i sometimes think i could study botany in order to understand plants better.
but i also know myself,
i'd be going off on tangents and would rebel against thorough scholarship.
i'd be going off on tangents and would rebel against thorough scholarship.
this is only to say that i'm not particularly interested in doing this,
not really,
really.
not really,
really.
but then i go outside and look around and know that i don't know the names,
let alone the personalities
and properties
of many of my neighborwood plants.
let alone the personalities
and properties
of many of my neighborwood plants.
i had a shepherd visiting for a long weekend,
and his 2 year old intensity, energy and ability to focus
and his 2 year old intensity, energy and ability to focus
were such a joy to be around.
frances knows how to pay attention.
frances knows how to pay attention.
especially to the snow in the new yard.
if i was still for a while
i found that he would do his best to keep me company.
intermittent sunshine and much rain
and now,
now these leaves are mostly down.
and now,
now these leaves are mostly down.
the fruit crops,
wild and domestic apples,
invasive and magical buckthorn,
raspberries, blackberries, crabapples, haws,
wild and domestic apples,
invasive and magical buckthorn,
raspberries, blackberries, crabapples, haws,
gray dogwood, wild grapes, staghorn sumac, and many others are everywhere.
oh, and paper wasps' summer home
fell out of the tree.
fell out of the tree.
i did try once to pulp this paper to make pulp,
but it was more like sludge.
but it was more like sludge.
milkweed constellations
my favorite paper plant (except all the others)
beautiful.
some late goldenrod, highbush cranberries (i think), yarrow,
all went into the contact print bundles
and the dye liquor.
and the dye liquor.
we've had only bits of sun and one sunny day all autumn.
it's locking up into winter now.
my neighbors have these for sale on friday and saturday
i'm told they're delicious.
sumac against the autumn sky
working in my kitchen to make prints involves
buckets of metals and the occasional appropriated weight.
buckets of metals and the occasional appropriated weight.
and a lot of vegetation spread out on a cloth.
my biggest round pot with some copper pipe
and apple twigs
and aluminum and steel.
and apple twigs
and aluminum and steel.
the fierce, diagonal autumn light
all around my fallingdownbarn
made of recycled barn
and giving way to age and weather
i have staghorn sumac moving onto my place
giving me lovely leaves and stems
but not yet one horn,
but i can find them
on the roadside,
instead.
did you vote yet? DO!
on the roadside,
instead.
did you vote yet? DO!
