Sunday, September 29, 2013

fair

 sugar maples are turning, 
and so are so many others: 
popple, red maples (showing off, for sure)
sumac and virginia creeper.
rich grape and cider wine smells, too.
 a bit of longridge indigo STILL on my right thumb
 and then i met frieda.
 and her man mark
 who talked about falconry,
but really about animal behavior and biology
 and this royal one, a barn owl
 who has ears
that work by means of feathers 
(and a whole lot else)
 looking over her shoulder.
at 
paul smith's VIC
old time skills festival
saturday
 we brought home three lovely goat cheeses
from asgaard farm.
riches.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

getting along

 so this little girl is my favorite of the heifers next door
it's her very pretty face
 though her buddy looks good in the evening light
 over at the new place cellulose takes on a new meaning
for this papermaker
 a little stream 
 runs through the field
under the dirt road
and away 
and i had a grand mail day
yesterday.
5 books,
delicious!
~~~
but, there is more. 
this week, friends lost two very dear ones.
both losses unexpected.
love to you.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

v, traveling

they call them skeins of geese
not me
~as i walked home tonight~
the walk started in daylight but i came home at dusk
their calling was overarched by first one coyote call, then a clan
just letting us all know coyote business was at hand.
neighbor dogs barked in return
huffing up big chests no doubt
but the geese continued on.
i saw them as i walked, after the woodcock flushed 
flew across the meadow
to a spot suitable for a few more morsels
before darkness.
and then grapes and apples and scents of other 
lesser fruits assaulted my nose.
and then there were seven flurrying ducks.
i knew, knew i would see a black bear tonight. deeply. 
there was a tiny cottontail
more geese, 
and then two whitetail flushed so close i could see their eyes
watched their enormous tails
bouncing like those balls on the films
to follow along with the words
when i was little
flee all the way across the big meadow, and then the ecotone, there
up in the sky
only geese.
in a, as a, V
V
i never noticed they were more connected to me
than i knew
my initial
has a mapping meaning for those
fall travelers.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

this week: a little bit better

i pass this every morning on my way to school
 and this on the way home
 on friday,
amish farmers getting in the corn
 two young heifers visited my driveway the other day
 and on the other side of the drive
wild grapes
 cattail
 fiber
always looking for fiber
 thistledown
prickly wonderful
 tiny seed fibers
big arbor vitae bast fiber
mostly deep under and inside 
on this fence post
 and color
 the colors of the meadows
just perfect
and the big moon above.
autumnal equinox.
it's time.
time to get some studio work done.
almost time, that is.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

perspective, focus, and weariness

 following this ragged trail of september
an ecotone called illness
 has me thinking about looking
and focus
looking in or at
not being in 
framing experience and telling the story
 has everything to do 
with focus
perspective
 and so last night
i went for the first walk in days and days
 it felt just right
known
abundant
sparkling in newness
 saturated in familiarity
 it's all in how you see it
how you be in it
 as the light
following the sun's lead
began to fade
 i found a rosy blessing over the meadow
painted a few high leaves, even
something to reassure and hold.
~~~
my sister, bless her, checked herself out of the hospital
after a second noisy roommate 
rudely arrived.
she's home with her daughter helping.
wild tales of the plucky bolyard gals,
a trip out of the big floods on the big thompson,
the intricacies of modern medicine
and some time at home to heal.
thank you for your thoughts, prayings, helps,
i've passed them all on.
(this has all been difficult because 
it's the beginning of school and newnesses all around,
and we both work with high schoolers.)

Sunday, September 15, 2013

feeling cooked

focus here
has come a bit undone
with a madly unexpected middle of the night trip to the hospital
with my very ill sister
preparations and phone calls,
tests and tubes and beeping
sitting and being
in the ugly rooms of the place of healing.
my life on hold
while i attend to what's not only necessary
but is my sacred privilege.
but oh, it is exhausting work.
she is bettering, her far flung children are 
winging back. (one through the mad floods of colorado) 
makes me think
about some of jude's recent words
focus. spectrum. listening deeply.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

relief

thank you all
for your good wishes.
the finger is healing well AND
there seems to be no damage to the tendon.
PHEW!
 you know,
paper, 
before and after
 i read this.
you should, too
solace in old farm land
helps keep me sane
as i navigate through new things
at work.
the kids?
as always, i love them.

Monday, September 9, 2013

monday monday...

...can't help that day.
today: a sick day. already.
rats.
what happened? 
last night i smashed my own finger,
(my precious finger, the one with the tendon hurt 
then healed a while back)
in the ups box. HARD. 
yep. it's nasty, but the tendon is intact. 
the cut/bruise
is right at the nail and tendon attachment.
ugh.
 i need a distraction,
so here's some gold
 habu linen
 that i spun up
a while back-not today
 into a lovely thread
 slippery and strong
and ready to weave.
hopefully the finger will actually heal as quickly
as the swelling went out of it.
constant ice and ointment
are helping.
geesh!

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