i thought a lot today, most of the day, off and on, mostly on,  about All of You who  come here and to the Mothership of Spirit Cloth.  Who,  over time,  some,  but some also just New, but of the same Spirit…who i 

Know.

and i thought about how grateful i am for All of Us,  in a world that is  difficult to understand.  

and i also thought about how this impossible situation i find myself in is so much the SAME as others around the world where there are Huge Differences in understanding.  Huge Differences in View

how some might see the goat as a blessing.  others just next door as a curse.  all the while,  the Goat

is just a goat.  being so beautifully Goatly.  

i off and on too, went out and pressed my nose into one or the other of them…inhaling deeply.  No smell.  and i got on my knees and put my nose to the earth they are in.  and yes.  there is a smell.  there is a smell of scrap feed.  there is a smell of dry grass hay.  a smell of alfalfa stems.  but their round and perfect little shit balls…no.  no smell.  if i dig down,  under the top layers,  and put my nose to that,  i smell the scent of all,  merging,  composting into rich sweet soil.

so this is what I know.  it is not what my neighbor knows.  Maybe.  Maybe i can understand a way to show her this.  

But today and now until Easter is over,  i am just hunkering down.  no sign of Anything at her house today.  Quiet.  Still down here at our end of the road.  in the past we would joke and laugh about declaring  this end of the road a sovereign state.  we would put up baracades and not allow passage on the road.  close it off.   i need to find a way to reach that person now.  maybe i can.  maybe i can't.  but i need to try.

in the meantime,  i THANK You All from my deepest heart of hearts for all you offer.  All the time.  Just particularly noticable right now.

Love to All of Us…..

 

IMG_8744f

coming and going from this today

 

IMG_8748f

from the Iris.  all cotton or linen.  i think the yarn, from Patricia, is cotton.  but it could be silk.  the greens began same as the blue.  but i took them out of the pint jar and put them in the copper pot.  Green.   nice greens.  but i use Deb Lacativa's greens.  and so.  the blue was just from in the jar with water.  i haven't washed any of them yet.  so more to find out.  O and the bottom of that one strip that is darker…a quick dunk in the Walnut.

 

IMG_8746f

and the beginning.   looked at scraps for the SunFlower.  then invisible basted,  walking stitched ~Jude Hill~ the layers together.  it's good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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38 responses to “the Women i ~know~”

  1. Sandi Avatar
    Sandi

    Having had goats myself, I can agree, they really don’t smell. I used to bury my face in mama Abbey’s fur. She was a great girl! I miss her lots! Your green dye pieces are lovely. Love the one dipped in the walnut. Beautiful shades together. Thinking this sunflower cloth might be mine, well that is if you put it up for sale. Can I reserve it? I’m that serious! Love You Grace and sorry for your neighbors comments. I do think she is in there somewhere and reaching out is always a good gesture. It’s not your goats… I can bet on that! ❤

    Like

  2. grace Avatar

    no. any more than a dog or a cat. or you, or me. they
    only smell of something Alive.
    no. it’s not the Goats. i know that for sure, now.
    but how to work it.
    well…we’ll see, about the SunFlower cloth. how it goes.
    who knows?
    love to You………………

    Like

  3. Carole Avatar
    Carole

    Hello Grace,
    No I dont think it is the goats either
    can you relate back to the last conversation you both had before, this smelly goat thing,maybe she is a bit green eyed !!! or a bit of dementia coming to the front, (I wish i could smell goats) (BUT i can smell koala bear and possum when they make a nightly visit 🙂 I love it… hunker down there and enjoy your ‘home time’
    always here, looking and listening from afar ..with LoVe Carole xo

    Like

  4. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    “There’s nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.” Thornton Wilder said that, and it is part of my post for Thursday. Your neighbor is a fine example…different minds produce different monkeys! Your new cloth has the right attitude–sunflowers turn toward the light and away from darkness, and at night they drop their heads. Smart flowers 🙂

    Like

  5. Nanette Avatar

    what fun, what a connection you’ve had/have with this woman, your neighbour, she’s part of your herd too. Your mustang woman’s loving goat hand talk keeps coming to mind, something to add softly to the conversation when you no longer feel a need to hunker and you and she talk?

