Winter Solstice

The winter solstice has passed. It was a cold, cloudy, but not stormy day. From now on there will be a little more light every day. I missed the eclipse of the moon, but the fact that the moon was full on the same night as the solstice gave us more light than we would have had in spite of the cloud cover.

I'm finishing a few Christmas batik and will be doing lots of wax painting in the months to come. Dyeing the fabric will be very limited, due to my poor sink facilities.

As I look out of the window this morning, all is muted white to the west. There is a light mist of snow-rain, that dims the view of the Adirondack mountains. I'm glad there is this light snow cover to brighten the earth. Two squirrels climb the tall nearby trees and jump from branch to branch. A red headed woodpecker, pounds into an old rotted branch. Champion, my calico cat sits fascinated in the window.

I am looking forward to a white Christmas (it doesn't need to be too deep!), and I'm thinking back to the brilliance after an ice storm, everything glittering in the sun. Merry Christmas!

Champion for Christmas

A year ago I was trying to feed and capture a young calico cat. I named her Champion for surviving the winter outside; snow, wind and cold!

Champion was an inquisitive kitten that was raised off away from the barn on the farm that I help raise calves on. She would climb to the top of a stack of round bales when she heard me call last summer. She knew I had her food, but when I put it down I had to back away before she would come forward to eat. She would dart away if I came too close.

Born late in April of 09, as the cold weather came on I tried to coax her to the main barn where she could have food, shelter and company. Always something would scare her away; a tractor, a dog or too many humans. When in December, I finally coaxed her in the back door of the barn to eat, a barn cat attacked her and I did not see her for a week.

The week went by that I hadn't seen her. I had continued to put food out for her off close to where she used to be fed. Often other cats would sneak up to eat the food and after waiting for her for what seemed like quite a while in the winter evening cold, I would leave hoping she might get some of the food. One dark night (night because that was the quietest time on the farm and she was most likely to appear) I walked off farther from the barn calling her. Yes I am just a bit crazy! I heard her answer several meows. I kept calling and she kept answering, coming closer, until finally when I backed away, she stepped forward and ate her food happily purring.

I'd like to say that she soon became friendly, but it was not so. I brought her some special food on Christmas day, but she spent the winter outdoors, being fed next to an abandoned shed through the cold winter nights. Finally in the spring with the help of a havahart trap she was captured and off to the veterinarian as she had a badly abcessed leg.

I'm happy that Champion is here living with my husband and me stretched out by the woodstove. This year she will spend Christmas here, and it will be a present for us all.

December Flakes

It's early December and flakes have been falling. It almost puts me in a trance when I look out the window as they slowly fall to the ground, one large flake after another. We've had some bitter wind, a reminder of what is to come, but now the flakes fall in winter stillness.

The wood is stacked on the porch and the dyes that remained useable are now in the cellar. Dyes will keep longer when kept cool and when urea is added to the mix.

This is not my favorite time of year. It is dark, cold, the ground is hard and frozen. The brightness comes from the holiday lights and gets us through the shortest, darkest day of the year. The snow makes winter bright and when January arrives the days bring a little more of our welcome daylight. I like to think of the sunny winter days to come with the sun reflecting off the bright snow. Those brilliant days I like to get outside and go snowshoeing or cross country skiing.

I also can't help but think back to our winter farm days---Yikes!!!! So many things could freeze and go wrong. But, there were many good memories also. The cows would get outside to investigate the fresh clean snow after a storm. Then at milking time they would settle into their stalls and relax, gratefully chewing the fresh silage and hay. It was also wonderful to see the hutch calves running and kicking through the fresh snow. Some good ideas for batik have come from those images, but.......... won't be completed until next year.

Fall Wrap-up

Tonight as so many nights lately, I'll be ironing wax out of my last dyed batik. The season has been very unpredictable, but warmer sunny days allowed me to finish dyeing many pieces outdoors.

Dyeing the fabric outdoors is ideal and I have my flower sink for you to see where I like to rinse the excess dye out of my batik pieces. I also wanted to show you some stages of the batik "Magic Frogs Rising" through the pond, up out of the earth below. See an early image of wax applied after two previous dyebaths. Then a close up of the design before it's last dyebath ( see the heavy wax layer). A close up of the batik in the final dyebath on the porch is seen in a long shallow dye tray. The long dye tray keeps this large piece from becoming over crackled. The "Magic Frogs Rising" batik is 26 by 40 inches. Finally, here the top of this batik is seen after the wax is ironed out between plain newsprint.

The completed piece will be seen in a blog to come.

