Tuesday, November 29, 2011

after and fuggish

thank you all,
i had a lovely birthday, 
beginning with a phone call just after 6 am. 
the day was overcast, but it was fine
a message came from aimee giving me permission 
(she wasn't the only one!)
the little back door garden had a surprise. 
blossoming on my birthday
today it's beginning to look more like winter, but it's just fog
a foggy, fuggy day at work
no matter
 yesterday was like this
calls from my kids, with *mail* coming today
and family, and friends checked in.
~~~
the cave of forgotten dreams was amazing
the artist(s) could draw. 20,000 to 30,000 years ago
lines were made with mastery.
they were rich, beautiful,
beautiful.
the 3-d glasses were not so fun. 
but i'm glad i went.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

55

yes, that's how old i'm going to be tomorrow.
i will go to see a movie,
herzog's cave of forgotten dreams.
today i had a phone conversation that made me think.
and an email, too.
and while i am celebrating becoming older,
a friend i never knew has said good bye,
leaving stones.
~~~
yesterday i walked in the old meadow and woods, down to the stream.
i found a tick on my sleeve.
back home i checked for more.
i showered and shampooed
remembering that little crab scrabbling up my arm.
it wasn't a deer tick, but it was a tick.
i've never seen one here before
~~~
and that is how life is, changing,
always changing,
the great cave holds mystery, or graffitti?
does it matter?
what matters is that fabric
called life
which can break and be mended,
it may be dark or light or dense or gauze
this making and wearing a life
is essential. it's light
like feathers
like milkweed in the wind
and heavy, a stack of army blankets.
dense, worn, used.









Saturday, November 26, 2011

spring walk

because someone asked
i will show
 this 
 spring walk
the first
 of the shifu
 and vellum books
 using stationers' binding
tackets & vellum
 lokta shifu
 ink & linen
 spun, woven, dyed
 knotted & recorded
 a watershed book for me
the beginning of an adventure
in paper, words, vellum, textiles
& a tiny vellum button 

Friday, November 25, 2011

stitching


 beverly gordon: textiles: the whole story
this book is stretching my thinking from the prosiac everyday 
to really seeing where this textile thing
where it comes from for me.
(my mother's birth name was weaver)
 and then i noticed a little thing
 stitches on the cover
 india flint: second skin
and this lovely book
yep also stitches on the cover
which sent me to my sketchbook
so i could play with threads
and then i noticed my shirt
waffle weave linen
flax shirt, beginning to go
but next it becomes paper
 i'm the second owner
and then i got back to thinking about books
those stitches WERE on books
me: spring walk
where a book may go
following the stitch
~~~
hellos going out to all the saggitarians 
like me, celebrating their births
thanks, jean
(even though i can't get it turned round right)

Thursday, November 24, 2011

fiber memory

bounty
there was a time in my life when i made many many baskets.
most were free form, woven from red osier dogwood.
they were so far from this work
by judy mulford
 i met judy mulford at a symposium.
even then, 30 years ago almost, she was inspirational, 
her work truly awesome.
this morning i enjoyed an interlude of snooping around the internet. 
one of the great pleasures of this is that i can see work that, 
living so isolated,
 i do not see.
 and today i found this image of a work by judy.
i cannot attribute this photo, please forgive me,
but i honor the maker.









Wednesday, November 23, 2011

thanksgiving

on the internet, world wide
in the north country
in new hampshire
in portland
in washington
in cleveland
in toronto
all these places i have been
as guest, as friend
as student, as teacher 
all this
since last thanksgiving.
and i send out thanks to you all
and wish you peace.
~~~

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

good earth

iron in the earth
this is a strong colored earth i found
while walking in the woods
just a small spot
but a color unlike
all around it.
dyed sugar maple leaves 
many of us are interested* in how
color is imparted on cloth
on paper
from natural, non-poisonous sources
bloodroot on lokta
one of my favorites is bloodroot
which i source regionally and sustainably.
~~~
in other news
two out of three who took their g.e.d. exams passed
and one, one of them,
i will take a little credit for, 
that one could NOT write an essay
and he did it.
~~~
thanksgiving break. sorely needed.
~~~~~
*passionate

Sunday, November 20, 2011

inside the blue line

wendy loves this place
 do you see my girl?
she made two HUGE leaps, the kind i haven't seen 
her attempt for a year
since her diagnosos she has trouble 
jumping into the car.
it was a cool day, the water very cold
 i love this hemlock's new architecture

 i can look at it all day
 soon it will become the forest floor again
 two 13 year old dogs 
and their people walked into lampson's falls
 water is very low
 coal in the thin november light
 steep falls,
sometimes deadly
roots for saturday

Thursday, November 17, 2011

cloth

 "a cloth with the characteristics of dragonfly wings" 
describing basho-fu from 
mottainai: the fabric of life
this slim catalog is lovely, 
finely designed and square in the hand
with text in both english and japanese
from the current show at the portland japanese garden.
the co-curators are kei kawasaki and stephen szczepanek (sri textiles)
i would love to see this show.
~~~
 on today's walk
 the two calves in the front pasture
next door
were snoting and blowing and ripping and tearing
maybe it was the snow in the air.
wendy ignored them, but they were,
perhaps,
thinking she was a wolf!
 grrr...


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

what a supper...

...can do for one, when the day's been tough.
sigh
salad, toast, and a beer. with lime.
hump day: skewed
a workday that began with a visit
from the police
can never be a normal day
(whatever that means)
i keep wanting
this book to emerge
but i need a little space
and time
without so much
work-work
it is coming, a long, difficult, incubatiuon and labor

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