Gray Fall Days

 "The color of truth is gray."

Andre Gide

I went walking the other day before the rain got going, to look for sticks for a project. I love this old tree, it is down near the river bank. At some point it split in two and both halves, the one still vertical as well as that laying on the ground continued to grow. The one on the ground seems to have finally given in. Sad as that is, I am always intrigued with the weathering of the exposed wood. 

Fall Days

"To most human beings wind is an irritation. To most trees, wind is a song."

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Just Be

"Clarice scrawled, 'A question from when I was a little girl that I can answer only now: are rocks made, or are they born? Answer: rocks are."

Benjamin Moser, Why this World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector 

Spokane lies in the path of an ancient flood plain. Most rocks in the river are ovid gray stones, worn smooth by centuries of water tumbling them around and about. I love it when I come across rocks that are different from all the rest. Pushed here by the forces of ice and water they tell tales of faraway places.

Green and black, hiding in a place where fairies must live.

A loaf of bread! It looks like you should be able to slice into it. So much so that I had to poke at it to make sure it was a rock.

Swirls and eddies, a liquid as a solid.

What a Week

This week has been very disconcerting. When I feel this way I look to nature to remind me of the bigger picture. I have taken a very long walk each day. I see the river rising as it should at this time of the year, the leaves changing and falling, and, thanks to the incredible amount of rain, the mushrooms rising. My husband has brought home something new almost every day to identify. There was even an article in our local paper about the diversity of fruiting fungi this fall, some not seen for the last ten years.  

                                                                                                                                                        Watching the ducks paddling around in swirling water that I would be afraid to swim in due to its force, is comforting as well as inspiring. They are completely at home no matter the tempest around them. Or, maybe to my untrained eye, they know when to dodge the churning water coming from below that I can't see from where I stand. I wish I had the same knowledge about my own world. To know how to swim into the whitewater while avoiding the deadly whirlpools would be empowering.

While my sunroom would hardly be considered a nature area, it is soothing to see my Christmas cactus doing what they normally do at this time of year. The days shorten and they bloom. With all the gray days in October, they are a bit ahead of schedule.  They have adjusted to what is going on around them. 

                                                                                                                                                         Outside is another story. Our temperatures this fall have been abnormally warm. We did have a light frost in September, so the hollyhocks and other perennials died back. The annuals died off and it looked like fall was on the way to winter. Then we had copious amounts of rain and highs in the sixties with nighttime lows in the high forties for all of October and now for the first two weeks of November. Today it is a beautiful spring day. We started out with rain and now it is sunny and breezy. Trouble is, it is not spring. The snapdragons and even some petunias have reseeded and sent up seedlings, the perennials are coming back from the roots. They don't know it yet, but all will get a rude awakening later in the week when it is supposed to freeze at night. 

                                                                                                                                                                  I feel like the outdoor plants. I had been going along thinking I had at least a notion of what was going on, and now-I don't know what to think or where to turn. Society was not what I thought it was. I went to bed one night and woke up to a very harsh reality. It would be easier to live in some sheltered, hothouse world where there was plenty of time to make decisions and adjust. Truth is, life is not that way. I stay grounded by enveloping myself in a world that remains constant by continuously changing, the real world, the natural world. The plants will freeze, go dormant and be back in the spring and their lives will go on. While I can't go dormant entirely (wish that I could) I do need to rest, pull back and conserve my energy for whatever life delivers next.

Time Well Spent

I had a lovely time in Anacortes Washington, both at the show and at the campground. I got quite a bit of work done while there, using all the lovely plants that don't grow on the eastern side of the state. The campground is right on the water's edge with a lot of untouched forest. Thimbleberry, salmonberry, ferns, and bracken all grow among the old trees and make wonderful prints.

I also walked a lot and spent time thinking and not thinking. I came across this tree one afternoon and watched the passage of time in the tides.

Fall at the River

Gray fall days are my favorite, the colors of the leaves seem to glow against the sky. It is good to get out and think about nothing for a bit.

A Good Day

I went to see the movie Wild today and I was impressed. It didn't quite give me the same sense of passion that the book did, but they did a good job with it. I came home and rinsed out several rusty nail scarves which all came out well-whew! Although I am not sure what I was worried about, the worst that would happen is that I would eco print them later. Then I took a small hike of my own over to the river. The wind was blowing and the sky was brilliant blue. The Spokane River was teal green as it is at this time of year. The wind is completely still now as the sun sets behind my favorite tree in our yard.

Nesting

Birds nest in the spring, I nest in the winter. The art fair circuit is done for the year, and it is time to rest and reflect. The days here are very short, it gets dark around four in the afternoon. Since there is nothing that has to be done outside there is time to nurture ideas that have been waiting their turn. It is also a good time to look back over what ideas I did make come into to reality and decide if they worked, or if they could be expanded. Several years ago I decided that I would also use this time to experiment with new materials and it has turned out to be a good decision. Even if I don't pursue any of them to a great degree, I always learn something or am inspired in some way. This winter's experiment is with ceramics. I have no interest in making my own coffee mugs or dinnerware at this point, but I have been searching the world over for earthy buttons, beads and pendants to work into my scarves and accessories. I am having some success (pictures coming soon I hope-ceramics can take as long as eco printing) and have had many insights into my fiber work; not to mention meeting an inspiring group of artists.

On this morning's walk I found this little nest resting in a branch over the Spokane River. It does remind me that I should also probably think about cleaning and reorganizing my own little nest. After a year of eco printing, my studio does resemble a pile of sticks!

Finch Arboretum

Yesterday I went on a walking tour put on by Spokane Urban Forestry. Not only did I learn about trees but saw some crazy fungus as well!

The End of Summer is Near!

     For the last few days I have been up early. I have been surveying my weed sites and picking what I need. As you can see, the knapweed is toast at this point, as are some of the garden plants I use. With those plants I now wait for them to reseed themselves, sleep for the winter and start again next spring.

     Yesterday I went to my favorite place to collect driftwood, alas, it is blanketed in a luxurious coating of poison ivy! That will have to wait until next year, when again, the pile will be floating in a bend in the river. I did see a lovely little snake, we traveled together for quite awhile before he turned off into the grass.

     Today I saw some silvery minnows and when I got home I discovered a pair of quail decided to have a late season brood!  I hope they get a chance to grow up before it is too cold. They were out for a stroll across the lawn. While the temperature says otherwise, the change of season is near!