quiet? thinking

KA BOOM!!!
pop pop thud.
a woman said to me: happy fourth of july.
i said, i've never heard that before!
it's my quiet day.
KA BOOM!
what irony, 
yet this is how it is today.
i have time to ponder.
i taught in beautiful victoria, bc,
meanwhile meeting* both jean and bryan
north country shifu for three days
a quick paper manipulation half day
and a one day textile/paper/book class
and boarded a ferry
sailed down the ocean trail to seattle
one woman (forgive me for forgetting names)
made this beauty.
 another (famous) woman stretched her skills
 and this class wanted more and more, 
so i took apart my journal
and traced the cover 
and they all learned to tread from textileness to bookishness
there was a vender market
maiwa stopped me, 
astonished, 
in my tracks.
that night i read A Quiet Manifesto
and was deeply moved 
thinking how i needed this 40 years ago
but i have it now.
as i work, teach, make more and more books
and paper,
and textiles,
i am finally thinking about what i'm doing.
so there's this: we have paths to walk
mine is what i want to do
what i am skilled at
but more, i want to touch, to enrich (maybe push a little bit) the life and work of others.
in a sense being fully present in my part of the cycle.
being a quiet sort
i teach.
i make books.
and i try to build a life that is whole.
i have several roles, don't we all?
but this 
t h i n g about f i b e r...
the thread that runs through it.
i have more to ponder
this quiet day
in a hotel
in seattle. 


*if you know bryan or jean you know they are powerhouses, and meeting is hardly the word. maybe experienced is more accurate.


snow

wednesday was a thinking day, a day to consider enormities and tiny things, a day to think of foundlings and their identifying textiles, of readying for whatever this storm gave us.
to consider the stories from friends (jean, wendy, aimee)
and to think.
as i was thinking and reading and doing little chores around the house the snow fell. and fell.
and continued until this morning. the drive down my driveway was thrilling.
and today the sun shone and the thermometer shot up.
respite.
 the critter was back
perhaps you can see how tenacious a hungry porcupine is. 
and how deep the snow.
she remembers running with total abandon through deep snow.
no more. 
an icicle for jude. i stayed well away, it was shedding from the barn roof.
i hope you are weathering your storms well.