resurrection fern

when you feel the bone structure of the landscape

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, 
the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show." 
-   Andrew Wyeth

I have always felt that when the layers are peeled away from the forests and road sides in October what is revealed is akin to the underlying skeletal structure. It leaves so much to one's imagination. I really sensed this when driving this past weekend through central Ontario. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although on closer inspection of the rocky outcrops there was still plenty of lush green and color to be explored.

 

 

 

 

There were lots of natural treasures to collect on my travels this weekend. Here is my tribute to November.

 

I am really looking forward to seeing the swell season tonight in Toronto.

well worth the trip

to Montreal to see the largest retrospective of the work of John William Waterhouse. I saw almost all my favorites and so many I had never seen before. There were even a few that I didn't even know existed. I gained a deeper understanding of his inspirations ( religion, mythology, poetry), his interest in ornithology (there were so many wonderful birds in the paintings) and his sense of humour that I saw in the way he signed his work often placing it on the fence or one a row of tiles, like graffiti. I don't think I really noticed this before and certainly would never had I only looked at his paintings in books or online. I was unable to photograph the paintings but here are a few images of our day.

The lady of Shallot riding the bus.

 

I think that bronze horse is falling under the siren's spell.

 

 

Dressing to match the artwork.

 

 

Some images from the museum's windows.

 

Leonard Cohen's hometown.

 

Under construction. Even the art is wearing hard hats.

 

Looks like John William is not the only bird lover in town.

 

Lovely bunny.

 

Amazing scarf at Simons.

 

They have some of the most handsome and talented young chefs.

 

Even the drive home was a work of art.

  

 

We are already planning our trip back in the spring to see the exhibit of Louis Comfort Tiffany but we might have to go to see the Waterhouse exhibit one more time before it leaves Canada.

words and pictures by deborah

A special treat today my youngest daughter Deborah is the guest blogger. She and her father took a trip out to British Columbia a few weeks ago to visit her Oma, two uncles and aunts and her two darling young cousins. Here is a snapshot of her trip through her words and pictures. 

Loving the greeny gold color and rolling hills, layers getting higher and higher.

Getting closer to our destination of the walk, a small very old fashioned playground in the middle of nowhere.

This old, chipped playground had a lot of character to me, and seemed like a great setting for a scene in a movie or something.

Mine and my mom's favorite number, works out well i loved this blue color and little glimmer in this rock.

On a little walk around the neighborhood in Kamloops this caught my eye, pretty adorable.

Here I feel like the sky closer is happier, and in the back the mountain itself gets darker along with the clouds creeping in.

My little cousin Roberto, deciding how he should go about getting up the rock climbing wall.

Some of you may not like to hear this, but this scenery reminded me very much of the town Forks, which Twilight is set in.

Can't really see all that well, but beyond the tree-line is the water, and then more mountains.

Hope to see some of this lovely purple color in some of my new fall wardrobe!

This picture makes me feel like the flower is climbing up, trying to touch the sky.

Seems like a whole new flower when you see it from a different angle, I love this picture.

Can you see the rabbit?

Precious little Georgia, wild, loving, and so friendly.

Just imagining climbing up this crazy slope, the view would make all the trouble worth it for sure. 

Thanks so much Deborah for letting us see through your eyes. I loved each and every photograph she took. I wish every child on earth could have a camera of their own and share their vision of the world with us. 

The Stone Diaries: Part XII

These stones, fossils, caribou antlers, bones and other gathered treasures have travelled from the shores of James Bay and Hudson's Bay (northern Ontario and Nunavut) in my daughter's duffel bag. They were gathered, flown in a helicopter, then a small plane, then a car, then a bus, another bus, a train and then lastly my car to arrive on my porch.  The starting point of their journey can be seen on this map and in these photographs taken by Rebekah.

Your will recognize that fossilized ammonite in one of the later photographs. While the gentlemen of the team fished my daughter explored and collected stones and other treasures.  She brought home some amazing natural gifts.

Here you see caribou vertebrae, caribou antler and the  scapulae of a small mammal perhaps an arctic fox.

a shelf like stone that looks like a fungi with beautiful burnt orange lichen on it and a caribou tooth.

stones and mussel shells with dulse attached. One of the other members of the team was instructed by his young daughter to bring this back for her aquarium.

I have added a few beautiful smooth stones, fossils, a goose bone and a feather.

Here you see a caribou antler and what Rebekah described as a polar bear's lunch ( goose bones). She did see polar bears from a distance. They didn't want to get too close because that would stress the bears too much and it was a mother with two cubs.

She did explore some summer dens dug out in the sandy bank where the bears sleep to stay cool. This is where she found the remains of lunch.

I was having fun photographing the tray of fossils and stones on different back grounds. This color of yellow is Rebekah's favorite and I found this old national geographic map of northern canada in our filing cabinet.

I have a few weeks to explore these treasures before my daughter comes back to claim them. Perhaps she will let me keep a fossil or two. She has a few more weeks of work and then she will be off to Nova Scotia for a well deserved holiday. Guess what I have already asked her to bring back for me and I am even loaning her my car so she can load it up. 

Finding Nature in Neglected Places

I was invited to do a  little interview about "favorite places" by Minna of the European Etsy Team. Searching my heart and mind about my favorite places got me thinking that the place that I live, although beautiful in very many ways is far from idyllic. I don't want to create a false impression that I live in the middle of a nature preserve or protected lands. The truth is that I live in a fair sized town very close to the longest street in the world ( and one of the busiest) spanning the distance between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe. I work in a different smaller community in a plaza with pavement, storage portables and dumpsters behind it.  The truth is nature is really truly all around us. We only need to step out and open our eyes really wide and then we will see it. I had a few minutes to spare one day at work so I grabbed my camera and headed into the back parking lot. I took a picture on the asphalt and dumpster just incase anyone thought I was making this all up and then I walked , observed and snapped a few pictures to prove my point. I was pretending that this was my first walk through that area between the parking lot and the road. Kind of like putting "your eyes" in place of mine.

