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I had mentioned a few times, my beloved heavy duty hooded zipup sweatshirt.  Of all the articles of clothing i own, this is to me,  really, the most important.  During a lot of the year, it goes over a thinner one and in the winter months maybe 2.  It is my work jacket.  It's hood is perfect, big enough to allow free movement, but just right to not be sliding off.   Last winter i replaced the heavy duty metal zipper.  But, the inner sleeves and both cuffs are worn.

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There are a few other places, small, where there is significant wear.  But, for being some years old, and a Thrift Shop find to begin with,  it's quite strong.   I spend some time in the last days looking long at the photographs in that catalog for the Sri exhibit at the Portland Japanese Garden 2011,  Mottainai:  The Fabric of Life    Lessons in Frugality from Traditional Japan.  I looked through the book start to finish several times and lingered long on the photographs of the boro noragi, the work jacket.   Trying to create images in my mind of a woman to whom it might belong, trying to "watch" her as she went through her day.   Something about it just touches something deep in me.  I can't imagine anything more beautiful than this jacket.

So…here we have it.  The beginning of mine.  Right now, not much, really.  but being such a strong thing, i know it can go on as long as i choose to continue…years. 

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One cuff,  the inner seam of one sleeve.  Now the other to go.

Something about this feels so Important.  So Significant.  Like some kind of Promise being made.

and then, i was whining in the last post about shade trees and to be sure not to misrepresent this Place,  there ARE trees left.  None are the really big ones that DID grow and then were lost for whatever their own reasons were.  But

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beyond the picnic table you can see the latest effort…a second summer young cottonwood.  If it takes, it will provide more shade than anyone could imagine.

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and here by the buck pen,  it's sister tree, up against the skeleton of Willow Boy, a beautiful globe willow that was killed by beetles a few years ago.

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and there ARE trees in the "house yard"…small but provide shade.

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and i tried to take pics of the goats but they were too uncooperative and little Sunny Ray kept trying to eat my hair and no one would stand still for one single minute.   My very old friend Jane is coming on Tuesday from Alaska.  Daughter Jenny will be here in the same days to get some of the does and babies ready to take to the Nigerian Dwarf Goat Show at the fairgrounds in Albuquerque.  I will assign Jane as the photographer and there should be some good pics then.  but in the meantime,  the bucks

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beloved Tenzen

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the young one, BuckWheat.  notice his stockings…need to get a better pic.

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and oh so Beauty Full Gideon, who just as i snapped the pic, noticed a hummingbird overhead.

so, here we are.  Solstice 2012.

 

 

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37 responses to “a love story ~ a woman and her noragi”

  1. handstories Avatar

    oh, my goodness, such goodness here. those sleeves will wrap around you & your world. & those sweet faces! i think i’m in love with buckwheat.

    Like

  2. deb Avatar

    oh Tenzen bold defiance made me laugh out loud and think his is brother from a different mother to my Voodoo…what do you think?
    http://morewgalo.blogspot.com/2008/10/humbug-halloween.html

    Like

  3. Suzanna Avatar

    Merciful goodness, the jacket is wondrous and I love the trees and oh my, the goats looking skyward, feet planted firmly, oddly wise and strange.

    Like

  4. yvette Avatar

    animal art cloth
    they (and me) find you so lovable
    goats like cloth
    in 2 ways
    love
    the best
    unconditional

    Like

  5. Joan @ CopperCreeker Avatar

    i really enjoyed your feelings on your special jacket. i think it’s going to be even more special each piece of fabric and each stitch you sew.
    O My… i think i’m in love with Gideon :0)

    Like

  6. Sandy Avatar

    for the love of cloth…….. and tree’s and goats. I was happy to see the tree’s on the outside of the fence til they are big enough. Out goats would eat anything green. They did a number on our blueberry bush one year b4 I noticed they’d “escaped”. Your sweatshirt is now your noragi…. a work jacket and sooooooooooooooooooo much more. It’s a work of love! Wonderful photo’s of “the boys”. Gosh I love their eyes! Stay cool! xoxo

    Like

  7. jude Avatar

    life with cloth and goats.

    Like

  8. Linda Avatar

    that jacket is great. i have that book of boro, remember i went to the exhibit? i also wonder about those women and their stitching. i think your stitching and design looks so much like the japanese version. really good job..

    Like

  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    do you see your scraps? they have been Waiting for the
    right place.

    Like

  10. Linda Avatar

    oh, i wondered. i am honored.. now you will have me around every day. 🙂

    Like

  11. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar

    it’s wonderful to see and feel the beauty in your life, through your eyes and words.

    Like

  12. saskia Avatar

    was thinking about you and where you were…and here you are….ah and such wondrous things you share with us, your vest and trees and the goats, comfort and shade and animal warmth, life is good like this.

    Like

  13. Mo Crow Avatar

    wow! Wow!! WOW!!!

    Like

  14. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    When I look at these photos of the land, the goats, the loved noragi, I think of the expression, “full measure.” For me, that expression means to give fully of oneself to accomplish what needs doing as best as one can and you do, you do…and there is beauty in the doing.

