bee creative

#57 garden tips

Don't plant hops if you want a tidy garden.

perhaps first we start with sky

I did not get as far as I wanted to...

I have several ideas regarding stars that I want to explore but only got as far as knitting a bit of sky today.

And this, I have this to share from Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane (I have just started reading the book so the only opinion I have is that it starts beautifully and it may be one I need to add to my collection so that I can absorb it slowly.):

"Considering the verb to consider, he reminds us that it comes from the latin con-siderare, and that carries a meaning of 'to study or see with the stars'.  Etymology illuminates- a mundane verb is suddenly starlit." 

The "he" that is being referred to is Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Which makes me want to reread Emerson. 

 

sun and moon, stars to follow

Originally I picked yellow yarn in honor of the sunshine this week.  Today it also seems in honor of the falling leaves and the dandelion. There is very little sun today.  I think there will be candlelight and soup tonight, in honor of warmth.  It dipped down to 39 F one night this week, that's my threshold for turning on the heat although I haven't yet. 

In honor of the moon there is this:

And the question, what if a moon had tentacles to propel itself across the sky?

If it was this world we would be unmoored. 

I am stitching white/clear/pearl type buttons around the edges. The colors are either the natural wool or plant dyed (but I don't remember with what...probably apple leaves for the silk and the brassy color onion skin and something else).  Hand spun yarn of wool and silk.  Crocheted.

And there is this:

Found at a thrift store about a week ago. 

Full copper moon.

Filled with rain water, a few walnuts, and a piece of fabric folded around an autumn leaf. 

Where stars might be born. 

 

the edge of autumn?

Autumn crocus:

 

Almost overnight it seems as if the season has changed.

For September 4th: 41 minutes between sunrise and the moment the sun came through the window = 41 rows.  

Thinking about illumination, energy, and how we always work on the edge or we choose our edges by where we work. 

Other field notes:

A quiet puff for the bee keepers quilt. 

The kinglet (a kinglet?) came back.  Also saw a towhee, a male hummingbird, the usual chickadees and identified the flock of bitty birds that come through on occasion as bushtits.

I am wondering if the diversity is increasing again because of the rain?

Tomatoes are coming along quickly now.  Also a few tomatillios. 

 

 

making do

The bee keeper's quilt continues, slower than I thought, but it is continuing. 

It's not a good project when there are distractions.

Every other row is either an increase or a decrease and I lose track of where I am.

I've returned to socks for knitting on the bus and during lunch breaks.

It's mindless knitting for me; so good for knitting with conversation.

And fall is coming.

Starting to harvest pears.

There will be 20 or so off my small tree.

Making do with the bottom of my tank top for a temporary basket. 

 

Sunday notes, chapter three: things you might make on a hot day

 

wool gathering

wool gathering... to gather bits of wool from bushes and hedges (one of my grandmothers has done this for me) or to day dream...

 

I am cutting apart an old wool comforter and reclaiming little squares of felted wool,

 

little bits of wool that I will use to stuff puffs for my bee keeper's quilt,

and squares of cotton to be dyed and/or stitched. 

Today I listened to an interview with Rebecca Solnit.  One of my favorite parts...

"And that start with rejecting the narratives we’re told, and telling our own stories, becoming the storyteller rather than the person who’s told what to do."

 

 

everyday, any day

Front garden.

Fingers crossed for a good cherry crop.

Logan berries are looking promising too. 

Record Breaker:  83 degrees F on Monday. 

A good evening for a salad.

Roasted asparagus (done the day before when it was cooler!) reheated with blue cheese and hazelnuts and lettuce.

Thunder showers, rain showers, drippy drippy wet now. 

Normal April weather in the Pacific Northwest. 

 

Experimenting with dress making by combining favorite tank top pattern plus favorite skirt pattern. I'm going to hem this one at mid thigh level to wear with jeans or skirts. 

I've traced my favorite patterns on to poster board.  Not my idea, can't remember where I saw it done.  It's wonderful for patterns that are wardrobe staples. 

 

Back garden. 

Harvesting lettuce, sorrel and herbs. 

And bindweed, buttercups and other assorted "weeds."

Lots of strawberry blossoms.

Still mostly seeing only bumblebees and yellow jackets or wasps. 

Bee keeper's quilt is growing slowly, but it is growing. 

It's a beautiful way to use up yarn leftover from other projects. 

Foxglove for the bees and hummingbirds. 

Debating whether to hang a hummingbird feeder or to continue to hope the flowers attract a few. 

And

words that I love,

found this week at ArtPropelled:

"There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say It is more difficult than you thought.  This is the muse of form.  It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to battle us and deflect our intended course.  It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.  The mind that is not baffled is not employed.  The impeded stream is the one that sings." 

Wendel Berry

 

 

 

life cycles

I couldn't resist the pairing.

After coming to the conclusion that 5 hexagons per week was a reasonable goal, I've only managed to make this one over the last couple weeks.  Some days just getting a row or two in. 

Reminding myself that my word for the year is "release" and that I can just start again. 

P.S.  This interview with David Whyte is beautiful.

 

It's a season marker for me every year, the first day that the Lady Banks rose blooms. 

Most of my time at home this week has been spent in the garden.

Pulling weeds, prepping beds for veggies, herbs, a few flowers.

When I need a break there is:

Knitting

Reading. 

This one (Tender by Nigel Slater)is going on the wish list. 

And yummy things to eat (Sprouting broccoli).