windthread

reading Jude's Post in Magic Diaries,  i thought i had a thought.   how i could find a different place for the Diaries Cloth than where it's been on the Wall when not on the table being worked on.  i didn't want to roll it up.  but i thought i would put it on the south Room window, as curtain for a while.  so i did that, but once there, i knew that i very much want to keep going with it in a focused way.  so, no.

but then….i realized the "underthought".  that i wanted access to that design Wall for some small cloths.  and Why?, i wondered.  and then it was very clear.  as if this thought had just been waiting for me to think it.   in November there is the Festival of the Cranes down the way at Bosque del Apache.  you could google both those.  they have an Art tent.  Bird people come from all over the world.   My alzheimer's B is losing ground fast.  so income from caring for her might not continue for that long.    i KNOW that i DO NOT want to continue with another person.   So…the question is, what can fill that space?  and the underthought is:  What If  i get some smallish cloths ready for the Festival and see if  it can happen that way???

these two plain pieces of home dyed cloth have been pinned on the Dragonfly Poster wall for a while.  everytime i go by, i stop and look.  Something to do with night in this desert.

and this is familiar.  it goes back to Contemporary Woven Boro.  it isn't really a cloth, just ideas pinned together.  but i love all the ideas a lot and can envision them becoming a cloth.  about visual music.

so….if i began now, i MIGHT have enough to take.  it's juried, so would need to have a few ready soon.  Hmmmm. 

of to goat world.

 

 

yesterday the current issue of Snow Lion came.  first thing i noticed on front page was

The Simple Path…an excerpt from Anam Thubten's new book,  The Magic of Awareness.

"The practice of true devotion is devotion to life.  It is not devotion to some grand idea of divine, but devotion to life itself.  In that process the notion of "your life" and "my life" dissolves.

There is only life.

It's like sitting in the ocean.  There is no my ocean.  There is no my sky, my universe, or my cosmos.  There is only ocean.  There is only sky. There is only cosmos.  In the same way, there is only life, and life is already unfolding."

what all THIS has to do with cloth making.  but i'm thinking that it might have Everything to do with it

Michele of NYC,  Ms. Uncertainty Principles has sent me a couple things that i LOVE.  here is the first:

"goats see very well.  a goat's eyesight is the equivalent to what a human sees with 8x or 10x binocular power due to the rectangular  pupils.  Slit-shaped pupils are found in species which are active in a wide range of light levels.  In strong light, the pupil constricts and is small, but still allows light to be cast over a large part of the retina.  The orientation of the slit may be related to the direction of motions the eye is required to notice most sensitively (so a vertical pupil would increase the sensitivity of the eyes of a small cat to the horizontal scurrying of mice).  The narrower the pupil, the more accurate the depth perception of the peripheral vision is, so narrowing it in one direction would increase depth perception in that plane.  Animals like goats and sheep may have evolved horizontal pupils because better vision in the vertical plane may be beneficial in mountainous environments.  they do see color."  from the goat lady @all experts.com

pictured above is Gideon,  the senior buck.  he is a national grand champion.  he is also very gentle and elicits that in the responses of the two other bucks.

at the top is Snowbunny.  the Matriarch.  she likes to breathe with you, share breath, putting her nose and mouth on yours.

and here,  i see this morning that there are going to be Native Plums this year baring the unforseen.

THANK YOU, Michelle for your FarReachingLove……………

 

 

Eva…here is the book.  and nance,  it's the one you told me about???

this is the catalog from the exhibit  of Kei Kawasaki and Stephen Szczepanek of Sri ..Spirit Cloth side bar….    Portland Japanese Garden.   which you can google and can order it if you like.  it's really beautiful.  if you remember, some of us talked about this a while ago.

along time ago i knew that if you want a friend, you must also Be a friend.  i want to apologize for being me me me and not visiting and commenting so much lately……it's not for lack of wanting to, but rather just trying to keep up with this life and the stitching.  but i wanted to say that i know i'm doing this and intend to fix that as soon as i can.  

and to get up to speed

this is my granddaughter, Alyssia in her kitchen in California.  she's in the Navy.

this is what some mamas look like when they come home from work.

