resurrection fern

would the guilty one please step forward

would the guilty one please step forward, originally uploaded by knitalatte11.

Very rare cat footage shot by my daughter Deborah of all three of our cats in the same spot at the same time and obviously up to no good. Cast your vote as to who you think is the guilty one, Edgar, Byron or Arwen. ( Edgar is closest to the window, Byron on the left and Arwen on the right)

Poetry and Pictures

 Second installment but this time the pictures are by Rebekah and Deborah from the catacombs in Paris. Poetry by Benjamin.

Endless

 

Where has all the power gone for good

When nations struggle endlessly toward inaction

Blame for problems squarely laid upon

Those backs already bent by deprivation

Too easy it remains to be at peace

When battles fought are not in your backyard

Ever more sleazy talking heads announce

The death tolls in a decrescending drawl

That fails entirely to help resolve

The tribulations which continue to evolve

From colonies we’ve lost but somehow never held

To terrorists we’ve sought and never found

An endless game of ring around the rose

Whose thorns do cause much pain to those that know

That we are all to blame for this charade

And dancing corpses could not make believe

With gravitas equivalent to the many souls

Whose bloodied spirits we have helped enroll

In such cruel parodies of theater shows

As are depicted in the end by rows on rows

Of crosses, headstones, and where we give aid

In burials en grosse we call mass graves

The pits were dug by native hands, it’s true

But each of us helped fill them, me and you.

 
 


 

We are but one thread within it

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, 

we do to ourselves. 

Chief Seattle

I have been crocheting over wood and making pods with strings and pod necklaces to add a little natural freshness to my work. 

The Sound of Birds and Colorful Noise

The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.

-   Carly Simon

Look very closely and you will se two lovely robin redbreasts in the tree. When I first spotted this the tree was actually filled with robins but after safely pulling over to the side of the road and getting my camera out only two remained. I was very surprised to see them since it was about minus 10 degrees C this morning. Mornings in that last week or so have been filling my ears and mind with wonderful bird songs and for those moments at least the otherwise colorful noise in my mind seems to pause and listen. 

Here are some images of the colorful noise that is coming from my mind in these past few days.

I notice a certain playfulness in my photography this week.  My stones are begging to be played with ( Ishi would know what I mean) and I am answering their pleas. 

What happens when you turn a merfish upside down?

He or she becomes a merbunnyfish. 

And what happens when two curious little kitties discover how to open the closet under the sink?

A marinated in catnip mouse party ensues. 

The Stone Diaries: Part III

Here is the next installment of the stone diaries.  The first parcel arrived last week from Winnipeg, Manitoba and was a special post Valentine's Day treat from my sweet sister Kathy. She collected stones last summer from the shores of Lake Winnipeg. This is my second gift of stones from her and I have already turned many of the first lot into merfish and small covered stones. 

I just love that card she made and the ribbons look like they were custom made for resurrection fern.

Here is a very heavy parcel delivered today by a postman with a great sense of humour. He handed the parcel to my daughter again saying this is so much heavier than it looks. I think this is the heaviest box yet delivered and it came all the way from Oregon from the wonderful Abby of Infusion fibers.

That was the view when we opened the box. I really wasn't expecting vintage crochet cotton and all the extra little treasures of fiber , driftwood , etc . Abby was so generous and packed this parcel with such care and love. I think she puts that same attention into the wonderful things she sews and sells in her awesome etsy shop.  I mean anyone who wraps stones in cosy little sweaters or places them in linen pockets really knows how to win my admiration. 

Doesn't it look like a beautiful stone and fabric patchwork quilt.

I can't wait to start working with this fantastic palette of stones.

Abby and Kathy, thank you both so very much.

A Day in the Studio with Arounna

I spent another day in the studio with the amazing  Arounna to learn a little more about silk screening. I learnt how to use drawing fluid to make a screen for printing and how to print on various media. 

The major take home lesson for me was that I really need to invest some time and effort into learning some basic photoshop techniques for my photographs so that I can create better images for printing. I am going to consult with my daughter Deborah and see what sort of photoshop program we should invest our time and hard earned dollars on.

