Life happens...

After 30 years of going to our mountain cabin, we are pretty good at predicting conditions there. But we were WAY off when we went up last week! At this time of year, there can be 3 or more feet of snow, or the melting can have begun, starting a month or so of 'mud season.' We have seen the lake still frozen over on Memorial Day, though that is not common. When we went the last time, there was waist-high snow on the ground, and there were ice-fishers in the middle of the frozen lake. While it had been warm and very dry down here in the valley (a record breaking dry March) we still expected there to be some snow on the mountain. We went up with long-johns, snow boots and our snowshoes.

We got up there to find NO snow (except small patches in the shade), and NO MUD!!!! The lake is completely thawed and the ground was as dry as July. The snow must have melted so fast that it evaporated, rather that soaking into the ground.

 

 

I spent a great deal of my time there using the back of the pick-up as a covered porch, sitting in the warm almost 70 degree sun, trying to not get sunburned, reading and knitting. Booker tried to catch chipmunks, unsuccessfully (fortunately.) And I kept an eye out for our bear, who has clearly come out of hibernation to tear more bark from our aspen trees.

I am trying to figure out how to get evening and night photos, so took the photo of the cabin at dusk. I need to do a bit more research and practice!

The day after we came back home, my father suffered from a stroke. So I will be going back to California next week for a bit to see if I can help out some as he recuperates. The garden will wait. The tapestry will wait. Life's seasons and rhythms are not always predictable. There is not always snow when we expect it; there is not always a mud season. Our days and our activities are not always regulated by our orderly To Do lists. The good and the bad (and the scary) things happen with and without our permission. It is a lovely thing to have moments to sit and let our toes soak up the sun when we don't expect it; to have moments to store up some energy to be used when it is needed.

*"Little Lamb, who made thee...?"

I have the sheep woven, now. I am halfway done with both pieces, and just keep going at them. I will post about the significance of the sheep and the fox in my Grace and Wonder blog when I get a chance. But for now, I must go get some garden work done. Then I will scoot back over to weave on the left-side tapestry for a bit.

*I couldn't help but used that phrase from William Blake, as I had to learn both that poem and "Tiger, Tiger burning bright..." at one point in my life. Amazing what crops up from the depths of memory!

La, la, la, la, Life goes on....

I am the little girl with wide eyes on the right

The month of April has arrived. I spent the past three weeks enjoying all generations of my family; from spending 10 days in California to celebrate my Mom's 90th birthday with parents and siblings and nieces and nephews, to spending the last week with two of my grandchildren here for their spring break.

 

  

But now I am back to my regular routine for the month of April, with a looooong ToDo list, to make up for all my time off. I will be heading to the loom shortly. And I am also thinking about an April calendar tapestry. April is my birthday month, and the birth month for the owlets we watch. April is when the world, and my yard, is in bloom, including my old fragrant lilacs, the quince bushes, and usually the apricot trees (though they bloomed early this year and are finished blooming already.) It is when the flowering crab bursts into bloom, the irises become showy, and the peonies put out their heavy buds.

Our whole valley is in bloom in April; all the fruit orchards turn the valley floor pink and white.

So I have a lot of possibilities for an April image to weave. Perhaps too many choices, in fact. So this is what I will be pondering while I weave for the next days:  what most says "April" to me, and what will I want to weave to represent this beautiful month in my Calendar series?

Home from 'sunny' California....

I spent the past 10 days in not-so-sunny California, where it rained a lot, then turned beautiful just as I was to come home. I was there for a family gathering to celebrate my Mother's 90th birthday.

One of the things I love to do while there with my folks and my sister is to sit and look through old family photos. I take pictures of some to bring home with me and to have in my computer. This is one I had not seen before, of my Mom and me. I was about a year old, and clearly a bit more squirmy than the statue baby.

I came home to springtime. Our apricot trees are in FULL bloom, which is early. Last year, they also bloomed too early, then a hard freeze came, and I didn't have any apricots. So I'm out of jam, and would actually not mind having some fruit this year. Time will tell....

I have some house cleaning to do tomorrow, then will get two of my grandchildren for their spring break week, so plan to have some more family fun. But I also hope to get some weaving done. I have a few studio art projects planned for the kids, so we can all work in the studio together for a bit of their visit time. We'll see if that plan works....

Must stop for a bit....

As promised, here are photos of the progress on the two Nativity tapestries. The right side tapestry has the fox done, and I have been weaving the shepherd's clothing folds and a nearby sheep. On the left side, I am still doing fabric folds, but have also put a sleeve and a hand in, and have begun the background which includes a couple of the many lilies that will surround the female figure.

Including the lower borders, I believe I am at about the halfway point on the two pieces. Unfortunately, (as I was really in a rare weaving form) I will be taking a bit of a break to go visit my parents for a week and a half. I just am hoping the passion to work returns when I get home. Spring is appearing rapidly here, and yard and garden work will steal some of my work time soon. I am very fortunate that those I am weaving this commission for are patient... more patient than I am!

Spring is in the air, or at least in the trees...

 

Although Spring is not yet here, there are buds on the still bare trees, though not enough buds to cover last summer's paper wasp nests. This one is well over a foot across. When Spring truly arrives, a big wind will likely knock this out of the tree, and construction will begin anew.

 

Spring is certainly eminent now: we went to the river trail for a walk, and Mama Owl is in her new nest. It's in the same tree as she was in last year, but she has moved to a new branch. Being in the nest alone so far, she had herself hunkered down so that only her ears show over the top of the nest. I'm not sure her nest construction is completed, as it is not as big as last years nest. Three babies would definitely not fit in this nest. So, either she will make it bigger, or maybe she will lay fewer eggs? We will keep an eye on her, but I will try to keep from posting as many photos of her as I did last year. I'm pretty excited, though, because my grandkids will be coming for their Spring Break, so they will get to see her in her nest.

It occurs to me that both Mama Owl and the paper wasps are quite amazing fiber artists in their own right. Paper wasp nests are truly amazing, especially when you can see the  honeycomb structure inside. Mama Owl's nest isn't quite as tidy this year as in the past, which is why I am wondering if it is still a work in progress. But for her to weave a basket-like home for herself and her owlets in the crook of a tree branch is pretty wonder-full stuff, as fiber art goes!

On my own fiber art front, I have been making good progress on the Nativity tapestries, and am truly enjoying my weaving time. In fact, I haven't been this weaving-obsessed for a long time. It seems that every other thing I am doing right now is just an interruption of what I want and need to be doing in the studio. I will post photos in a few days.

Yeah, that's what I'm sayin', too!

 

"Well, that's what life is — this collection of extraordinarily ordinary moments. We just need to pay attention to them all. Wake up and pay attention to how beautiful it all is."  Alexander Payne, writer and director of The Descendants  (See entire interview here.)

 

If life is a series of ordinary moments, and we notice them, they become extraordinary. I'm glad someone worth quoting agrees with me! And really, don't you agree, as well?