e.a.b.

these first appeared on the landscape last year. now one lives across the road from my place.

the emerald ash borer is an insidious insect, menacing trees, mostly ashes, just like dutch elm  disease and chestnut blight once did, with the potential to do as much or more damage. ashes form a large portion of the treescape here. i like seeing these traps, hoping that what they tell researchers is helpful. mostly i hope they're not finding the bug here.


i made it back from a wondrous day on the black river, rafting. our guide matt was fine, and our combined group (three classes, all small) filled four rafts. another raft had a guide named chris. after rafting he was talking about where he grew up. turns out he is from here. rode the bus with my kids to school, and when he heard my kids names, he told me ian beat him up once. he said it all with laughter. i was sick at heart, how cruel children can be to one another. both chris and my son were different, ian was older and bigger. both have faced their demons, it seems, and are making the world better. but, oh.


after a week of unusual activity i am sore and tired, good sore, good tired. it's rainy, so i can't hang out the clothes. darnit. trying to wrap my head around some crativity, ANY creativity. so i wove, almost done, on that tapestry bag from my class.

dyed and planted

this piece of cotton sheeting dyed beautifully. 

there is a lot of peach in this.

and bark

i don't know how to show how beautiful this cloth is. my photos are so poor.

last day at bittersweet this year. i will miss the work, the kids faces when they see the building they've worked on, the seeds planted, now almost harvestable, the piglets grown.

another greenhouse erected.