milkweed is blossoming in some places here at home,
this one hasn't quite, yet.
in the pacific northwest
i travelled from Victoria BC to Seattle and then Tacoma.
part of that trip was by a big ferry.
and once in seattle I had a wee time out,
in a lovely hotel that took very good care of me for two nights.
i found this place,
where I was served a chocolate by a well-dressed staffer,
on a tiny paper server thingie.
then Kate took me home
where i spent time sleeping in a lovely quiet house in a beautiful garden.
what could be better than
hanging out with good people, a poet and a conservator, both printers,
in their beautiful home?
one evening, between workshop days,
we had a little supper party
with Joan and Margaret visiting.
joan is larger than life wonderful
and margaret, a name i'd heard for years...
they were both my students,
but more,
margaret brought her shifu
which she modeled
| and then put this coat on me. i wore indigo shifu. it was warm and perfect  |
| and this bundle of cloths shifu all i held in my arms and didn't want to return. it was a precious gift to hold Mrs Sakurai's work for a while.  Margaret's beautiful hands and the bundle |
it was a blessing
and margaret herself...she's a horse girl!
i thought i'd gotten my horse late in life
my 30's, but margaret, she was in her 70's!
and then the final day.
happy kami-ito spinning
student work
Hazel and Gabby
both were once mere phantoms of the ethers,
now real and beautiful
and hugely imaginative and hard working.
some brought nifty lights to help out
patricia grass,
another famous name came with her shifu covered book of tea
and Linda came with washi...
and then there was
kami-ito knit
(this precious gift is now in my teaching collection)
and knit recycled cashmere
prep
a little indigo ink stick work
joan, the amazing
indigo ink on mitsumata
gabby
shifu dancing
a good how to present your work!
and then i went to tacoma and stayed with Lucia
saw Catherine and ate her good soup,
talked to the PSBA
and had several meals in the presence of this great one.
there is good to look at art in the airports
where i spent a lot of time on wednesday
after lucia dropped me off.
i headed home finally at 11:30 on the red-eye
arrived in ottawa 7-ish.
drove home, and relaxed.
i didn't take many pictures really,
none of the papermaking at Debbie's home
with Lucia and two very friendly cute pups.
and to all of you, my old and new friends and my one-time students,
a HUGE thank you.
really.
i felt so welcomed so treasured even.
i still feel surrounded by caring.
today, pre-op, thursday, ovarectomy.
recovery then, maybe, some papermaking!
