bee creative

#96 more lines and dots

I meant to share this yesterday with the other lines:

Always magical.

I am thinking about a rainbow of ink lines but I haven't gotten there yet.

Today there was time for a few dots and a little figure.

#76 beautiful day

Sunrise was clear with just a dash of pink.  A day spent in the garden; moving plants around, watching geese fly over (some swans too I think), and planting seeds.

And at the end of the day, dinner with a friend. 

A beautiful sunset.

Today's marks:

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain.

Time to get serious about cleaning house.

just beginning

Sunrise one day this week:

Layers of light.

Sorting I stacked a paper star on top of a painting I had done.

Hmm...

So here it is another version (three layers, one filter).

Another way to be.

I've shared this before but for those who wonder, the text is:

Crepuscular midnight stands at the road,

Where the stars have spilled from its purse.

You cannot go over the road past the fence

Without trampling the universe. 

"Steppe," by Boris Pasternak

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, I listened to a conversation with Katy Payne (On Being).  The discussion was about listening to whales and elephants.  

As I lay in the dark listening, I imagined there were whales singing deep in the ocean, right then at that very moment.  Elephants rumbling at a pitch just below what humans can hear.  

Something to think about in the middle of the night when it is dark and quiet.

Speaking of whales singing, Payne says:

"And so what that has done for me is to make me feel that what lies ahead to be discovered is absolutely limitless. We are not at the pinnacle of human knowledge. We are just beginning."

 

 

nourish

Reflecting back on the week...it was just what I needed.  Time to play, to reflect and be with family. 

Enchiladas made with leftover turkey, mashed potatoes and tomatillo (some from the farmer's market, some from my garden) salsa.

Food is one way we nourish ourselves, but not the only way.

I had a little accident with the turmeric ink...I am going to look at this as an opportunity.

Gibson sees opportunities too.

 

vacation, staycation!

So much I want to do...

On the way home I stopped to sit on the beach and pick up a few rocks to try making pigment with. 

To take some deep breathes.

I may stitch "breathe" on the hem of all my shirts. 

I also picked up a few pieces of seaweed that caught my eye and a few shells.  There were some high winds this week, things seemed a little more diverse on the beach. 

It's been really cold, hard frosts most mornings.

Next week it is supposed to warm up and rain so tomorrow will be a good day for the outside projects...maybe some cyanotypes?

Also gathering wreath materials.

Definitely going to see if I can find some rocks that I can make pigment with from the garden, maybe gather some more soil. 

I am planning on posting every day...just a little accountability.

look up, look out

Last week a small flock of swans flew over while I was outside.

Last night it was a flock of geese.

I never was able to see them but I could certainly hear them. 

I didn't get to the fermenting indigo today so it will have to wait a while longer.  I did harvest the last handful of what was growing and stuck it in a bucket of water. 

While walking through the garden checking for what needed to be done before we dip below freezing I found one last dahlia blossom. 

There is a 50 to 60% chance of snow tomorrow morning.

That will be it's own kind of adventure, it's own kind of beauty.

garden connections

Yesterday I picked my first fig.

This is the third or fourth fig tree I've planted, the first to make it through a cold winter and then fruit... Just two figs this year but now I have hope. The right tree, in the right space.

And then there is this:

The shoulder seams and about 12 inches are stitched.  Just enough to know I will be happy with the fit.  I am not sure if I am going to leave it at this length (about knee level) or add fabric along the bottom to make it longer. I am going to start adding some applique over the top of the worst of the holes.  There will be time to decide and time to play with over dyeing some of the yellow. 

I do want some of this yellow to remain, it is such a sweet color.  Color from the garden.

While reading Grace's blog post this morning, where she shares her local  Master Gardener's demonstration Garden, I started thinking about my garden and what it provides.  Here... two examples, food and color.  Today I am hoping to make salve with rose petals from the garden; and so another use. 

And this...listening this morning to Ross Gay, On Being:

"For one, it’s just fun to be in a garden, for me, dreaming about what could happen: that kind of mystical space, actually, of trying to figure out what this thing that I do here could be in five years, that kind of strange dreaming space that it is.

There’s also something really moving about putting a seed in the ground and it turning into something really different, and a lot of something really different and, potentially, on and on and on, a lot of something very different."

I went to check out the garden he talks about in the interview, the Bloomington Community Orchard.

Community gardens, people coming together to create shared spaces...there is hope. 

Thinking about this today.

 

 

 

 

time spent

Yesterday I went to the beach for a couple hours, early while it was quiet.

Mostly people launching kayaks and paddle boards.  One very beautiful rowboat went by...

  The water was incredibly still and the sky immense. 

field notes

The chicory is blooming in the alley. The flowers open in the sunlight and close when it becomes dark.

A couple days ago I saw an usual butterfly, too fast to identify it as anything other than "not a swallowtail." I saw it again...Mourning Cloak.  I hope I see it again.

My two figs are still looking good.  I also discovered a few more prunes on the other tree (I have 3 total), way up high above the blackberries...

field notes: a fine spring day

The headline for the local newspaper announced this morning that today would most likely be the first day that we will be over 70 degrees in this area. 

It has been one of the coldest springs on record here, and wet.

Still the roses are starting to bloom and my garden is a jungle; a tangle of things I've planted, things that someone probably planted at sometime and have naturalized (dame's rocket) and plants classified as "weeds."

Yesterday, while out pulling bindweed (my biggest challenge), I found a friend.
 

I think there is a nest somewhere in the garden.

I am sure that my rhubarb is as large as a plant can get.  Jam was made this weekend and there will be more to come...