Arounna was so encouraging about my work and I can't thank her enough for everything she has taught me thus far. Don't forget to check out her show at Rare Device in San Francisco. One of the pieces in the show was inspired by my covered stones. 

Here are some pictures of some of the things I did on saturday at Bookhou. 

I realized I am not that great at painting on the screens directly and I should probably stick to the photoemulsion techniques in the future.

I am really excited about the cork board and the bamboo magnetic note board I made. 

Here is my new screen I made called collection. I continued with my yellow mood to make some trial prints of this.

I am totally smitten with the pixie cups in the thimble I silkscreened. I printed some on some tank tops that I have yet to set with an iron and I love these prints on a vintage book of nature pictures that a very kind person sent me.

One last picture for this very picture heavy post. Do you notice something on the window sill in Arounna's studio.

Don't forget tomorrow is Pancake Day !!!

The winner of the valentine blog giveaway

The winner is Emily.

Emily please send me  your address and I will mail your necklace to you. Thanks to everyone who left a comment. I loved reading all  your most loved things in nature and realized we all have so much in common. Well, I guess I already knew that but it was great to have it confirmed.

Poetry and Pictures

This is the first in what I hope may become a regular feature on this blog. A collaboration between my son ( the poet) and I ( the photographer).

Friends

 

I walked with friends,

On rusted railroad tracks,

We stumble peacefully over the ruts.

 

We come to rest and sit,

And join the butterfly’s whimsies,

Feeling as monarchs do.

 

We idled and in idleness,

 I spied a grasshopper,

Sparkling shades of green.

 

As I watched it birthed,

Into the stock of wretched rail-locked wood,

Eggs egressing in stoic solitude.

 

These rails that embrace the earth,

Hold too this poor thing’s spawn,

And the future holds little promise for either.

 

Both will be painted with tar,

And cut by steel.

My son submits some of his poems to the website The Creative Act.

 
 

Intelligent Neglect

I had a hard time deciding on the title of this post and I am not sure I will stick with this one but for now it suits my purpose. I have had some comments and questions about the mosses and lichen I showed growing in the post about my new " nature feels" series of covered stones.  The pictures were views from the double decker terrarium I started in the fall and have had living on my kitchen table all winter. It has prospered into an amazing little ecosystem and I don't think I can even count the number of plant species contained in this small boundary. The key to my success with this project is what I like to call intelligent neglect. Nature is quite good at looking after itself most of the time and if we leave it alone it will often thrive and thrill us with its diversity and beauty. It is so hard for some people to just let this happen. Maybe it is a inherent desire for control or the need to manipulate ones environment or maybe it is just a lack of knowledge about how ecosystems work . What I can tell you is that since I put together this terrarium with mosses and lichens that I collected from my walks in the forest in October I have never watered it or fed it in any way. The other thing I would like to clarify is that my stowaway snail "fern" doesn't live there. He is a garden snail , not a forest snail and I know for a fact he doesn't really like moss all that much.

Sometimes we have a tendency to smother things with love and attention and this may do more harm than good. It reminds me of something a very wise friend said once on her blog. I may not get the exact words but it went something like this : " If you give a child everything they want they will never learn to stand on their own two feet and learn responsability".  I think the same is true for terrariums.

These mosses have grown so well that I have actually been able to transplant some of the terrarium to smaller containers to use in for my new stones and also a secret little project. What would a series entitled " nature feels " be without containing a little bit of real live nature in it. 

Have I ever told you how much I love thimbles :)

Reminder you only have till Sunday morning to leave a comment for a chance to win the crochet covered harp seal necklace on the valentine day giveaway.

The Warmth of Yellow

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.  Pablo Picasso

I have been observing the return of the Canada Geese, starlings and the mating pair of cardinals to our front garden. The snow is almost all gone at least for a little while. The grasses and mosses have been uncovered . The warm yellow sunshine shouldn't be far behind.