she's been visiting regularly

but i don't see her often,

just her tracks.

i made two homes for special pebbles.

the australian ones came from the southern oceanside

at cape otway.

the acadian ones came from mt desert island, maine.

i couldn't get them all in focus, but it didn't matter.

the last three contact prints

with the left over flora from this fall.

i had saved it
and it was mostly all dried out-

some freeze-dried plants shared their
beauty

the colors were strong, lots of green, too.

what a surprise.

i practice bindings
on leftover scraps of paper
sometimes.

you can see tension was an issue here.

over at zone 4

milkweed pulp.

i made three different milkweed papers,

from here, field retted and colorful and wild

milkweed from berea

gathered by gin petty and dried for some time

lovely tidy paper

sheet formation a bit better

and butterfly weed

also from gin.
all three were handbeaten, the best was the butterfly weed.
either i was more patient
or got tougher
but my shoulders and neck are still complaining.

using the gift of the zone 4 studio

i've been happy working

with different moulds,

formation aid that was already prepped,

and all i have to do is haul stuff around.

i've gotten to know which moulds over there i like

and which ones are beguiling

and rather strange for my work.

aimee reminded me of placing thread between two wet sheets

so i did some with kami-ito

long ago i used linen for this purpose,

and in fact my very first hard bound book

was made with this paper

my teacher was the amazing sally smith.

this is the corner i like to make sheets in

there's a drain directly under the mat i stand upon.

and felts.
i've washed and/or brushed all of the felts now.

drying out moulds

my own and zone 4's

there's even a manifesto of sorts:

ZONE 4

Let's make paper!

and books!

and silkscreens

and adinkra prints

and journal binding

i've been using some of the larger

offcuts from caliban press

for funky sewing.

making paper with the smaller ones.

drying blotters

on christmas eve

listening to the festival of nine lessons and carols

from king's college in cambridge

live,
a tradition i adore.

i cleaned and tidied and readied myself

for christmas.

christmas morning breakfast

pancakes and strawberries leftover from that summer wedding.

(and maple syrup and butter)

we'd agreed to have a quiet christmas,

purchased new tubbs snowshoes for ourselves.

but then this little machine appeared.

and it works just fine!
astonished me
i love it.

we went for a drive in the 27 degree sunshine before lunch

and i found the first paper-related "official" sign i'd ever seen!

that huge mission oak table will move through the doors

into my studio soon

where i will set up the dry studio.

a chilly and frozen and slippery walk ended
coming home with the dogs
through meadow

and the long shadows

you can see the new place,

bridge to the side door.

home, where soon with luck,

i will be full-time.

all of the kids are away this year.

my son ian has a crowd funding effort here

to help him over a big hump.

to you
my dear readers,
friends, and sometimes even students,
happy holy days

see you on the other side.