    Like

  15. nance Avatar

    bless your heart grace! xoxo

    Like

  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    BuckWheat is granddaughter Alyssia’s goat. she just
    wanted to name him Buck. her mother said NO. that is
    not good. so she said, ok, then buck
    wheat
    so when you say his name, you say Buck with an upturned
    k and then
    lower your voice to add
    wheat.
    ?????????????? we are crazy. but his legs are just
    great and his horns are a problem, but so beautiful.
    i wish they all could keep their horns.
    he adds very good traits to this herd. he is small
    and somewhat fine boned, but also very “dairy”. we’ll
    see what kind of kids he throws. he’s just becoming
    ready. actually, this morning for the first time, i saw
    him “grooming his “pink””…..

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s an illusion. he is very gently and shy.
    named after the dalai lama.
    he was bought from a herd in Boston area. we had to
    pick him up from the cargo area of the Albuquerque
    airport which we couldn’t find forever and when we
    finally did, he had waited so long in his little shipping crate. on the way home, he just sat on daughter’s lap
    (i drove) staring and breathing.
    he was just little, i think 2 months.
    he looks like a little yak i think.

    Like

  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    yvette…i wish you lived down the road from me

    Like

  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    Gideon loves to be loved. he could spend forever being
    petted and brushed and murmered to. he is a very Fine
    Gentleman. he is 6. their lifespan is maybe 8. so
    we will be watching over the next year for one of his
    sons to carry on. Sunny Ray is probably his, we’ll find
    out soon, but he is not the one.

    Like

  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…berrybushes are loved. both those cottonwoods are
    outside the pens. once they get big enough, only the
    low hanging branches are vulnerable. Nigerians are
    really so much easier than say Nubians, that will strip
    the bark. for whatever reason, Nigerians don’t. ????
    Once this batch of babies go and a couple of the does,
    i’ll begin letting them out in the evenings…see what
    interests them. an Experiment.
    and as soon as i can save up maybe $700, i’ll privacy
    fence the Other Side and they can go there. reminds me
    of the courtyard at the local old folks home. they have
    a courtyard specifically for the Alzheimers people. a
    door at one end to “Escape” and then kind of a maze of
    plants and rocks and little walls that eventually leads
    to a door at the other end…Back In. Something like that.
    IF i keep them.
    haven’t decided yet.
    stay cool is impossible. learn how to be hot, Is.

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    that’s it. period.

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    honored…well, it just is the Right place. and yes,
    tho…you will be there.

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    Dru…thank you…any place is beautiful, i’m thinking.
    if you love it.

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. i am here. i have also been preoccupied some with
    the child molestation case here in the states. i don’t know if you see about that in your news. big here. and
    i watched closely. there is that in my family. i can’t
    say much about it, it is not me, but is my family.
    they say 1 in 4 girls experience some form of sexual
    abuse by the time they are 18 years old in the United
    States.

    Like

  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think you like it. it makes me feel like a crow or
    raven.

    Like

  26. grace Forrest Avatar

    those are good and beautiful words, Marti……..
    full measure.
    and there is Everything in the doing. Everything.
    yes.

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh…yes, bless my heart and Yours and all of Ours!!!!!!!!!

    Like

  28. Tricia Avatar

    your noragi is beautiful Grace…

    Like

  29. Tricia Avatar

    I would send you a tree or two if I could… they are in pots in my yard but really need to be planted in the earth…

    Like

  30. Mo Crow Avatar

    Grace you are a crow woman extraordinaire, love your work and words.

    Like

  31. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    this is such a lovely post , grace.
    those goats just do me in . in a good way of course.
    love the photo with the sunflower peeking around.
    & your jacket. i remember ages ago when you first talked about it.& showed a picture of its cuffs i think…
    i have a sweatshirt that is somewhat similar –almost threadbare –so soft & snuggly–
    so i have a question —
    is all your patching done with knit fabric –& is it done with your regular embroidery floss?
    the stretchiness factor.

    Like

  32. saskia Avatar

    no we haven’t heard about the child molestation case over there, sadly we have enough of our own cases over here though, a lot of catholic boys and girls were abused by priests/monks/nuns, people who were supposed to look after them; I don’t know the exact figures but many lives were damaged.

    Like

  33. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s a hard place for things to take hold. but just
    the thought of you sending a tree is shade in itself.
    Thank you………

    Like

  34. grace Forrest Avatar

    no…no knit. and i tried to stitch gently, it doesn’t
    seem to make a difference, yet, anyway. and i’m wondering if i patch in ummmm, circular, or, like crescent pieces
    as it goes….if that would lend to the original sense of
    it? don’t know. and really, over time, it will become
    something else entirely. the sweatshirt will be inside.
    the long blue piece on the seam is raw silk. it will be
    interesting to see how it holds up. the wear is from
    hauling the fire wood mostly…all that rough bark…
    the smaller pieces are cotton and linen. and yes,
    a single (one of six) strand of embroidery floss. i might
    venture into a contrasting color at some point, but for
    now…i just am so “conservative”. AND, i’m not going to
    keep going with changing it…just really only do what
    needs to be done as it happens Over Time. i might stitch
    some small magic things inside the hood, just to keep me
    company???maybe.
    yeah…those goats.

    Like

  35. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    thanks for the info about the jacket.
    & yeah. i’m glad you realize how conservative you are.
    it is a bit worrisome.

    Like

  36. Nancy Avatar

    Here too 😦

    Like

  37. Nancy Avatar

    Such a bounty of beauty here. It makes me happy to read your words and to notice how quickly you’ve learned ‘goat-speak’! You know so much now that you did not know in this way a few months ago. I like coming along with you.

    Like

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