I’m making a batch of FiberArt Postcards. I have 2 fish compositions in progress, 23 ready to finish, and some unknown number of piles-of-materials waiting for transformation. Just now, my eye-hand coordination is not…coordinating, so I’m taking a break. Pretty soon, (in what seems like a history-of-the-universe time frame), I’ll have a stack of finished postcards, ready to donate to good causes and mail to friends.
Creativity Unleashed
March 20: Order from Chaos
Like the character Toad, found in the children’s book, Wind in the Willows (by Kenneth Grahame, ©1908), I tend to get obsessed about things. Like Toad, I go from obsession to obsession.
A few years ago I needed a bumper sticker that read “Makes frequent stops to photograph car rims”.
Now I’m braking to photograph yellow stuff. Or rather, in this case, I yelled for the driver of the car to stop, pull over, let me out!
Start looking for yourself. Yellow Stuff is Everywhere! Maybe that should be my new bumper sticker….
It’s still twenty degrees in the morning, it is still snowing, the air is biting cold in sharp contrast to the blue sky, but the promise of spring is here.
It starts with the return of the little birds, followed by the migrating birds, such as Evening Grosbeaks. They remind me of parrots with their bright coloring and raucous noise making.
The Grosbeaks and the soon to arrive Red Crossbills swarm like vermin and eat like pigs, but they will move on before spring actually arrives. The dead wild grasses will bloom green again. The ceramic birdbath will host woodpeckers, nuthatches, juncos, chicadees, blue jays, sparrows of all sorts, robins, doves, and more.
Until then, I’m not giving up my layers of clothing, warm coats or Smartwool socks!
The realtors here boast 300 days of sunshine, but having lived here for 14 years, we know that any day with a minimum of five minutes of sun gets counted. Spring arrives in late June, Summer is two weeks in August, Fall falls in September, and Winter is everything else. Our neighbors in Bend live in another climate altogether, on the other side of Lava Butte. This side of the Butte is a pocket of extremes, mostly cold, sometimes hot.
The winter birdbath keeps the water just above freezing. Not designed to be stable under the leaps of squirrels and raccoons, I routinely found the birdbath on its side in the morning. When attempts to stabilize it failed, David put in three tree stumps leading up to the edge of the birdbath.
If you haven’t seen a raccoon waddle up steps and daintily sip from a birdbath or watched the doves take their evening sauna around the rim-with their tails in the water, then you need to take a vacation in Sunriver!
March 13: Circles of (Wild) Life
Long ago and far away, I used to listen to the music and storytelling of Utah Phillips (1935-2008). I’ve seen him in person, both in live performances and around town in Nevada City, California, where I used to live and he spent the last 21 years of his life.
He sang stories about hobos who rode the rails and looked for a friendly house to request a “square”. I once sent a note backstage that he could come to our house for a bed and a square anytime.
Fanciful versions say that the slang “square” or “square meal” came from sailors who ate from square wooden plates. But others say it’s an American phrase, first used to describe anything that is fair, honest, honorable or straightforward: a square deal for example. Or a square meal- a substantial, balanced plate of food.
My day is filled with square meals and snacks, eaten in circles- around the clock, around the food groups, around the plates and glasses, and sometimes literally round- grapefruit and numerous cups of Earl Grey Hot with milk come to mind. Is it lunchtime yet?
March 5: “Square” Meals Are Not Always Square
February 27: Come Visit My Sewing Room
