Christmas Eve

Wishing you all a very happy season of however you will be celebrating, perhaps quietly, perhaps not quietly!  For myself, I'll be visiting my friends at their farm.  We're going to eat, play contract rummy, watch over the animals and all spend time together.  There will be some Swedish dishes and I have made a bison meatloaf to take!

To celebrate the season, I made some biscornu pincushions from tutorials on Eva's blog, Colourful Research and Els blog, Fiberrainbow.Thank you, Eva and Els.

That's all for now...blessings and bounty to you all!

Moony moon

Hello Everyone,

Because of Jude's posting about the video on Glennis' website, I decided to make an adventure of seeing the lunar eclipse this morning.  I set 2 alarms, but could hardly sleep for fear I'd miss the show.  At about 3 a.m. the full moon was high and bright in the sky, but clouds were hovering.  This is the first photo I took at 5:06 a.m...

Here is the second, at 5:51:

This is the last I was able to take, at 5:53:

I wish I could show you how it looked suspended in the sky, glowing as if lit from within, but my camera couldn't pick up the soft light.  I was down at the dogpark, where many had gathered for viewing.  One couple had a special viewer set up for a close up look.  Oh what a magical sight...our moon, waiting out earth's shadow.   Shortly after 6:30, it became impossible to see any more of the display because of the haze, so I visited the water birds who were getting ready for their day:

Yesterday, I picked one of the last persimmons (sigh) with the picker:

and finished up the felted "Oystercatchers having a discussion about their relationship", to prepare for Open Studios this weekend!

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That's all for now.  Have a weekend to remember fondly, hopefully...

Caught in the act

Gifts for the squirrels, raccoons and birds!  I intend to use the picker for the persimmons that are too high to reach but alas, often I am otherwise engaged and not quick enough.  I think he noticed me even though I was on the other side of the room and behind the window.  Hard to tell.

I cannot bear to sweep up the fallen persimmon leaves until they are truly faded.  Here is the front porch scene.  That odd looking upright thing is the inside of a water heater, a heat exchanger, I believe.  They come in many different shapes:

Water in the spillway:

Lacy lichen pattern:

Those last 2 photos are in honor of the early morning low fog we've had for the last few mornings, because they represent the color of the world as I step out the front door.


Lately I've been a little obsessed with the here and now and so here is an X to mark the spot.  This spot, right here, where we all are.

Love to you all and thank you for stopping by...

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Map of reality

Hello everyone.  I love the sort of map one finds in confusing places, which informs:

This is a good reminder, I think, because where else would one be?  However, sometimes it's quite difficult to tell, so I made this.  The edge I dyed with tea!  I've been following lots of dyeing experiments in wonderful blogland, but this is all the farther I've gotten with it.  However, a little collection of onion skins and crocosmia blossoms is sitting on the counter, waiting for more courage on my part.

The persimmons are ripening!  I picked some after the rain last night:

In admiration of that, I made this:

Here is one of my favorite places nearby...Horse Hill...the people in town took up a collection to save the land from developers so horses could Occupy.

And here is something I made in admiration of that!

So that's it for now.  I mean to be posting oftener, and hopefully will soon be able to.  Meanwhile, let's just keep occupying now, the best of now, whenever possible.

Other than human...

Hello dear readers,

I mentioned a while ago that I had trained the spiders on the path leading to my car, to not attach themselves to my car.  Well, as in all training situations, there are slip-ups and the other day I found one of them (I think it was Hazel), in my car with me.  Yikes!  Well, to make a long story short, she was rapidly relocated in a town about 10 miles away.  Then I discovered a new sort of spider in the Magnolia tree...she seems to be smiling:

That was all well and good, but this morning one of her family members and I had a too close encounter as I came out the front door, so the training exercises will have to begin again.  Perhaps some pruning of the persimmon tree...my neighbors across the street have some big hairy artificial spiders on their porch as Halloween decorations.  I am learning more and more about the real thing.

In other animal news, last weekend I went out to visit my friends at the farm and we stopped by the Watusi's pasture, as we did last year at this time (except alas, dear Agnes is no longer with us)...this time he (she?) was cuddled up to a long-horned friend.  I wish I'd made a video, but here's at least a photo.  It's a wonder they don't poke each other's eyes out:

 
In the work department, I've been fiddling with my blog-header (see above) and updating the shop a bit.  It's all an on-going process.  I hope things are going well for you...that's all for now...

La luna

Well then...here is our October moon, going round and round us as we go round and round the sun...it never ceases to amaze me:

Last weekend I went to a conference in the Sierras, at Squaw Valley, where the 1960 Olympics were held...already a sprinkling of snow, but no skiers.  That fresh mountain air really clears the brain...

