luna

 below that sky was the july harvest baled for the neighbor's cattle.

first time i ever remember it being cut almost on time.

evening shadows.

 two pair of little ruby throated hummingbirds played at the feeders 

this morning. 

 i'm wearing cotton socks on my feet today, 

celebrating happy respite from the humid heat.

over on fb i found a photo of two of my favorite australians

that i just had to share.

colleen and brian

collen of the astonishing hair, brian enwrapped in a hat and scarf,

probably needled by colleen.

and the title above? 

i was going to maine today.

but i decided not to. i love my maine family

i wanted to see them and 

see the ocean and

visit the arctic museum

but

i wanted to stay home, 

with the round bales and the hummingbirds

and the cresent moon

and the blessed cool weather, more.

i am off to make more prints and paper

and hang out my laundry and go to town

to resume mail delivery.

i'm home for a while.

hortus

sometimes i remember to make a record

somehow

of what i'm doing.

why, i wonder,

because it's like this: all the making of all the years of all the ideas

concertina themselves

(which is also why i forget things...)

become one thing only: 

a life in a place.

here.

the new place i call home

(while i still live in the old place called home)

is rich in ridges.

concertina landscape

this ridge i've cleaned out,

the slope is steeper than it looks,

and my partner moved some rocks that are available 

to become part of a garden.

 it's resting now, as winter comes on. 

that meadow 

the ridge points to,

i've seen a coyote lope through

pausing now and again one morning

and i've watched three deer, no four

make their way up to the ridge, 

over and around it.

i saw a mink scurry past the tip of this ridge.

here and gone, quick quick!

today, as yesterday,

i walked around home, old home

gethering greens

and tiny blossoming goldenrods, three fern species,

wild grapes, applemint

rose, honeysuckle, and raspberry leaves

and one rose hip

thick staghorn sumac antlers.

the goldenrod flowers shock me

blossoming on the regenerated growth

after the august field mow.

all this abundance in the middle 

of november!

all this abundance when

it's likely as not frozen and gray and brown and harsh.

today i walked briefly

tired after six hours of printing,

and i saw myself being watched

by a young, furry and large-eared doe.

a this year fawn, 

mostly grown up

attending to me ("is she safe, is she crazy?")

as i went up my walk:

"hello, little one, i'm going in the house, 

eat well and safely there

my friend."

she stood alert,

watching as i went indoors.

humid and hot saturday

i've been a barely adequate nurse 

for two days.

my dad thought nursing would be a good career for me.

i thought

i'd like to be an artist,

whatever that was.

my partner is healing from a successful hernia operation.

helped by so many good wishes from friends:

my initial made by therese, 

gold on walnut, 

i like that.

and here i am watching gary frost

 using the plough at syracuse university's bird library's conservation lab.

a photo found in the ethers by tim ely!

it's from when my hair was more brown than white.

~~~ 

about the book project:

 the printing is complete, 

we think,

after a really frustrating day

when only one side would print on the big press.

the next day an elf brought over a stack of printed magic.

my happy dance

wrecked my photo.

 the printing was excellent, 

the photography lousy. 

i can only say that all my photos were like this,

i was so excited!

 i harvested slippery elm bark

 as the ferns came along,

they are MUCH bigger now, 

now, when it's 90 out.

ugh!

and here's a little something-

a stationers binding that i saw online 

and didn't save the source.

but i quite like it.

~~~

surfacing here a little bit to say that i am swamped

but fine, sniffling the pollen,

but 

feelin' allright.

nursing with a smile.

a little press

this week our press time

was saturday

and my words and prints are growing into a

book.

 every step to me is magic

and a puzzle

working in fits and starts like 

this spring.

 this large neighbor is very furry

and so are the dogs that visit here still wearing

thick thick winter coats.

 in my barn a yearling was found

 there is no such thing as free lunch.

 the second returned from south turkey vulture that i have seen

 was on my barn ridgeline,

greeting me.

 waiting and watching

for opportune moments to eat

that whitetail good food.

one day this week i had meetings in morristown

on the st lawrence

where this building lives.

and on facebook:

susan j tweit and robin wall kimmerer 

both showed this from a conference they attended 

on the west coast,

i was motivated to think about hope.

hope is one reason i live and teach here

in the north country.

hope is always necessary.

recent events

 aimee is in korea

and this is what she found at her teacher's place. 

a traditional covering

 for the wood pile.

here, folks use old paper machine felts,

tin roofing, old scrap siding

no plaited straw.

 two days off this week, 

i made prints

on paper.
 and residual and accidental prints

on peony and gingko leaves

in the backyard

it's looking bleak.

we had wintertime come to visit

after indian summer-67 degrees-

on tuesday

 the cold blew in

taking down leaves and seed fluff

 making my heart

sad with november

 school was tough tough tough.

but on friday

two old students came by to visit,

and all is well with them.

such great news 

the only good news this school year.

 peeping in the old barn's doors

more bad news

i just wish this place

could be re-furbished.

 i visited a dear friend today

she just celebrated her birthday

i'm in my 90th year, she said,
89 is a venerable age.

this quilt might be that age 

or older

being finally used

to cover the machine from chicken roosting.