The Coming of Winter

Last Sunday when I trudged up the hill the grass and leaves crunched under my feet in the early morning frost. Not that early these days. My summer days of jumping out of bed at five and six AM and climbing the hill to greet the sun are gone until next May. My trips up this hill have become less frequent due to The Larac Arts Festival and set up for their Holiday shop. I have also had a bought of illness; a virus and later the discovery that I have Lyme disease. This past year the fields and woods were loaded with the deer ticks!

As I stood there watching the sun spread across the mountains and valleys, I could feel my worries drop away. In this vast space I feel free, home. A flock of geese had been resting in the adjacent cornfield and now that I am here they stir and then take flight. I watched with fascination as their flight patterns stretched out, spread wide and changed continously as they swirled and headed south west. It reminded me of the moving patterns that herd animals make as they enter a field. See my cast away to the fields blog post last summer and in September.

Today when I walked up the hill, the sun became hidden by a mackerel sky. Even the distant mountains lost the sun. It was twenty degrees and not getting warmer very quickly. I did my warmups and then completed the Tai Chi form, but did not linger to enjoy the view today. I headed home and stacked more wood on the porch. The afternoon should give me a better tme to finish dyeing some batik.

Mirror Image Magic

The sun last evening was brilliant as it edged below the heavy cloud cover. All was accented by a golden light. The leaves that remained on the trees became gold, orange, pink and crimson. As the shadows lengthened, even the grass heads were bathed in the golden light as they rippled in the wind. The Adirondacks in the distance were highlighted in patches of sun and the whole expansive view took on a magical feeling. The sun then touched the mountains and fell below, leaving a sky of low clouds touched by burnished gold.

I returned home to mix more dyes and continued dyeing my batik pieces into the night. The weather is still favorable for dyeing fabric outdoors and I like to dye as many pieces as I can before winter sets in. I'm finishing many large batik that I started many months ago.

All kinds of fabric items are being completed for the LARAC Arts Festival to be held next weekend, November 6 and 7th. Besides the batik hangings and framed pieces I'm working on new scarves, potpourri pouches, silk shoulder bags, small change purses, circle bags and have matted prints of some of my batik work as well as cards and bookmarks.

I'm working on mirror images as you can see from the photos here. Also enclosed is a photo of one of my wood burnings from days in the past. The great god Pan summons the magical figures up from the earth.
Happy Halloween!

Fall Fantasy

The ground was white with frost this morning and eventually the sun hit the hills with a blast of red, orange and purple. I have been making use of the good fall weather to be waxing and dyeing lots of batik. The nights get dark early and I go to my studio and do the waxing of the batik at night, then using good days to color my pieces through the dyebaths.

The fall is a season to plan for the cold months to come and also to reflect on things past, present and future. I like to take the darker hours to indulge in fantasy and I've included some batik examples of this for the post this week.

You can see one of my old favorites, the "Crescent Dragon", part of a vintage batik group I've put together recently. "The Goat and Wood Elf" are also part of this group. More recent fantasy include "Pegasus Flying over Fields and River" and another quite large batik "Magical Birds".

The Fruits of Fall

Fall is here with it's bright colors and shortened daylight. Colors have reached some wonderful shades on the trees and shrubs, but the rains have already knocked many leaves to the ground.

We still have bright green grass but many things have turned brown. As I look about the yard there are some beautiful fruits from the many flowers we enjoyed earlier this year. The dogwood has large red globes that the birds really enjoy. Other plants have seeds and fluff as the milkweed pod. Our watermelons were tiny but tasty and had their little brown/ black seeds to continue life for another year.

I find myself craving light and the mornings hold much less. I like to be outdoors to catch the last rays of sun and often climb the hill behind me at the day’s end to celebrate the closing of the day.

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

The Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival went very well this past weekend. I'm pausing to write this before I unpack from the show. I’m pleased with the sales and more pleased with the wonderful people I got to speak with and the praise for my batik and hand painted fabric.

There were so many beautiful exhibits with wools, yarns and other crafts, all with excellent quality. There were also farms with their sheep, alpacas, and llamas. There was music, dog herding, sheep shearing demonstrations, and many fun things for kids. I'm looking forward to next year.

I worked continuously when I got home to finish a few pieces and get them to the festival. Sunday morning I did bring down a piece I'd worked on for six months. See photos of my booth and the batik of sheep spread out over the fields. The name of this one is "Cast Off to the Fields- Sheep". This is part of the "Cast Off to the Fields" series of which I am working on several other batik. You can see "Cast off to the Fields" on my blog posted July 22, with other related photos on other July posts.

Anniversary

Monday, September 13th, is a day I can't help but remember. One year has passed since my Dad passed away at ninety five and three quarters years old. Spring came and the house and yard seemed empty, very much changed. Some plants had even disapeared.

My Dad could always make a sound exactly like a robin and when I heard those first spring robins I said, hello Dad, I'm glad you're here.

