I've finished reading A Sideways Look at Clouds and have started reading Horizon by Barry Lopez.
As it seems to happen...I find connections.
This week's On Being Newsletter features an interview with Craig Minowa and Cloud Cult which led me down a rabbit hole of listening.
In the interview there is a discussion about hope, and then later as I read Horizon I find:
"We, all of us, look back over our lives, trying to make sense of what happened, to see what enduring threads might be there. My further desire in planning this book was to create a narrative that would engage a reader intent on discovering a trajectory in her or his own life, a coherent and meaningful story, at a time in our cultural and biological history when it has become an attractive option to lose faith in the meaning of our lives. At a time when many see little more on the horizon but the suggestion of a dark future."
Thinking about time this morning.
And hope.
Also... a link for the cloud watchers, this is a nice one for identifying the scientific names of clouds. This morning I would say I have Stratus clouds...a gray blanket of low clouds (pure coincidence I am sure).
The forecast is for sunny skies although I wish it would rain just a bit more and water the garden.
Both mark making and posting tonight...which means the center isn't dry.
The petals were made with a lake pigment used as a water color, made from onion skin. The center is rose hip ink.
Later on I want to compare the lake pigment and the ink made from onion skins side by side.
But not tonight.
I don't have the words quite yet but there is something about working with the pigments that is a conversation.
Between me and the pigment, between me and whoever might look. About how it might be altered digitally as well. I am not sure I would call it art, but I would call it story telling. Maybe because it is a word that is more comfortable.
It's about local, or location since not all the materials I am working with are local. (I would like it to be as local as possible.)
And about transformation and change, which is inevitable...mine and the materials. How amazing is it that plant can become paint or ink? That soil and rocks can be as well? How am I being changed as I learn what can be created? How it might flow or not flow?
About what might be possible and curiosity. Like many I am not sure about the word "sustainable" anymore, but how can we be more respectful?
And...thinking about languages we grow up with, the languages we learn to speak, the ones that we struggle with, the ones we might learn in the future?
Instead of making a to-do list and in addition to the ta-da list, I made a web of my favorite things. I tried not to overthink it and stopped when it felt right.
I realized as I webbed that my favorite things aren't the same as what I value.
It was interesting when I found patterns.
I wouldn't even try to prioritize these things.
Making, color, local:
Color, garden, connection:
The pigment that I ground last night...brick from the alley.
Garden soil...I can't say how much I love this.
Another kind of field note.
Reading, thinking, writing:
It started with the newsletter for Poetry Unbound. I went to read an essay by Matthew Bevis, "Unknowing Lyric." Which led to a short podcast on Poetry Magazine (10 minutes) with the author about the essay. One of the topics discussed is the importance of not knowing, to leave space for wonder.
That podcast led to another with Ross Gay, Nikky Finney and Adrian Matejka. There was a discussion about time and artifacts. Artifacts, thinking about that...
And then when I was done listening and making I went back to reading Ways of Being and found:
"Time has always been an imaginary concept, and it matters who imagines it."
I always find it fascinating how it can be that when something is being considered (Jude), it just seems to keep coming up.
And now, where next...?
Hard to believe it's almost the end of October considering what is still available at the farmer's market. Underneath the top layer are green to greenish tomatoes. I bought a small box of "seconds" to make chutney. Also tomatillos to round out what I have to make salsa and a few quince to add to what I have to make quince paste or maybe something else, that's for tomorrow.
Lunch made with veggies bought today.
Spinach, peppers, onions, panner (I love it!), buttermilk, spices, hazelnuts.
I set aside some of the spinach, peppers, and onions before adding the other ingredients for...
Pizza!
So good to have time to cook.
Finished the skirt I've been working on and wore it to work. Just a couple more days of sunshine (and smoke) and then it will be raining again.
It's time...
This morning I was ready to go to the Farmer's market and decided I just didn't want to go...so I didn't.
So there was a nap.
Some digital collage.
Sewing.
House cleaning.
Lunch.
Maybe a little too much olive oil from frying the panner and almonds in this but it was good.
Squash + water + panner + almonds + onions + paprika type spice mix + olive oil.
A little puttering in the garden once the air quality improved. It's been in the moderate to unhealthy categories today.
And a lot of distraction provided by the cats...
Lunch wasn't cooked enough (the sweet potatoes mostly) and then I burnt the rest of it.
Something went awry with the no-bake cookies and they didn't set up right.
The cookies are salvageable, the vegetable stew not so much.
Maybe it's time for another nap... and to mend that hole in the blanket.
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.
I've been waking up around 2 or 3 AM the last few days.
The moon is beautiful on the SW horizon.
Full moon, super moon, Buck moon, Hay Moon, Thunder Moon, Earth's moon.
Thinking about gravitational pull and tides.
About locks (padlocks, boat locks).
The roses are blooming.
The bees are busy.
A guest in the garden.
I leave as much of the Dame's Rocket in the garden as I can for them.
A little doodle and a question.
What if instead of answering the question "What do you want to be when you grow up" with a career we thought more broadly?
What kind of a person do we want to be?
And just when are we "grown up?"