    Like

  6. patricia Avatar

    thank you for this…for all of this….

    Like

  7. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    hope things work out between you and your neighbor, it is difficult with her being so close……I had horrible neighbors for the first couple of years we lived here (thankfully they left) if they cannot see the reason of ‘live and let live’ it is difficult to have a real conversation and realize the responsibility lies within self, not on somebody else’s doorstep
    love and courage to you in dealing with this issue

    Like

  8. debbie.weaver Avatar

    Yes we to have had horrible neighbours and they have left. Our new neighbours keep chickens and some have complained about them, can’t see the problem myself, they might even start selling the eggs.
    Maybe time is needed waiting til easter is over is good, time to think. Love the dyeing and the sunflower.

    Like

  9. Susan C Avatar

    Is there anything you can give her from the goats to show her what they provide. We live very close to neighbors on all sides, in town. A few years ago someone got chickens and we worried about smell but they give us eggs. : ) I love the chickens. I love to hear them and see them pecking around over there. We boil sugar maple sap in our driveway most years in a contraption my husband builds from cement blocks that looks like we might be burning our trash, which we have been accused of. But we give our neighbors maple syrup and everyone is cool. People stop and chat during the boiling. So I don’t know, but maybe there is something about the goats she could be a part of, when things settle out. Make it personal, tell her their names and lineage. Show her what good company they can be. Hoping it all works out, grace.

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  10. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    Come with me
    into the field of sunflowers.
    Their faces are burnished disks,
    their dry spines
    creak like ship masts,
    their green leaves,
    so heavy and many,
    fill all day with the sticky
    sugars of the sun.
    Come with me
    to visit the sunflowers,
    they are shy
    but want to be friends;
    they have wonderful stories
    of when they were young –
    the important weather,
    the wandering crows.
    Don’t be afraid
    to ask them questions!
    Their bright faces,
    which follow the sun,
    will listen, and all
    those rows of seeds –
    each one a new life!
    hope for a deeper acquaintance;
    each of them, though it stands
    in a crowd of many,
    like a separate universe,
    is lonely, the long work
    of turning their lives
    into a celebration
    is not easy. Come
    and let us talk with those modest faces,
    the simple garments of leaves,
    the coarse roots in the earth
    so uprightly burning.
    mary oliver ..so glad for the words and feelings and pictures here this morning..my vision back to you..the snow was falling and through the dark,,the sound of the spring peepers filled the air…strange and magical…enjoy your day and your sunflowers grace…

    Like

  11. jude Avatar

    i connected with the neighbor down below, because we both spotted a deer. who knew? of course he is back to being an asshole, but hey, he thinks i am to. waiting for another deer. and my iris. so cold here. slow garden.

    Like

  12. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Go sit outside and look at your cloths on the line, sky, soft sand, green seedling dipped in walnut (earth)…wrap yourself in these colors that you created, comfort yourself and know that you have been more than a good amiga/neighbor,to the woman across the way…

    Like

  13. ² Avatar
    ²

    the sun flower is growing
    don’t forget the water !!!!!!!
    where is the pipe
    strange she start by the flower
    the stark/pipe ?????
    jeh…i see
    first the sky
    the flower ….
    the ground ….oooo…. i see
    it’s a good way … jeh
    shall you have sunflowers in your garden Grace?

    Like

  14. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Cynthia))) this poem Mary Oliver is just so perfect she is the best poet on the planet for saying the stuff we all feel inside but can’t put into words

    Like

  15. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    My bad neighbor is now doing ten to 14 in a federal prison somewhere. I hate to say it but I feel totally validated and not the least bit sorry.

    Like

  16. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    i feel that way too.

    Like

  17. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    thinking of you —xo

    Like

  18. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    It’s Friday morning and no word from you.
    My wish–Only, that you be all right.

