Maiwa was a watershed for me.

leaving Ottawa and arriving 'two' hours later in

vancouver surprised me,

having three hours eaten by the time zones is a weird experience.

Linda (Washi Arts) picked me up and off we went to a seaside town closeby for lunch.

found a weird skipper along the way.

and then she took me to Granville Island,

location of two of the three Maiwa Vancouver spots.

notice the pedestrians...

my air b&b was minimal

which was all i needed

(there were snacks, including bananas!)

except the last night when the building's water got turned off...

and was a close walk to:

restaurants

Granville Island

the buses

which I learned to use!

and then wednesday morning arrived,

and so did I, early as usual.

above crows greeted and guided me

and inside there was treasure

some chemistry

and dyestuff

Elys, who drove me home several days, my table partner

and myself monitored our dyepots

first one: madder (yay yay yay)

we worked with simple math porportions to prep

then dye our samples.

things to remember

and we started another dyepot

and another

it was fantastic.

the repetition and wonder of it all

reinforced learning and remembering.

our final learning was indigo, three types of vats,

and then we did our own thing for a day.

all samples were placed

in an orderly fashion for us to

quietly and with concentration

take one from each.

two kinds of wool yarn here,

Sophena explaining how to arrange them for us to easily sort.

and cloth, protein and cellulose,

wool, silk, rayon, hemp, cotton, linen

and there was indigo

10 dips

and personal exploration projects.

in front is Charllotte and behind Sophena

mother and daughter who work beautifully together.

not their first rodeo.

the Maiwa staff was delightful and full of talent,

knowledge,

and were always always there for the students.

Linda picked me up after class and took me to see town and eat supper.

my wonderful hostess Linda Marshall

catching the pretties.

we foraged for supper

and it was delicious!

returning home on a red eye flight,

from 11:30 in Vancouver to 7ish in Montreal and

a 17 minute flight later to Ottawa,

and then a drive home,

a shower thankfully,

and a meal

and then back to school to teach my papermaking class just after noon...well,

i did it.

wednesday night i finally caught up on sleep-

12 hours, delicious!

sometimes it's difficult to write the words that will tell the tale.

i go on about the time traveling,

the inconvenience and embarrassment of no apartment water,

the fun of a restaurant that calls itself by what i so naturally do,

but i can hardly capture

the personality of 16 students that constitute a well orchestrated class,

the noted and much appreciated kindness and courtesy of Canada,

of Vancouver,

and the wealth of knowledge

freely shared for the love of the thing itself.

natural dye, fiber, good living, family.

how a community can thrive all exemplified

in a small business that serves

as well as inspires.

i have not mentioned all the folks who inspired me,

here are more:

Linda and Linda, Sachi, Tim, Liberty, the list continues

but here I'll stop.

and I will end with this:

when I am inspired to be a better

maker

artist

human

I know I've been place in the right place at the right time.

Thank you Maiwa.

the season has shifted,

ever so slightly, we've all been talking about it

as though it doesn't every damned year.

you can rely on it, morning cold toes

sniffly or more nose

ripening reds and purples continue with joy.

we gather

so do the deer

the raccoons

birds have avain business to attend,

flight plans logged,

wasps in the dropped fruit, look out!

and maybe a bear you might see

if you're very lucky.

me, i look for stanghorns in sumac

falling stars in the night sky

first leaves turning

succession of goldenrods.

reappearance of asters

and wild grapes

ticks will search, too.

it's a give and take and beware and bedazzled

all wrapped up into what we need for

winter.

maybe that's why i've been making these things:

flax paper drying on house rugs before tess the english setter arrived

for a weekend stay.

some of my blotter papers have become interesting

this is badger paper again,

a mix of everything but largely lokta and flax and words, many many words

a red ochre pigment to the pulp

my dashboard 'decor'

i went to a painting with soils workshop

and the selection was interesting,

all gathered on site except for the black and green

the binder we used:

elmer's glue.

the soils were sieved, but not quite enough for a good paint

the binder/carrier was less than desirable

but the soil scientists were great to talk with.

scientists and artists need to get together

they have so much to talk about.

black eyed susans last a long season here.

useful plants

make themselves known in contact prints

if you can talk them into it.

this is how i felt when i saw them!

indian pipe.

in my perennial border!

i haven't seen them here

ever.

ghost plants

that i once used to dye wool a lovely gray.

and another thing i've never seen here.

cherries.

across the road, on the edge, last evening

a branch with a large red berry and a few on the ground.

it looked, smelled, felt, and then tasted like a cherry!
NOT CHERRIES!!!!!
these are wild plums. they are tiny, and very plummy, with a stone that's got a ridge around it's long-side-circumference.
love facebook where the locals answer my questions!
and the taste--definitely more plummy than cherry.

i was astonished

this is most certainly not wild cherry country.

and now i have so many questions.

in the day to day news of my small living,

i'm preparing for my fall papermaking class with joy.

i will also travel to Maiwa in early september.

and then

another big thing

in february

CODEX

and i've been accepted.

i'll be there with the rock stars in the book arts world.

don't know how i feel about it all (except those fears)

familiar ghosts,

but i'm giving it a chance.

if anyone has any advice about it, i would love to hear from you!

golly, CODEX.

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