woody

and this morning as i was thinking

about the cold (-21) and the sun shone brilliantly

on the snow

there was a loud thunk.

i looked at the window as a large bird recovered and flew up.

must have hit the upstairs west window and fallen,

recovered,

and landed on the utility pole in the back yard.

it was stunned, not behaving as they usually do.

pileated woodpecker.

or

cock of the woods.

 immediately after the collision

on the dark side of the pole

 moved around to the sunny side

 got bearings and flew off.

 these birds are what woody woodpecker,

he of ancient cartoon fame, was.

 i don't remember a thing about that cartoon

besides his weird laugh

which is nothing like the call that named this one

cock of the woods.

another north country name.

and i have finished off two pounds of flax fiber

made into 8.5 x 11 sheets 

(some are with my papermaking partner melissa schulenburg)

 beautiful flax with the remnants of other paper pulp

(that thin white line)

indicating that the felts are dirty

but oh, these deckle edges!

 i made the last little post of about 20 little sheets at home in the kitchen.

i added some inclusionsincluding 

habu wrapping string (silk wrapped paper thread)

and mica or shell iridescence

which didn't photograph.

 it's always good to make paper.

even through the cold of winter.

it looks like i can see a few sparkles on this sheet.

this is NOT glitter, more like mica dust. 

but it's there.
there was also this,
the life of death video
happened to come along this morning.
coincidence
or
not.