    Like

  19. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    Thinking positive thoughts about the neighbour…. but mostly for you and the goats and the flowers.

    Like

  20. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    i am/was worried as well…but when i checked it seemed as if type pad press things were having trouble all over the place..i am simply hoping so strongly..that either you couldn’t come on…because when i would call up windthread what i got instead was a screen of white and black lines like a bar code…which i found ..to be truthful..quite chilling..so i decided it surely was them and not you…so
    then i went to my second thought..that also..perhaps you were tired and just needed a step, a space away…that my hopeful expectation of seeing you here each day..well that is a lot and i respect and honor that…still i hope it was type pad and that you are well and moving with ease into the day xox much

    Like

  21. grace Avatar

    there’s the Rest, today. Her and the Lizard. changes
    the Story of just the Sunflower, above, a lot. so….
    you see. might not be for you?…..but it’s what it Is.

    Like

  22. grace Avatar

    Carole…yes…like you, i love SMELLS. Scents. i wonder what a koala bear might smell like?
    Things smell like stuff that’s Alive. i like that. the smell of Alive and Going Along in it all.
    today was just quiet. no Signs.
    LoVE back

    Like

  23. grace Avatar

    those are great words…”different minds produce different monkeys”…GREAT WORDS…

    Like

  24. grace Avatar

    Nanette…these are the BEST thoughts. the Mustang hand
    extended…yes? when things might be “Ready?”
    what a Wonder FULL world this is, here with everyone’s
    thoughts…
    how just so Great….

    Like

  25. grace Avatar

    …THANK YOU. you are THERE. for all of this.

    Like

  26. grace Avatar

    i have no choice. i NEED to deal with it. for the Goats.
    i am their only Ally. and it goes deeper. they are my
    Daughter’s Goats. i am HER Ally.

    Like

  27. grace Avatar

    any effort to produce the food we eat on an individual
    level needs to be supported. This I Believe.
    i was SO THRILLED to become a regular customer of a local
    woman’s egg business….like THRILLED. HAPPY AS A CLAM.
    if we can picture That….

    Like

  28. grace Avatar

    this is a beautiful idea, but she knows. all the kids
    in her family as a child drank goat milk…from goats
    her mother kept.
    and…if this continues, there’s NO way i can have milking goats. none.
    They have been here for 2 years. she knows it all. so…
    i’m kind of at a loss in it all of this Moment….it’s
    really strange

    Like

  29. grace Avatar

    i THANK YOU…THANK YOU for this Mary O. which somehow
    i had not known? Which collection is it in?
    “so uprightly burning”
    snow/spring peepers
    how can that be?????????????????????????????
    spring peepers
    spring peepers
    spring peepers
    as i type that is whisper the words spring peepers
    i say it like a mantra…Spring Peepers then close my eyes and remember listening to them

    Like

  30. grace Avatar

    yes…that stunning image of the Shared Deer. yes.
    Goats are a little like deer

    Like

  31. grace Avatar

    i have. i know i have. that is part of why it’s so
    startling

    Like

  32. grace Avatar

    Stem…pipe…the Stem in English.
    i try. to have SunFlowers. sometimes yes, sometimes no.
    i plant them. but hungry beings eat the seed sometimes.
    i am planting again this year. we will see.
    xoxoxo, Maria…..

    Like

  33. grace Avatar

    i remembered that too…your neighbor.
    Really, i wish Margie could just Understand that it makes
    no sense. other neighbors could be worse.

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  34. grace Avatar

    Thank YOU….xo back

    Like

  35. grace Avatar

    i’m always Ok. some variation of OK. don’t worry.

    Like

  36. grace Avatar

    Thank You Wendy.

    Like

  37. grace Avatar

    i couldn’t even see white and black lines, like a bar code.
    not even that…just the refusal to connect.
    i would Never just not show up. Never.

    Like

  38. Nanette Avatar

    koalas….sharp, pungent!

    Like

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