thanksgiving

so after i returned from toronto
 a little snow fell.
 in the woods at the place i call home
 the snow has been little and not long staying
so far this winter
i have heard owls, but no coyotes,
and a strange murmuring of bird voices, coming ever so slowly
waxing and waning and 
ever louder until
overhead i heard a honk, like a sneeze at a soft concert moment
then another but still the murmuring.
and then they were above me.
canada geese, locals, going over to trout lake
with no need to make much ruckus.
 we joined gracious friends for thanksgiving 
and ate delicious food, 
our ages from a college freshman to an elder of 99. 
hannah brought tyler home to see the north country and us.
despite headcolds, they requested to make paper,
hannah knows how, but tyler was new to the vat.
 above they are using square moulds made by britt quinlin the paperwright
from ottawa,
and below hannah uses a lee macdonald mould.
 hannah and elder dog gwen share some caring
gwen loves being with hannah.
 and after they left 
i felt so empty.
neki sent me her failed linen warp
(to make into paper)
 and carol sent me this beautiful card
for my birthday.
 here's the edition of blue jean paper 
(i couldn't get the color right, but it's very blue jeansy)
it's flying by means of jet plane
to bar harbor.
by the way, the little animals all,
except for the selkie, are spoken for.
perhaps selkie will find you?!

snow day

wednesday evening sky over the meadow
thursday started out rough
not nearly enough sleep
wendy has some hard nights
and then so do i
 but on thanksgiving
we went out to the meadow
 and played
wendy, melissa, and me
 we gathered up some milkweed
stripped up a bunch while wendy played
can this be called spalted?
it was a glorious time 
before a small meal with just four of us
family and friends
simple food, wine, and conversation
later
we stayed up talking to all hours
melissa and i
and after a wonderful morning of talk and tea and more talk 
she took to the road for cleveland
unfortunately she encountered lake effect snow 
along the way.
which made its way to the north country today
a reminder 
of a bundle of cloth
and one of paper
we prepared and jarred up 
to be opened in a while
back in chicago.
and here in the north country
a gray day, but it looks like winter
has arrived.