this is what some little boys do when being chased by their old nana (me)

the best thing ever…my "headlight" flashlight.  he was thrilled, said it was his "helmet", "like knights wear".  Julian.  2 1/2. 

i had not expected to so Undone by him.  i said a while back that i don't "miss" things.  i miss him. enormously.

while i was gone, the Iris bloomed.  i'll pluck the dry ones to dye with.

it seems that there are going to be goats galore in my world for at least a while, so to celebrate that on the Diaries cloth…this little crazy diamond shape.  at the moment it's got that lizard tail..????  i might leave it like that……..

and the decision is made.  for the upcoming Jude's Boro class,  it won't be the linen vest, or the beautiful flax traveling jacket.  nope.  will go back to the long ago thought about my "noragi"…  my work jacket.  which is my most oh so loved heavy duty zip up hoodie.  i love this sweatshirt more each time i wear it.  it's what i wore To california, all while there, and Back from.  it's what i wore last night when i was feeding the goats.  it is what i am wearing today working to create a birthing pen.  it's seen its newer days…i found it at the Thrift Shop maybe 4 years ago?  replaced the zipper this last winter.  and now, for boro beauty.  i feel really GOOD about this.  really really GOOD.

so, now i'm caught up.   hey ho.

 

 

so this is it till Wednesday or Thursday.  we are leaving a day early.

this is the center of the Daughter Cloth i made her when she set out for California last August.

the fence,  the one that will hold immediate need, is up.   my Friends,  Mike and Thelma came and we did it.    Jenny arrived and agreed it was good.  yes.  ok.  yes.

we cut a space in the guinnea hen palace like Jude cut her cloth.   opened it.  now, the new babies that will be born in a few weeks, or a couple,  can run and hide from their elders.  done.

and at the end of this Totally Excellent Very Good Day i see that the young locust is working at her blooms.  i'm not sure, but i think they will be purple.

and last, but not at all least, there is Our Moon.  She has already been at Jude's house.  took Her a while, but now rising here.   isn't that just Something?,  yes it is.

and over and through the woven conversation with Jenny,  at some point i said

"you know,  i would be very ok here, like, Very OK …….until i am feeble.  then, protective services could come and remove me."   She said, yeah.  I know, ma.

What a great day.

you might think that a normal person would get tired of working on the same cloth for months on end.  probably, but…not here.  she missed her flight so yesterday i got to just do kantha all day

and i got to the place where the needle is and realized i'd forgotten to account for Thunder.   What might Thunder look like?   thinking……….

and having looked at this for months,  very suddenly i saw it differently

it's a butterfly wing!

and looking here,  i see too that in the last few days,  Guess What?….the whole story is Changing.  Now What…? 

i was thinking to take pics of the possibilities for Jude's April Boro class

a jacket i've had since the 70's.  here it's inside out.  the other is a batik that i don't really like.  it has hung in various closets for 40 years.

a linen shirt from Thrift Shop.  collar and sleeves cut off.  a vest kind of thing?

THEN, comotion on the road.  a truck, FAST,  the kid that rides the Palamino bareback, FAST.  so i find the camera and am just seconds too late.

CLICK the pic to enlarge:  way down at the corner, the kid on the Palamino waits

CLICK again:  from the other road,  a black mare…tail arched and flying, her foal beside her,  chased by the pickup.  

THEN:  phone call.  and the rest of the day changes.  it doesn't look like much now, but over the next few days,  a whole little world for a small herd of dairy goats will be created.   how temporary is still unknown.  ALL the does are bred.  it would be nice if we could pull it off and have them here through kidding season, into milking.  ~cheese~

the wood on the ground marks where the temporary fencing will go.  it will connect to Fiona's Palace where the guinnea hens used to live.  will need to borrow a sawzall to modify. 

this will be the gate.   i cleaned out half of the shed thing, the Albatros,  to hold the bales of feed.

reshuffled the stack of pallets and dragged over the metal  sawhorses.  with wood over the top it will be a perfect shade house. 

this piece of wood was in an arroyo in Snowflake,  Arizona once.  it has waited for Purpose.  now, when the fence is up it will mark this space. 

Daughter will fly in tomorrow.  at the end of the week we will drive back to California,  load the horse trailer and bring the goats here.   from there we will play it by ear.