spring gallops, horseless

 they're still making 

tiny collections

there were two of these, 

two days in a row,

two different shoes.

the first one was QUITE a surprise

at 7 a.m.

my foot exited the shoe 

lightning quick, 

glad mousy had gone away.

 i found another rock book

 which is a lot like 

one of the old, big ones

 we're having rain and rain and rain

some of which i drove through

yesterday and today

while i went to syracuse

 and back

twice

in order to get a new computer

 because the old is slowing  

and the spinning wheel of death

made too frequent appearances.

 i completed my sketch book

fixed the mistakes

and will begin to use it.

thanks to tim ely

my mind is playing games

around pictures and ideas and books and

threads.

 while the spring wrestles 

through

 high water and flooding

 create wonderful plays

layers of color

texture

meaning

red osier dogwood

 and then the fence lines

make their arbitrary

deliniations

between space and time

light and darkness.

this changing

leaving a bit more green

after every shower.

learning with tim ely

in toronto

as in any city

weird things can stop you up short

 so on saturday morning i saw this

this was quite a surprise

 why would anyone take off these "shoes"?
leave them on the edge
of walk and ride?

nearby

a black squirrel was 

having a ridiculously delightful time

doing flips

  questioning MY motives

and then:

there's the japanese paper place.
sigh!
77 brock
were the workshop was held.

(tim's exemplar)

 working with master alchemist,

binder,

wonderer,

maker,

timothy ely.

 i love these marks,

 loved how he taught,

his use of language and respect for story,

felt challenged and heard.

the class was filled with very

very talented artists…

 i learned more about a passel of concepts

which seem to be 

knocking at my brain: 

"pay attention, knock knock"!

so then the ride home was

 an adventure

i just love union station

 as messed up as it is

(just try to find your way

after a blue jay's game and a 

city wide parade)

 home, in my kitchen i found this

 rock books

a drain strainer

empty jars

ink

so my sketchbook 

 taken out and examined
a few days later
after i'd gotten over the mistakes,
i had to forgive myself for those,

there are many.
but this little inlay is
a bit of paper decorated by tim
(it has sparkles in it) 

and i played with paste and color 

still unfinished, but i will slice the last
of the pages apart, paste up the corners,
endsheets,
and start using this thing.
the book WORKS so well,
it's a mechanical device for memory.
it opens flat and deliciously.
there are spare 
marks and bits for me to 
connect the day's notes drawings ideas paste-ins.
thank you tim.
amazing diving board for me.
and i like to swim.

roots

my son ian put this 

drawing on facebook

he doesn't know i stole it away

to put over here.

he's some drawer for sure!

yes, my folks were from west virginia 

and ian, 

well he practically grew up in an old barn.

~~~

i returned from toronto late last night

after a thought-stimulating class.

more on that later on.

current events

 1. most incredible and delicious cheeses: 

harbison & clothbound cheddar.

 2. amazing india flint has celebrated her students in a book of their own

all of india's students were invited to send a story and pictures

and the book is big and beautiful!

3. a stack of books, many mine…

i'm getting ready

for a weekend workshop in toronto

 with timothy ely

at the japanese paper place.

around the place

 there are reddish rocks here

and in spring especially these little bits

of potsdam sandstone

show up.

i think the road crews 

fill up at the local sand pits

and some of them 

 have a bunch of this stuff.

i like it.

i like the layers.

 and i like holding them in my hand as i walk.

 it's a leftover pumpkin 

and prints on old pages

 old pages, latin.

and contact print over pressure print

lichen under and on cotton under plants.

i've been having a conversation with my friend catherine.

 work here 

and at the new place continues.

i love

the honorable nature of work clothing.

some books

 i finally got to putting together some of my samples

from my february trip

i made three books
and a few samples, too,

while (or in australian, whilst) teaching

 the bottom book

was completed at

my wee residency at beautiful silks

and provided enormous entertainment for me

one long night

 this stationers bound sample book

filled with silk and paper contact prints

and shifu and eucalyptus blooms,

in a fit of experimentation i dunked it into the wife.

well,

the wife is a wise and enormous vat of indigo

and my book came up gasping for air

going from sludge to blue

quickly

but also starting to sag and would have torn itself to bits

from the wife's good juice.

so i supported the thing 

as she completed the color magic

then set up a drying system, which was no mean feat 

considering the dry book weighs only an ounce or two, 

but wet,

well she sagged under her own weight.

iowa flax case paper cover and various handmade and machine made papers,

and shifu

hold a lot of liquid.

so, once the color stabilized i began

the tedious blotting dry 

and using a fan and a drying rack and many towels

 all night long

she dried, stabilizing the spine and then the pages. 

yesterday i sewed in all the loose bits and have a finished book

thanks to beautiful silks and the wife

also as i sorted out the work table
 i unearthed a little book i made 

years ago from scraps

from the trash at pbi

 oh, and a feather and someone's measuring notes.

and took a picture

 i, like jude, have been thinking

~of weave~

overexposed

 in motion

 focusing

 and finally focused

spun paper, kami-ito,

and canada thistle paper

of course it is!

weave holds the universe together.

a friend, a photo, a quest, some papers

my daughter hannah took this photo

me at the book arts bazaar.

she says i look happy!

yep.
~~~

today my friend catherine came to mind

you know how that is--

 

so i went over to her blog

and she'd posted twice after a long hiatus

(while she went to school).

and she has some poems you might like to check out.

i love what she's been doing!
~~~

this morning

i watched the pesky chipmunk

who lives too close.

it took the bait

peanut butter.

so i took chipmunk in the have-a-heart trap
in the driving rain

to a new home on the kip tract.

fare well.
~~~

i worked on some new prints yesterday

as well as beginning excavations

on the work table.

spring fever.

as the temperature drops

approximately 30 degrees today.

several pages went brown and blue 
an idea brewing.