20200512_154409

 


20200512_154631

this is the large drawer in the kitchen.  2 ft by i guess maybe 15 inches or so give or take.   It was the junk drawer.   Little things.  Very small nails,  small srewdriver combo thing,  plumbers tape,  other tapes,   masking scotch etc.  Hose washers,  stuff we don't know what they are but don't want to throw out,   and on and on.  A few months ago or more,  it fell apart.   The front weighing at least 5 lbs and attached to the flimsey arrangements in first pic.   Why is a question would any one in their right mind create that?,  but…why ask,  too.   It's all apart and i can't figure out how to put it together again.  Its sat on the bed in that back room.  it takes up an enormous space….there, where it actually IS and also in my mind.   So i spent a CHUnK of time today trying to fit it together,  the wood glue ready in case of success,  but not.  Next weekend i'll give it to Jenny's man,  ask him to see if he can find a way and if not,  will just throw it out and live with the gaping hole.   Otherwise,  i worked at trying to Order that back room.  There are 4 gallon pails of paint  that shouldn't sit outside during cold times,   2 50 bags of combo grain and alfalfa pellets,  one 50 lb of just alfalfa pellets,  a 50lb   of dog food,  a 30lb bag of cat food and a 10lb bag of meal worms that only weighs 10 lbs but is huge.     There are BOOKs and then….there is CLOTH.  a lot of CLOTH.  So much CLOTH.   Last Friday it was 90 degrees,  a preview of what it's like in this tin house in Summer.  Today it was 63 and will remain in 60's till friday when it will go back to the 70's.   Now's the time to  get things as orderly as possible back there before the onset of Fire Season.  Getting things orderly means consolidating.  Again,  paring down.  What can go?  

and it rained off an on.  This does NOT happen in May.  It rained off and on.  as it will for the next few days.   I watched and in what seemed to be a sunny break,  leashed up Tay and let Caroline and the little ones out.   This needs to happen Every Day from now on until something resolves.   Tay  and i hang around,  Caroline wanders the little ones WHIZ .  And as also needs to happen,  the Doe s returned and there it continued,  them expressing themselves to Caroline by pushing,  smelling,  head butting and it was her and Celia again…who has never before made an effort to Challenge,  but sure is now….i watched closely who just ignored it all,  who intervened and how they intervened,  the combinations….then it started to rain again.  Back to the drawer.  All the while the Diaries Cloth lie there,  folded so Green Tara was there…watching.  waiting.   I watched her watch and wait.

and i collaged one of the little books that Acey had sent me …to send in response to a Mother's Day letter that my son's daughter Giana in Colorado,  age 6 ,  had written to me   addressed to Goat Gramma on the envelope….

so the heads up is about all the above.   This blog was created as a place to   keep track of my Cloth Making.  In the beginning,  to keep track of the work i was learning to do from Jude.   Because Cloth is always about Life,  there has always been some of that.  And that's good.   But for a while now,   i have become uncomfortable by the lack of substance.   What i'm feeling is a classic example of the Buddhist Teaching of Dukkha.   You can google it,  it will be worth your while,  but the Wikipedia description is " suffering,  un happiness, pain, unsatisfactoriness,  or painfulness of mundane life.  It is the first of the Four Noble Truths and is one of the three marks of existence.    John Blofeld  described it most commonly as …..dissatisfaction.   

i do not want to blog about this.   have this time and space become this.

so…we'll see.  But it might be time for a sabbatical.   Taking space in an ether that is overflowing with Stuff,   offering up nothing that is really useful to me or anyone else,   offering my opinions and FeltSense of the overarching grief of How ITs ALL Going,  that too…

so i don't know.   I really don't know.

