being here

what a day.

this morning i posted on the facebook shifu group page 

a notice about this

and within a little while i had eight new orders

plus one not yet verified.

holy cow.

anyway, susan byrd*

who moderates over there

said of course you should post about it. 

i went to the post office after the rains.

 (there were major downpours)

but not until after i got in a good walk.

 hence all the morning photos.

 i'm fascinated by the structures farmers build.

 even this one looks good

with round bales in the sunshine

 staghorn sumac is *almost*

 and here is the stag

 so curious that i'm out 

walking 

at 6 am

see his "horns"? 

 and now he's off.

 i've been gathering up the done blossoms

into the freezer they go

for fall printing.

 the button box

please, if you have a button related story

go over to this site and think about yours

and submit! 

this is perfect for the stitchers amongst us.
and who hasn't a button story?

  last night

for something different

i peeled up some slippery elm bark

and twined a yard or two

 which made my hands very happy

 i've been thinking about 
and
trying to process bark in different ways.

i prepped up a half dozen more

Poor (Wo)man's Asparagus.

 and this:

this is a new road into the woods.

as the crow flies it's about 1/2 mile away, 2 miles by road.

i tried to buy this property several years ago.
a new family purchased an old dairy farm and wanted to sell a bit of it.

i walked the land and loved the high rocky ridges.

but went to the owner with questions:

is that dump yours? what will be done with it?

for there was a dump on the land,

plastic toys and garbage and JUNK.

he was annoyed by the question.

and suddenly he could no longer quote me a price for the land.

the next year he sold that portion

and a hideous trophy house was built,

and then another,

and now, another road into the woods.

we would have been good neighbors, 

instead, mr. organic back to the land farmer,

has mc mansions for neighbors.

serves him right.
and i know about his dump.
so do you.
ha! 

* author of A Song of Praise For Shifu

transitions

 transitional times like march and november

move me 

i must go outside

(hence my absence from the ethers)

and i have been making lots of ecoprints

  i did get out on my land

several times

and found a stack of rock books

this rock i've not seen in years

in fact, having lived on this piece of north country

for 26 years,

 much has changed,

is changing

the stream has become a series

of ponds

six now, i think

as beaver rearrange the land to their suiting

 i walked across several dams

 became dazzled by the late afternoon

brilliant sunlight

 saw myself reflected on ice

 and walked gingerly around such trees

 there were other dam visitors

before me.

 while there i heard some birds, chickadees mostly,

beginning to think about spring

 i've ridden my horses, skied, and walked,

sometimes hauling out a child or a load of stuff

up this hill from the woods

this is the back of my pasture

and there i am with a bag of plant bits

 i often come out here and just 

stretch out on a rock

or examine the plants

or watch a woodchuck hole, a rabbit run, a deer trail.

it's really growing up to brush now

without grazing animals on it

there are still

milkweed blessings 

all over this place.

at work the men were talking of milkweed

how toxic it is, blah, blah, blah,

and i told them i'd eaten it.

poor (wo)man's asparagus.

mouths fell open,

astonished.

(i grinned)