news from n.y.c. and the north country

poems seem to fall out of the murky november sky
along with watery snow
snowy rain
misshapen pod 
for sophie 
and wendy, that little scamp
went on a toot through the brush
before supper yesterday.
this is what she used to do
before she got sick
and today she's coughing, 
symptom of her heart disease.
after school
most days
i've been dyeing
 abaca ecodyed
detritus from the first big dye job
two very long pieces of 
heavy japanese kozo
printmaking papers 
gift from yoyo
about 7 x 42 inches each
several more in the pot
right now.
~~~
jude says two more weeks without electricity
~~~

moving slowly

sometimes it feels like your own work is moving slowly, sometimes it plods along like a good ox team, and sometimes it's like the amazing pair of belguims i saw trotting a wagon down the highway on my way home from work. so quick they were with their young amish men driving that i hadn't time to dig out my camera. the team was high stepping with brilliance. i had a few ends to weave in on this milkweed shifu square. which drove me to prepare more lokta for spinning.
a well loved and much used reference. i have a only few dye books i reuse. india's is much marked. i'm on the verge of making notations in the book! this book is the perfect reference, the only criticism i have with it was a publisher's glitch, my copy has the paper grain running perpendicular to the spine, so the pages curl a bit. 
last night's violas and pickle juice (vinegar) on my sister's old linen pants. (thank you, claudia)
same jar of dye... border leister from andrea
unwrapping from the copper pipe. it's still this color today after drying.

i'm getting the mill ready for mark's class to come on wednesday to make paper. i am working on the stone book pages. i like having several projects going at once, only need more hours, those few at night (for sleeping) would be handy right now!