snow

it's snowing steady and hard today.

yesterday i had one of those days.

it could have been really really bad.

but it wasn't.

i subbed in my old school.

on the way my car made a big stink-burning rubberish.

but i had to get there.

let me report that this class of sixth graders was pretty challenging

and not at all fun.

after school the car still smelled bad.

i stopped at zone 4 to pick up the milkweed papers.

 the photo above is 'enhanced', below is not.

the sheets are WILD, WILD.

 i hand beat the fiber

the first time in too many years

 and you can see it's way underbeaten,

 but oh, it's beautiful!

after, i went to 'my' mechanic's shop

and the verdict was: a frozen brake caliper.

a woman was there picking up her car.

she turned to me, 

and it was marilyn,

one of my riding coaches from my 30's.

i hugged her probably too hard. 

it was terrific to see her. 

and she drove me the five miles home.

(i was so very happy and still am!)

where i sit, without a car, for the duration.

 my porch, just now

i will be teaching at nancy zeller's beautiful  longrigde farm 

next august,

papermaking!!!

please go over to the website and take a look. 

this year sandra brownlee and i are teaching,

(not simultaneously)

we will make clouds of pulp and 

other delights. 

if you haven't been to longridge, 

and you are considering a summer workshop,

you are in for a treat.

do join us!

humans persist

 roxanne was a high energy

positive

inquisitive

and experimental 

table mate. she worked in hot pink

to push herself.

 dorothy considering our

"blind" stitching

 out my window

at the place i was staying

appaloosa sky

 considering kantha

 batik discharge

 kami-ito

spun by therese

brought for me to see

 her sweet spindle

 something holy

 something old

 something borrowed and blue

 betsy's marks are formed

of fire and light

 graphic delight

 workshop hands

made things with string

dorothy made string

to document place

 and i kept sky watching

while filling up my car, 

for example

 patterning under my feet.

 a simple 

little structure

suitable for kids and smaller sampling

sorts of books,

textile sensibility/

some of our small books

with that nifty easy binding

betsy's little book

on a spiraled pie basket

that held betsy's wool,

beautiful!

so, this kind of class makes you think and try things unlike

the same old same old

but the women students were grand in this group.

hearts of diamonds and rust,

caring

meeting and knowing one another,

in 5 days you can dig

a bit deeper, 

in your own work and support each other.

we all wanted to keep going.

we will,

just not at longridge farm

or with dorothy caldwell,

both of whom we will miss most dreadfully.

i am making marks with a certain 

kind 

of

difference, now.