quiet? thinking

KA BOOM!!!

pop pop thud.

a woman said to me: happy fourth of july.

i said, i've never heard that before!

it's my quiet day.

KA BOOM!

what irony, 
yet this is how it is today.

i have time to ponder.

i taught in beautiful victoria, bc,

meanwhile meeting* both jean and bryan

north country shifu for three days

a quick paper manipulation half day

and a one day textile/paper/book class

and boarded a ferry

sailed down the ocean trail to seattle

one woman (forgive me for forgetting names)

made this beauty.

 another (famous) woman stretched her skills

 and this class wanted more and more, 

so i took apart my journal

and traced the cover 

and they all learned to tread from textileness to bookishness

there was a vender market

maiwa stopped me, 

astonished, 

in my tracks.

that night i read A Quiet Manifesto

and was deeply moved 

thinking how i needed this 40 years ago

but i have it now.

as i work, teach, make more and more books

and paper,

and textiles,

i am finally thinking about what i'm doing.

so there's this: we have paths to walk

mine is what i want to do

what i am skilled at

but more, i want to touch, to enrich (maybe push a little bit) the life and work of others.

in a sense being fully present in my part of the cycle.

being a quiet sort

i teach.

i make books.

and i try to build a life that is whole.

i have several roles, don't we all?

but this 

t h i n g about f i b e r...

the thread that runs through it.

i have more to ponder

this quiet day

in a hotel

in seattle. 

*if you know bryan or jean you know they are powerhouses, and meeting is hardly the word. maybe experienced is more accurate.

snow

wednesday was a thinking day, a day to consider enormities and tiny things, a day to think of foundlings and their identifying textiles, of readying for whatever this storm gave us.

to consider the stories from friends (jean, wendy, aimee)

and to think.

as i was thinking and reading and doing little chores around the house the snow fell. and fell.

and continued until this morning. the drive down my driveway was thrilling.

and today the sun shone and the thermometer shot up.

respite.

 the critter was back

perhaps you can see how tenacious a hungry porcupine is. 

and how deep the snow.

she remembers running with total abandon through deep snow.

no more. 

an icicle for jude. i stayed well away, it was shedding from the barn roof.

i hope you are weathering your storms well.