the kids

these two are not the kids,

they are friends

(this irresistible photo appeared on facebook)

jeff and isis.

(last year when she was 89)

these folks are my neighborhood,

sadly neglected by me of late.

so is this my neighborhood,

time to make hay

if the weather holds.

(it's not) 

 and this mysterious new addition,

plunked neatly into a field.

i can only imagine...

 the newest neighborhood

down the road 15 miles or so,

my new place 
on an old farmstead

 had one foundation now buried

and bits of stone wall.

 (lots of deer flies)

 jean has written about love of tools--
 i find deep pleasure in making tools--

this is the big stump loom

with a whitetail deer

bone folder

doing double duty as a weaving stick

 weaver's sword
holding the shed
a placekeeper.

 just for fun

and utility.

weaving shifu pages

continues

as i wind down my final teaching year.

/one more class day/

/three days of exams for one student/

/a few more days after that/

/to put my room to rest/

this class is all done.
my class will disappear and not be replaced.
i find this to be surprisingly sad
for my students
who must find other placements.
i have had two retirement celebrations,
one with a pretty cake,
one with a cheesy certificate. 
i'm ready
and i will miss you know who you are,
i won't miss
what is happening now in public education.

and on the fifth day, they "rested"

yesterday we went on excursions, including visiting katie mac gregor's mill and petroglyphs and bangor and jasper beach and, unfortunately, not a whale watch, which was cancelled because of fog. the petroglyphs are easily missed, they are very subtle. we listened to a native guide, whose name i have forgotten because i didn't write it down, talk about this place. it seems the people also believe the pool next to the rock shelf is a birthing pool, but quite honestly, the water is maine shore cold, so i find that hard to imagine. but perhaps.

katie showed her spotless mill where she can replicate old papers using meticulous formulae which use mostly aquaeous dispersed pigments and cotton. katie is not on the web, you have to call her and request a sample of her conservation papers, or to discuss a project. 

this mould has an adhesive watermark, created for a Hand Papermaking portfolio.

and this is the finished sheet. katie had prepared a stack of 4 inch square samples for us, her visitors. katie's husband alan furth is involved with an alternative high school educational program, cobscook community learning center, which i only just barely got to talk with him about. the program looks amazing, and the facility which we visited quite fine. there were some huge red raspberries eaten!

jesse meyer and his father carl visited, and in the evening jesse demonstrated parchment making. jesse owns pergamena, which sells lovely parchment and leathers. jesse said his family has been involved in tanning for almost 500 years.

we watched him stretch a goat hide and then scrape it down with a round knife that reminded me of an ulu.


my carful of frank, emily, tom, bob, and me, spent a little time shopping in machias at hardware and junk stores, and each came away with a treasure or two. frank is searching for a good lobster roll, but opted to wait a little longer. no links right now, maybe later...but today we start a more intensive class, four full days with one teacher...and mine is melissa jay craig!