My dad was not very tall, but he was a powerhouse of energy. His favorite work was restoring old houses. The house we now live in was his last house to restore. Thirty years ago my Dad retired at sixty five and undertook the project of bringing this grand old house back to life.

It had been built in the 1800s and was abandoned with the south end open to the elements. It is in good condition now and the yard reflects the loving work my Mom and Dad put into it. I strive to keep the beauty here that they both planted and built. I am grateful everyday.

Trumpet Vine Brings Hummingbirds

The heat is reluctant to leave, even though it is now September 2nd. As usual to avoid all the heat I can, I was outdoors early this morning enjoying my cows and the plants.

Today I've been looking at the late season pods which store the seeds for continuing their life. The lillies have strong oblong pods, crown vetch has small long pods as is also seen on other legumes including alfalfa that did not get mowed. Of special interest is the trumpet vine which while continuing to produce it's long trumpet shaped flowers, is also producing long pods, like string beans.

As I stood below it, hummingbirds happily harvested it's nectar. One hovered buzzing my ear and brought back memories of an incident that happened earlier this year.

I had gone into the garage which has the doors always open this time of year and saw a hummingbird confused and trying to fly out the closed windows unsuccessfully. I made an attempt to help the hummingbird find a new direction to freedom but quickly realized it made things worse. I left hoping he/she would discover the way to freedom.

An hour later I returned to the garage and saw no sign of the hummingbird. However when I glanced up at the overhead garage door I saw the hummingbird stuck in a small hole in the garage door, unable to move its wings it was trapped.

I found a towel and gently pulled the hummingbird forward and out. In the towel I lowered it to the ground and the hummingbird was set free! It hovered above my head and then was suddenly gone. Might this bird near my head be the same one???

With my camera I tried to capture the hummingbird. I succeded after a fashion, but he/she was too far and fast for my zoom lens. See what I got, it made me happy!

Batik of Fantasy out of the Rain

Sunday morning I awoke to the sound of much needed rain. It was a peaceful and welcome sound and the heavy rain had a hypnotic effect on me. Many fields and lawns had turned brown as one hot sunny day followed another. I'm glad our plants can now be renewed and grateful that there was no hay mowed to be ruined by the downpour.

As I was encouraged to stay inside, I turned to stretching some batik on canvas stretchers and then framed them. I looked back to a batik from long ago. See the detail of unicorns swimming in the sea, inspired by the book "The Last Unicorn"

I enjoy fantasy and here are some more recent batik. Horse Dreaming Below Tree ( about unicorns), and Golden Eagle over Lothlorien ( inspired by Tolkien).

Goodbye to Daylilies!

As I took my morning walk with my tai chi practice at the top of the hill behind my house, I stopped and sat on a rock and drank my coffee in the warm summer breeze. The air felt good and was filled with the sounds of insects. There was much more intensity to their chorus than a month ago. Birds and occasionally the sound of a car or a truck in the distance became blended into the insect's sounds. The farmer's machines were quiet as the fields continue to grow for the next cutting. A small airplane cruised the sky with a lazy drone to it's engine. The sound from the insects is an expansive relaxing sound that has an effect on me of feeling connected to all things.

My favorite flowers, the daylillies,are almost gone for the year. A few appear, but I find myself pulling out the dried stems and thinking of the time next year when they will be back. I think back to the beautiful show they put on. Each flower is here for one day only and I do not want to miss seeing that flower.

My heifer, Footstep, is now one year and two months and is growing well and happy here near our house. I'm glad to have her and her mom here.

The garden, much of it in pots has done well, with the exception of the squash plants. The cherry tomatos, peppers, dill and purple basil are very pretty to look at. The rainbow swiss chard is especially beautiful in the early morning sun. I'm grateful to such a good beginning to a productive day.

Weeds!!

I have been pulling out weeds in the hot, very dry sun. There seems to be no end. The grass is drying up and becoming dormant, and the flowers and vegetables seem to need water every day lately. The weeds however seem to thrive.

We plant flowers and crops for us and our livestock. We try to push back, pull out, chop down and spray the weeds to keep them in line. Let's take a look at the field's edge.

Upon looking closely, I find that weeds can be beautiful.
The mullen plants on the edge stand stately and are beginning to flower at the top with beautiful yellow flowers. The prickly thistle that can spread so quickly, scratch our animals and keep them from eating the pastures, have gorgeous purple flowers. Even the dreaded burr plant has pretty purple spikey flowes at this time. Queen Anne's Lace is not good for livestock and can clog a field when not mowed down frequently. But look at the beautiful lacey flowers! This clump has striking pink dots in their centers.

There are many other weeds with flowers of all colors and shapes. Also some weeds that do not flower have very fascinating shapes and subtle shades of color and texture.

These too make a contrbution to ideas, colors and patterns for my batik.