 

 

 

Posted in ,

55 responses to “a heads up”

  1. Nanette Avatar

    The message of the lizards (from yesterday) sometimes letting go of something important can preserve something even better. ( they drop tails, legs, to survive predators)
    Love xxxx

    Like

  2. grace Forrest Avatar

    a body part…yes. that’s what it will feel like

    Like

  3. sarita Avatar
    sarita

    Hmmm, interesting. The last few weeks I have felt a great shift inside myself. A new awareness of what matters to me, inner things that need to be let go of. Hard to put into words…yet. Also feeling increasingly drawn to Buddhism, learning more and exploring a practice. Also reading, more meaningful things than before.
    Rambling, trying to share something I cant express yet.
    What I wanted to say is, I can understand a need for sabbatical. Sometimes other things are more important than cloth (wink). its your blog, you get to decide.
    I don’t know what to say about your stuff, the need to rearrange. I tend to be the opposite of a pack rat. Cant breath when surrounded by stuff. Sometimes it’s a rotten lifestyle, like when a pandemic hits and your without books and cloth…but most of the time, it’s good, its me.
    No blog again today. The internet didn’t want to play nice. Haven’t given up, but starting to wonder if there’s a larger message.

    Like

  4. sarita Avatar
    sarita

    oh…also, will Google the Buddhist Teaching of Dukkha. Thank you for that.
    And, fyi….you do offer gifts to others, me. Your words make me think, consider things in new ways..laughs, brightness. I feel blessed by getting to know you, sharing conversations.
    ♡Love♡

    Like

  5. Acey Avatar

    seems like just thinking and then writing about this matter opens more space within it…

    Like

  6. Michelle Slater Avatar

    I’m here to say PERHAPS YOU NEED A PORCH OF SORTS to be out in the shade of that when the heat arrives and then, poof (I’m off to spam)

    Like

  7. sparrow Avatar
    sparrow

    goat-gramma, you’ll know…xo

    Like

  8. jude Avatar

    of course, I don’t know, but I think this has begun to creep in everywhere, life living has become bigger somehow. still taking small breaks helps. for me just a reassurance that my creative thoughts well up and spill over even when they seem “extra”. But here, with you, your content is so much how you handle things, how it goes, seems full enough, if even to encourage expression in others. Maybe you need more time and that’s it. I know typepad is taking me way too much time. If someone was simply looking over my shoulder or stitching here with tea it would seem easier. anyway grace, i come here every day. never expecting more than what’s here. or not.

    Like

  9. Liz A Avatar

    I wanted to say “L-brackets” for your drawer … but it turns out “corner brace” was a more productive term … something like this:
    https://www.lowes.com/pl/Corner-braces-Structural-hardware-Hardware/4294711041

    Like

  10. Kirsten Avatar
    Kirsten

    Oh Grace, you offer substance at least to me. After reading about some of the plants you have, I find myself looking to see if they are here when walking my dog. As someone who is basically on their own, I find some comfort in reading how others are doing and what they are doing and to read how others are working through the solitariness.
    I’m preparing to move again and find myself surrounded by piles of donations but have nowhere to take them currently.
    As for cloth, I like to think about how we go through cycles in creating. Perhaps this is the winter of cloth for some of us and we are awaiting for those first leaves to show.

    Like

  11. Liz A Avatar

    Sarita … your blog, how might we find you?

    Like

  12. Liz A Avatar

    so that was the practical reply … the “fix it” part of me
    then there’s the part of me that looks forward to coming here … to just being with what you are just doing … and I would miss that if you stepped away, but I would understand the need … even as I suspect you would most likely return, sooner or later … and we would be here, still

    Like

  13. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    We’re all doing the best we can right now .. truth being we always have done our best. For me the very best part of aging is that I’ve learned to listen and respect my inner voice. Whatever .. wherever you go you’ll be in my heart forever. I will say that I never came here for cloth .. I came because it is here that I learned to see beauty in the everyday .. the everything. I’m my home you’re know as the goat lady.

    Like

  14. Mo Crow Avatar

    the slowing down and turning inwards of these strange days

    Like

  15. Joanne Avatar
    Joanne

    I also do not come here for cloth. I come here for you grace. Your words. Your kindness. Your being.

