Inuit

i'm a northerner,

have lived next to the canadian border most of my life

and have had a longing to go north.

further up.

way north.

i like the artifacts of the north, the tools, the clothing, the elegance of making 

with very few resources.

yesterday my partner came by

with a surprise for me.

he said, 

"i bought you a kayak".

i couldn't see one, 

but thought maybe he'd left it and we'd go pick it up.

he opened the hatch and instead 

it was in the forester

this elegant model

made for tourists for sure,

and why not?

i love this long, slim boat

and all the details.

i was messing with photo correcting stuff 

(apologies for the poor first photo)

and this happened: 

also this busy, warm week

i've arranged to have a roof put on my house,

taught, 

and gotten this in the mail.

the wonderful folks at Solva 

sent it

signed, no  less!

this is a book to cherish

and if you're lucky

to remember the rich

words

poems

spells

along with the golden 

brilliant

paintings.

even as a child,

i remember loving certain books.

almost unbearably.

this would have been one of them.

back on the ground,

here at zone 4

some of the last batch of paper i made finally dried.

white from Yoyo's Awagami kozo,

colored with earth pigments

including indigo from Maiwa

(and a little more kami-ito and shifu.)

i feel like i'm beginning to understand how these earth pigments

work with flax, hemp, kozo.

first of october

an email exchange with jane ploughman

resulted in a wonderful visit.

she and john vincent visited the peace paper exhibition

just down the hall from zone 4.

jane and john know drew and jana of peace paper, 

and of course the combat papermakers,

 john's vermont based Revolutionary Press 

helps support social activism and justice endeavors 

in the paper and book arts world. 

jane and john met me at slu 

and they viewed the three galleries celebrating the  

work of drew matott with combat, peace, and st pauli  paper.

jane made the little piece of garlic paper with suminagashi above,

and john printed this small broadside

and the card below. three special gifts i really like!

jane brought two of her fine artists' books to show me as well.

i told jane and john to find me by following the sound of the beater

which i had switched off by the time they came looking.

but find me they did, and we had a lovely long talk

as paper and book people can!

they know hannah from her work at northeast harbor library.

~~~

the woven web.

~~~

our book arts students displayed their first books,

nine students, 

working in concertina, tunnel, origami structures

and following their concept of line.

learning where a line will meander

and how.

i emailed stephen dairing in australia

in order to get a few more skeins of this lovely stuff

bark with which i'm making vessels for shifu books.

~~~

 saturday we went to paul smith's college VIC

to enjoy harvest/homestead demos.

i love seeing young women competing equally with their male student peers.

this competition, 

where two woodcutters split the log they are standing on

always unsettles me.

they hoist the axe high overhead

and gouge out wedges of wood between their feet

with precision and accuracy 

(or else!)

and the first one done wins.

they are so vigorous that often the whole 'structure' moves 

backwards with the force of their swings.

at home

this is the outlet of our pond

yesterday morning 

after the frost surprised us.

the weather has turned and now it's fall.

and then this:

found on my garage door.

how long has it been

there?