digging deeper

who can say why certain things...
shapes, colors, textures, 
animals, even,
who can say why they speak to you, 
to one, in a certain specific, peculiar way.
perhaps they appear in dreams or day dreams, 
maybe hormone driven, 
maybe longing
maybe something altogether 
unknown or unknowable
but for whatever reason this shield i found on facebook
a first nations thing
pleases me.

 i was looking for tiny beads to use with the loom books
(i accumulated an embarrassment of old beads)
i was looking for the greasy yellow ones.
 some live in type trays
which is ridiculous in too many ways.
 2
these two strand sets are small and beautiful
and i see now 
that they are colors i used a long time ago in a tapestry.
 i lifted them out of the little wooden rectangle
that had become a cache.
field mice leave little stashes in my world,
and often i don't know the seeds. 
but here is, 
amongst others, 
milkweed.
 cottontail is large now
and doesn't show itself often.
 elsewhere in my back yard
november arrives
indoors 
there is a wonderful type event happening when the morning sun 
bathes the studio table in light.
two loom books completed, one with drawing,
and soon a larger one.
today i'm pulping 3 linen shirts.
an edition is planned!

pulp clouds at longridge

 a wonderful and quite manageable trip
from the north country
(new hampshire)
 i saw these
 amish made field monsters
 but really sorghum (i think)
 and this morning i saw this
 and this
 and on the HUGE porch 
a nice, round japanese paper shade
processing daylilies
both dry and green
and hosta
 into pulp
 three blenders at once
 pulping abaca as well
 the winter sheep barn becomes 
a wonderful workshop space
and the exceptional hand skills 
of this wonderful group
proves to me that these five are ready to try
more pulps
more book structures
and tomorrow and sunday
look out!
we were 
overseen by three dogs
luna, kaylie, and finn
whose game leg is feeling better
thanks to the ministrations of nancy
who never forgets to take 
good care of everyone.
day one: 
one structure
four pulps
five papermakers!