    Like

  16. sarita Avatar
    sarita

    Yes Tina…perfect words. What I wanted to express…but didnt.
    Grace…You Are Loved…can you feel it? ♡
    Liz…my blog is…going to be here….no entries yet…today, Universe willing ♡
    https://spilledteastudios.wordpress.com

    Like

  17. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    I started a blog back when you did. We were sharing our cloth in Jude’s class. I couldn’t keep it up like you. During that time I felt such a connection to you and it has continued. The first thing in the morning I check with you and Jude. During this time it seems important to know life is going on and you both are safe and well. I don’t say much. It isn’t about cloth anymore in either place. It is about friendship and love. Do what you need but don’t apologize for what you post. What it is always is part of you and that’s why we come.

    Like

  18. Greta wells Avatar
    Greta wells

    I too enjoy visiting every day. Plant people, dear Emrie, knowledge of goats. I’m 81 and was raised on goatmilk😉

    Like

  19. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    When you find yourself wanting to censor what you bring here, then it is probably time for a stepping back, a sabbatical as you indicated.
    Windthread was always going to be more than a blog about cloth for in writing daily, you were writing the diary of your life, living your art. Your sharing opened up the world to you via the responses that you received from so many who found you, came and stayed, all of these years. You often spoke of yourself as a solitary woman out in the desert of New Mexico, living a simple life and how this vehicle of blogging brought so much into your life; almost a validation in some ways. The flip side of course, is what you brought into our lives by living a life, rich in its simplicity, a life far from mundane from where I sit, for you showed how to live gently and wisely on the land, questioning when necessary and simply, as has so often been said, just going and the ability to do that when facing so many unknowns was the key to surviving, standing and facing.
    These are hard, uncertain times, it is so natural to lose our sense of what matters when so much is out of our control but you have always known what matters and brought it here. Yes, it hard to stay optimistic in the face of these times but it is equally important to speak of our doubts, our dismay, our anger, our bewilderment.
    All I can say to you is if you go, you will be missed. If you come and go, it will be a way to stay connected and yet find the solace that perhaps you seek. Most of all, the gift of sharing your life with us goes on, whether daily or sporadically, or in memory for you have given so much over the years and you need to know, that whatever you decide, you are loved.

    Like

  20. sarita Avatar
    sarita

    ♡♡Beautifully said, Marti..

    Like

  21. Hazel Avatar

    Just as everyone else has said, I come here for you, Grace. Usually, quietly, but still here happy to be soaking in your world, love. And completely understand the need for a pause.

    Like

  22. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    Marti, thank you for your eloquent comment. Grace: What she said! I wish I were better with words…

    Like

  23. dee Avatar

    I too come here for you. The way you go thru your days with your animal and human family on the land. I wonder a couple of things. What if you spilled your grief and dissatisfaction here? Is the disinclination due to not wanting to amplify it? Feeling that it is incorrect action? The junk drawer with its broken front seemed to be saying a lot about where you find yourself. Not sure how but maybe something along the lines of the form or blogging not holding the contents anymore. Also: would it make a difference to post twice a week or even weekly? Or does it feel all or nothing?
    Sorry if this feels too “fix-ey.”
    Let me say I hear you and would miss you if you left.

    Like

  24. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    Please, Grace, do not leave a gaping hole. It is a reminder of giving up. Ask me how I know.
    xo

    Like

  25. Deb G Avatar

    It’s good to ask the question why. It may be time to take a break, even if it’s just a few days, or maybe not posting everyday. Whatever you need. No matter how we are experiencing this time, it is exhausting. Like everyone else I don’t come for the cloth, your space is so much more than that…sending love.

    Like

  26. maria Avatar
    maria

    i was start to give words on this , because it take time ( my language is dutch ) when i came back from the toilet , al the words are gone ???? so … i let it go …. wish everyone the best for themself … breath in and out …. connecting with the universual love

