margaret and milkweed

milkweed is blossoming in some places here at home,

this one hasn't quite, yet.

in the pacific northwest

i travelled from Victoria BC to Seattle and then Tacoma.

part of that trip was by a big ferry.

 and once in seattle I had a wee time out, 

in a lovely hotel that took very good care of me for two nights.

i found this place, 

where I was served a chocolate by a well-dressed staffer,

on a tiny paper server thingie.

 then Kate took me home 

where i spent time sleeping in a lovely quiet house in a beautiful garden.

what could be better than 

hanging out with good people, a poet and a conservator, both printers,

in their beautiful home?

 one evening, between workshop days,

we had a little supper party

with Joan and Margaret visiting.

 joan is larger than life wonderful

and margaret, a name i'd heard for years...

 they were both my students,

but more,

margaret brought her shifu

 which she modeled

and then put this coat on me.
i wore indigo shifu.
it was warm and perfect

and this bundle of cloths
shifu all
i held in my arms and didn't want to return.
it was a precious gift
to hold Mrs Sakurai's work for a while.

Margaret's beautiful hands
and the bundle

 it was a blessing

and margaret herself...she's a horse girl!

i thought i'd gotten my horse late in life 

my 30's, but margaret, she was in her 70's!

and then the final day.

 happy kami-ito spinning

 student work

 Hazel and Gabby

both were once mere phantoms of the ethers,

now real and beautiful

and hugely imaginative and hard working.

 some brought nifty lights to help out

 patricia grass,

another famous name came with her shifu covered book of tea

 and Linda came with washi...

and then there was

 kami-ito knit

(this precious gift is now in my teaching collection)

 and knit recycled cashmere

 prep

 a little indigo ink stick work

 joan, the amazing

 indigo ink on mitsumata

gabby

shifu dancing

 a good how to present your work!

 and then i went to tacoma and stayed with Lucia

saw Catherine and ate her good soup, 

talked to the PSBA

and had several meals in the presence of this great one.

 there is good to look at art in the airports

where i spent a lot of time on wednesday

after lucia dropped me off.

i headed home finally at 11:30 on the red-eye

arrived in ottawa 7-ish.

drove home, and relaxed.

 i didn't take many pictures really,

none of the papermaking at Debbie's home 

with Lucia and two very friendly cute pups.

and to all of you, my old and new friends and my one-time students,

a HUGE thank you.

really.

i felt so welcomed so treasured even.

i still feel surrounded by caring.

today, pre-op, thursday, ovarectomy.

recovery then, maybe, some papermaking!

finish line

 the week that was winter break

flew and plodded along 

 with icy marvels 

and deep cold.

the birches drooped

and the fence lines made new patterns.

 just over a week until i leave for australia!

more about that in a day or so.

good news graced the inbox

my two books available above on this site

(see the bar with the shop label?)

Poor (Wo)man's Asparagus and November, A Map

were just purchased for the poetry collection

at the University of Buffalo (Lockwood Library).

i am dancing to think that my poem/books are there.

 i loved the woven ice as the sun began to sink

 and saw scarlet and purple and greens in the dazzle

as i get my stuff together for the trip

to australia

i've spotted above this summer prunus print on arches

 and below 

four hosta papers

colored with north country ochres

i also realized this terrible headache

and weariness is

a sinus infection

so i got myself to the after hours clinic today

and am taking a killer antibiotic.

the wonderful doctor had an auspicious name: wendy.

there was a wonderful visit from hannah this week

who modeled a unicorn head

at brewer bookstore.

i had a wonderful and wonderfully long chat with an artist 

about some new teaching locally.

and more news is coming,

i promise.

accumulating

as i prepare myself

for the wonderful inevitability of teaching

in

australia

this march,

i'm spinning and weaving and dyeing and

writing

and getting this brain

(so often addled by teenaged emotional turmoil

 and the fallout

present in public school)

i return to my heart work

and of course, keep reading.

 how in photographs these things look like the skin

that paper makes

flax and milkweed, for example,

to work on,

to wear for protection.

 and walking slows this mind down

to consider these things

 to see

 up close how beautiful these skins are

here, the blue skin of atmosphere

the red skin of berry

the hidden sinews

of milkweed

twined into threads to weave 

weave a skin to keep warm and safe.

harsh and kind

seems like lately i've been called

to be both

harsh and kind.

kinda weird but pretty normal for me.