On my trip to the coast, I was enchanted by this heron, who had just nabbed a fish, and was waiting in the fog for another...

And this is a bit of last week's work.  I decided to call it "Feeling the Pinch" in honor of our economic times.

That's all for now everyone...enjoy the moon times...

Change and hope

Hello everyone...I'm up on the northern coast for my 5th annual work retreat with my friends, but this is our last day, sigh...

Some highlights:
The week before I arrived was very emotional...a memorial of an old dear friend; dawning of awareness of changes that have occurred over the last 20 years. 

Someone shed an old skin:

I made a little movie of Overwhelm>Hope.  Be sure to stay until the end (47 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SlXdfR9OI

 Here are some grasses for Grace

I'm not sure who lives here:

But here are the cormorants perched for the night:

Seals, basking in the fog:

Oyster catcher (red beak, PINK legs) and whimbrel:

And finally, a hand-pieced (thanks to Jude for how-to) pillow cover for a new baby:

That's all for now...happy autumn to all...xoxo, S.

Spider Time

Hello everyone...it's the season for big spiders in my garden.  This year I've made an effort to train them not to attach the "guide lines" to my car, so we can live in harmony and I won't be ruining their intricate weavings when I get into the car.  I study the web, speak to its maker and gently remove the guide line so it can attach to the persimmon tree...this disrupts the positioning of the web, but doesn't spoil the weaving.  I had to do this several mornings before they got the idea, but for the past several mornings, the webs have not been attached to the car.  This is Hazel:

There are 2 webs here...they're woven at angles to one another, so that if a creature flies between them, it will very likely get caught...I don't know if the same spider built both of them...I've seen them compete over territory...I hope you can see both webs...one is in the front, the other is in the upper left corner, and has an occupant (Ginny).

Next up is a felted trout, reminiscing about my Idaho trip:

A moose:

and a work horse:

Fall is right around the corner, but it so many ways it's already here.  That's all for now...

Back from fishing

Hello everyone.  I've been acclimating to being home after a lovely family fishing trip in Idaho.  I didn't do any fishing myself, but we floated down the Teton River.  For preparation I took a class in fly-tying and here is the result (a grey nymph and a wooly bugger):

Just four of us went on this floating trip, which took about 5 hours.  Uncle Paddy, our host and guide, my son, grandson and me like Cleopatra (well, maybe not quite) in the stern of the boat.  We learned so much about river life...the beautiful fish and the vast variety of insects in different stages of development. This is the Teton River:

We saw a mama moose and her baby.  This is the mama:

Here's a caught fish.  Three fish were captured and they all went back in the river to rejoice with their friends.  We encountered a special reverence toward fish.

I hope you can see the big fish here, in another river, waiting for food from onlookers, who aren't allowed to catch them.  It's a special protected spot.

This is from one of the many antler arches in Jackson, Wyo:

There are lots and lots of elk and deer.  Each year their antlers fall off.


Here's a view of the Tetons, taken after riding a chair lift.  Heights make me nervous, but I actually enjoyed this ride...very quiet, not too far off the ground...a chance to be in the treetops and then some...

This is one of the Mesa Falls...so much fine spray and mossy response:

Whilst lolling about, I made some progress on my grandson's quilt!  Nine-patches and some ancestors.  Not a final arrangement, but just trying to take a look at it so far.

And here's what I did yesterday, in the sunshine of my back yard...beginning 4 new felting projects...hmm, lots of possibilities...

Summer's winding down...back to the happy grindstone.  That's all for now! 

August Celebrations

Hello everyone... it's not even quite the middle of August and the days seem so much shorter, the light hinting at autumn.  When I was little, a very long time ago, the summer was full of birthdays, and it still is so, even if some of the dear ones I celebrate have moved on into the zone of mysteries.  Lately my love of geometry has been reviving so I made this caprese salad, using a tiny heart cookie cutter to shape the mozzarella!

Since my family has been visiting, I cleaned up my car...this is the still life I composed for the dashboard...it's a celebration of my trip to Mt. Lassen (pine needles, piece of bark and some dancing lichen) and the jacaranda blossoms that fall into one of my favorite parking spots. I like having this in front of me especially in times of annoying traffic.

Here is a frog I made in celebration of my Auntie's 90th birthday!  She likes frogs.  I won't be going to the event itself because my family has a fishing trip lined up.

Lastly, here is the geometric assortment that assembled in the sink after my birthday celebration!  I am now 67!  Sorry not be giving a view of the pie and the cake, but I was too busy eating and being merry.  I was not allowed to do the dishes...only take the picture...

That's all for now...