    Like

  27. Liz A Avatar

    I will watch for it … will look forward to reading what you have to share

    Like

  28. RK Avatar

    the slowing down and turning inwards of these strange days

    Like

  29. Denise H Avatar

    Hear hear! Grace, your blog is such a gift to us, your readers. As Marti says, your blog is a diary…your life is your art is your life and it is a true blessing for me every day to get to see your world—and to find Deepening resonance in your also deepening worldview. I think you and your blog are very unique in our commodified world, and it’s a miracle really that we readers get access to you through the internet—and your generous gift of writing.
    I am just a reader of your blog—a lurker, honestly—so I don’t know what it costs you to sustain this, or how much impact you have on others (tho it seems from the comments, quite a lot)…but I do know I share your love of art, nature and animals (and adore your goats), and I will be reading whenever you write. …you have already changed me for the better. I see plants and trees as plant people and beings…I see how we humans struggle with being human—every day—and still we move in some divine realm too. And I know you also know the truth about that realm : none of us can possibly know or control how we affect, impact, contribute…I too struggle to trust that is enough…but it is! Your Life/Art shows me this is true.

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    there’s a LOt floating around. How to catch the Maybe’s…look…decide
    Buddhism has been my Rock since i left Michigan, left to wander, settle, unsettle, settle. There is so much there. it’s endless and endlessly fruitfull

    Like

  31. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. Same back to you
    Love

    Like

  32. grace Forrest Avatar

    i always need to say things aloud. I try not to. Think…don’t put others through it, but i always end up needing to say things aloud…it’s the release

    Like

  33. grace Forrest Avatar

    i wish i had a porch

    Like

  34. grace Forrest Avatar

    truth is i have enough time. i don’t use it well.

    Like

  35. grace Forrest Avatar

    he’ll know what to do

    Like

  36. grace Forrest Avatar

    would be too easy for me to Drift

    Like

  37. grace Forrest Avatar

    i hope you talk here about your “moving again”…whether it’s literal or figuritively, moving is intense

    Like

  38. grace Forrest Avatar

    there would always be email

    Like

  39. grace Forrest Avatar

    am slow and inward. this felt very different

    Like

  40. grace Forrest Avatar

    thank you….but i NEED cloth to say things

    Like

  41. grace Forrest Avatar

    i can. feel it. We are so deeply a Loving Circle

    Like

  42. grace Forrest Avatar

    don’t apologize
    yes. to Not apologize
    Love, Linda

    Like

  43. grace Forrest Avatar

    Greta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEAse share a life that began
    with goatmilk!!!!!
    THAnK YOU for coming and leaving these words!!!!!

    Like

  44. grace Forrest Avatar

    Marti…this has become my Family…all of Us here. Truly my Family

    Like

  45. grace Forrest Avatar

    we come quiet to eachother, me and you

    Like

  46. grace Forrest Avatar

    i am an all or nothing person. Once in a while now would let me DRIFT and i
    woud
    Drift. become Vague.
    the commitment to the daily thing has held me for a long time now…

    Like

  47. grace Forrest Avatar

    Laura….
    Giving Up. yes. Giving Up.
    “ask me how i know”…..How do you know, Laura? How do you know? I ASK.

    Like

  48. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s Thursday now….Cloth has spoken. For me, it is
    so much about Cloth

    Like

  49. grace Forrest Avatar

    Maria…you are always for the the emblem of HEART, the YouMeUs, always. This is how i know you and i do
    know you

    Like

  50. grace Forrest Avatar

    RK? Hello and please say more

    Like

  51. grace Forrest Avatar

    Denise…you have BeautyFull words, a Beauty Full sense of things…Thank You so much for speaking here. It is very meaningful to me that you chose to speak.
    but the exchanges here and in other places, we gather close a sense of community, that we are not alone i our experiences and there is strength and nurture in that.
    again…Thank You. very much

    Like

  52. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    I am selfish. I love email as a one on one, but I want to know the conversations that take place.. the interaction of everyone here that your words, which you put here, provoke comments and replies.
    But we can take a break and read when we are so inclined.. you might be feeling an obligation to have words here timely for us to read and maybe comment on. Pictures -less or only “a” picture one word.. three words… once a week Once a month.. a year.. or never anymore.. do what works for you..
    It is ok for you to be selfish.. it is not a bad word! I would still find ways to keep in touch!

    Like

  53. RK Avatar

    sorry i can’t help you in this regard

    Like

Leave a reply to Acey Cancel reply