I would love to hear about your favorite places in the world or on the other hand your secret neglected spots you have explored and what you might have discovered there.

Fern has the globe out and is dreaming of his next journey. Maybe he is hoping to not spend next winter in a potted plant tucked in the corner of the second floor bathroom. Looks to me like he is eyeing Mexico or Cuba :)

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Between a Straight Pin and a Button

Unusual title you might say, but when I was thinking of the time line for how humans have held together their clothing I discovered that the fibula ( or early brooch) came between the straight pin ( ouch) and the invention of the button. 

Next to the rock and mineral collection I showed you earlier in the week the display of fibulae from the bronze age was hands down my favorite collection at the Natural Sciences Museum in Vienna. 

Strange that when one searches for who invented the safety pin one learns that it was an american by the name of Walter Hunt in 1849.  It was very lucky for him the very skilled and creative metal artists of the bronze age hadn't quite figured out how to get to the patent office yet.

Seeing this collection has really inspired me to learn how to make jewelry one day. Perhaps my dear friend Elsita, will teach me one day when I visit her studio in LA. The pieces with the horses and birds really reminded me of my favorite thing she has ever made, the oscar necklace.  By the way it just so happens to be her birthday this Saturday and I hope you will join me in wishing her a most amazing day. Here are a few of my favorite fibulae ( Latin " to fasten") from the museum.

That last one was my absolute favorite. I am going to recreate that image in some form of wearable art. Tonight my very patient and tolerant youngest daughter had a little photoshop element tutorial session with me and this was the result. I really love this fibulae of the bronze age collection and I think it would make a really wonderful screen print. Arounna, if you are reading this let me know what you think. 

The Cabinets of Curious Stones

We visited the Natural History and Science Museum of Vienna and were blown away by their rocks and minerals, many of which were displayed in row after row of oak cabinets. There were so many specimens gathered from all over the world. Some even came from Ontario. I am sure you wouldn't be surprised to hear that I spent a great deal of time there and took oh so many photographs. 

I can only share a small portion of those with you so here you will see my absolute favorites. 

So many of these looked so organic it was hard to believe that they were actually inorganic rocks and minerals. Doesn't the one above look like something you would see in a coral garden. This next one really reminded me of Geninne and that was even before she made her feather stamp making video.

The colors in the next two also reminded me of Geninne's art. Don't they look like they were painted?

The last one looks like birch trees reflected in the water and the one above it has such a south west feel to it.

What does this one remind you of??

Natural crochet covered stones otherwise known as siderastrea.

The last one to twinkle over you as you sleep tonight is pentacrinus scalaris.

Sweet dreams my rock loving friends.

in the month of May the whole world is a garden

"The secret garden is always open now. Open, and awake, and alive. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden. "   Frances Hodgson Burnett

All of these pictures were taken during my strolls through the public gardens in Baden, Austria last week.

The floral show in Ontario is at least two weeks behind Austria although from what I am observing so far the flowers back home are blooming at least a week or two earlier than last year ,especially the wild flowers of the forest.  I have a few more Austria posts to share and then I am really itching to show you what is happening in my forest and at the secret art installation. I also plan on sharing some photographs of the show at bookhou with you . The catalogue of the Yarn Theory show is available for down load . I am still finding it hard to believe that I was asked to be part of such an amazing and intelligent group of artists.

Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to tend your secret garden.

  

join me for a walk in the Vienna Woods

Baden, Austria is located in the hills of the Vienna Woods about 26 km south of Vienna. Baden dates from the Roman era, when it was known as Thermae Pannonicae because of its numerous warm sulfur baths.  Many Viennese would travel there for rest and therapy for various ailments, especially rheumatism. I am not a big fan of bathing in something that reminds me of my days in the chemistry laboratory, but I definitely found my long hikes in the Vienna Woods therapeutic.  One of my favorite walks was up to the ruins of Rauheneckerberg Castle that was built  by a family of knights by the name of Tursen in the 12th century. It was like something out of Lord of the Rings and we really thought we might see a hobbit or two along the way or at least a white ghost tree in the remains of the courtyard. 

As I walked I stopped , opened my eyes very wide and marveled at the flora. I collected a few little blossoms and tiny treasures along the way in my little cotton sac.  I wanted to have a collection that represented  spring in the Vienna Woods so I laid everything out on one of the flagstones in the park known as the Rosarium , located just behind our hotel. 

I only wish I could  share  the scent of all the flowering trees that imbued the air and the symphony of songbirds from high in the trees.

the rest of my flomarkt treasures

I promised to show you my other treasures after sharing the tin box and its contents with you. I also purchased two really old folkloric tops, an adorable little apron, some pantaloons, a remarkable large wax heart ornament, a painted wooden picture of hansel and gretel and some embroidered linens done in redwork. I really wish you could all see them in person and be amazed at the all the little exquisite details. 

I saw the molds for these wax ornaments in the wonderful little museum way up on the side of the hills of Baden, Austria called the Kaiser Franz Josef Museum. I was the only visitor the day I went and received a special short history of the Kaiser from a museum volunteer who specialized in collecting postage stamps from the time of his great empire. I learned all about his family and their tragic deaths, his hobbies ( hunting and horses) and about how he valued education in the sciences and helped to build the collections at the museum of natural sciences in Vienna that we will explore together in a future post.