how the week ended

this pond is ever changing

because of the sky

the snow

the meadow grasses

the ridges that trace its edges

rich ecotones

 these are the new energy

 the new windows

 i helped paint primer this weekend

 i did the piddly bits

crevices and curves

 where the sill will live

(i will point out that smear was not my doing-it's "mud")

 the corn ladies

demure behind their fringe of standing corn

(maybe these singletons are now bound)

 they wore gowns of white for over a week

until it thawed enough

 coyote leaves offal scat

in the road every day.

a trickster with nasty manners

(i well remember my outrage

at coyote

when i read giving birth to thunder, sleeping with his daughter

coyote builds north america

by barry lopez 

back when i lived in kentucky)

 fortunately,

the streams run high and fast just now

and no deer parts in plastic bags

have been thrown in.

over at the new place

hopefully, there will be no poaching.

hopefully.

early december

perfect

snow stitchery

 these two

perfect 

tourist kitsch

tickle me

a gift from a friend 

 passed on to me

 something i didn't have time for in toronto, 

but should have

yep

it's where i live

 ice in

oswegatchie river

the light is gray so much now

and so little, each day.

toronto to north russell

we three had a soma hot chocolate

 walking into soma is a heady experience

delicious and seductive

 soma retail store

 factory to the left

 chocolate makes it right

 a home

a business?

in a residential neighborhood.

 the north side of the great lake i grew up near

lake ontario 

who takes in what lake erie can send her

good thing i got my finger at least partially out of the iphone's way!

 and here in the north country

the land is trying on her holiday clothes

 still snow enough to ski,

 i only got in a walk

but a wonderful snowy walk indeed.

 birches

 add in some wild grapevine

and across the road there is a child living

with these dr. seuss like trees

which i just love.

welcome back to winter.

if…..

if your birthday

and thanksgiving

and hanukkah

are all the same day

i guess it's ok

to travel to toronto

to spend thanksgiving break away,

avoid buy nothing day

and come home on saturday

having

visited with two of the most amazing women in the world

aimee and wendy,

eaten a meal with paper people*

visited the ontario college of art and design

met amos kennedy (read his name with gusto and delight)

visited the japanese paper place

and wonderful nancy

eaten delicious soups and pesto

with dandelion and beet greens

walked in a city that's friendly and beautiful

visited soma (read with a sigh)

and looked at inuit art.

anyway,

that's what i did.

visiting the wendy/velma book

currently holding holy water! 

the prints

(i made one like this) 

amos hard at play 

aimee looking at prints that amos brought

for the ocad book arts fair.

we were a little disappointed that the textile museum

was between exhibitions, 

but we did find a quiet hidey-hole

to strip off some extra winter layers

so aimee could breathe.

and i found some friendly bones.

guess where…

i will be in february, over winter break?

Austalia!

i will be teaching three classes.

the first will be at amazing and wonderful

BEAUTIFUL SILKS

in Melbourne.

we will be working on paper as/on/in textile

in BOOK format.

a codex will be made by every participant

'twill be a medieval style

with very contemporary implications.

your very personal marks

maybe not words, though, but you'll be making

the stationer's binding.

a medieval version of a three ring binder,

only with tackets and hideyholes.

my amazing friend

and proprietor of Beautiful Silks

Marion Gorr says there will be

a couple of surprises, too

a dyepot or more,

imagine: indigo, cochineal, ecoprints…

making paper sing.

making paper string.

making paper speak and listen.

 ~~~

and then after Melbourne,

i will be in a more faraway place called

Grampians Texture

where i will teach first a two, 

then a four day workshop!

shifu

enough time to delve lightly, 2 days,

or deeply, 4 days, into shifu making

shifu Shifu SHIFU!

we will spin and weave and color up our

paper/thread/books. the four days

will be enough time to go very deeply 

into a formal book presentation of your shifu.

you will reach a bit,

work hard,

and expect some amazing work.

 i am very excited

and i am hoping like mad

that the weather gods smile on this winter traveler!

working at night

 working at night this week

parent teacher conferences.

i drove by the place where the geese still spend their nights

before it freezes.

 and by the corn ladies

(caught today in the daylight)

 and yes,

they do dance

 they twirl slowly

in the november wind

 allow themselves to be moved

ever so slightly

that no one (much) sees.

i did.

and

 i saw a ghost!

ghost prints

 indigo leaf

grown by josh for me

hidden away in my journal

in september.