i spend my days at school with kids

who are trying to be like their peers

and aren't.

and i spend my other teaching hours

with adults who are so kind 

who appreciate what i bring to them.

and often let me know about it.

it's a lovely contrast, like the spring weather 

that swings from snow to warm sun in a few days

or hours really.

 one of my students from maine

lee thompson

wrote about the workshop
a good report.
she is a gem,
 the kind of person you know you like just by the way they walk
(and wave!) 
in fact all of my students were like that
fine and really attentive.

several have sent words or cards of thanks.

just yesterday i had a card from pru.

thank you all for being there, 

it was wild and busy and messy and wonderful,

and these photos 

(thank you rebecca) 

don't quite do justice to this big and beautiful room.

it is a bright and happy space

at the university of southern maine.

 the ferns are back, 

greenly vivid in the umbers of the woods

where little bits of other greens are appearing, 
coltsfoot and spring beauty and bloodroot

and flowers are falling from trees, 

prelude to leaves.

the book continues 

to keep me busy.

there's still much more press time, 

and then and then and then and then,

does it ever end?

outside there are perils,

 last weekend there were four ticks on me, 

one took a little nibble of my scalp

but was stopped before any damage was done.

i may cut my hair short so i can keep track of these beasts.

in other news

i am now co-administrator of susan byrd's shifu spot on facebook.

i am ruthless and stick to the paper textile rule.

must be my special ed training!

and

my wonderful daughter hannah 

has ramped up wake robin

 several notches 

and given me a few more pages. 

i'm working on learning it.

and

did i say the peepers and the woodcock and the robins amongst all the rest

are entertaining for free?

listen

~

full blast

or as full as it gets for me...

 so before i left for portland and the big atlantic

 i tried several ways to make my envelope for the new book

even knowing it wouldn't be ready 

for the book arts bazaar

it felt right to keep that work going

 i pulled out some of my map fold samples

from learning with pam spitzmeuller

 and came up with something that might work

(the finished one won't be red)

 this book never got sewn

 before i left.

there were several of these not yet done things.

fortunately there were 

many things that did get done!

long winters are good for some things...

but leave i did 

on friday,

and made my way to portland,

to visit with hannah

before setting up for a whirlwind, huge workshop

full of absolutely delightful folks.

book arts people are awesome.

 portland has a 'bit' of that

maine wit about it...

i did also encounter two irate and downright annoying women

one in a vintage vw microbus with a license plate that proclaimed 

something like "strider" or "hiker" or "walker"

and bumper stickers that said things like 

"practice random acts of kindness"

and at the tool booth when the driver stopped and backed up 

almost into me

i beeped politely,

and got an irate holler, a fist raised and shaken.

anyway, it was just odd,

as was the table browser at the bazaar

who proceeded to tell me what i should do with my work. 

too much "you should"

~but~

 the bazaar was well attended and full of good work

lots of student work

and beautiful papers like katie macgregor's

 i obtained and was given or traded some loot!

 one of my 18 students, farrin, made me a gift

a tea book

a way to remember her,

and my wonderful students,

and full of tea. 

easily replaceable for traveling.

 todd and sharon brought me some leftovers

from their letterpress stash

for printing. 

 i found a dodo or two

 rebecca goodale, 

a professor at university of southern maine

(and book arts bazaar organizer)

makes wonderful work,

playful and connected to place.

much of it is about endangered species

(and the occasional extinct one...)

 she is an artist saying "WAKE UP"

quietly and with beauty in her bookworks.

 a lovely little book of photos

called finale

 a map fold book about 

slugs

 jill osgood's work also pleases me

 todd pattison and i did a little trade

 i have a nice tiny leather bound book

and he insisted that the paperbound one join it

 the paper is harvested from

the original papermaker-- 

a paper wasp nest

abandoned at the end of the season.

these two are precious and beautifully made.

when i was unloading the car

a huge surprise pulled up behind me in a pickup

carol blinn and perry smith.

so of course i finagled 

(with permission)

our tables so we could be neighbors.

it was such a gift to see them.

i met so many folks, 

including the amazing lee thompson

(who came for my class)

and saw many many friends.........

i can't remember all that i was going to write about, but i do know this:

all of this would have been

nigh onto impossible

without my amazing daughter

hannah's help.

portland, rebecca, book arts folks, hannah, my amazing students all

a HUGE thank you.

what a great weekend!