Slow Progress

Progress on this is slow ... and not in a good way ... not in a slow cloth way.  I have spent too much time ripping out stitches. Still, I am enjoying the process.

 

I don't know about these stitches on top of stitches.  What do you think? Is it interesting or just confusing? Is it too busy? Does it look messy?

This dill was in my New Pond Farm harvest share, which I picked up last Thursday ... so it is in its seventh day since harvest. I am delighted, to say the least. All I've done is keep it in this tiny pitcher with water. No refrigeration. It still looks as good as new. Imagine doing that with supermarket dill ... even a high end grocer.  Seriously ... I usually come home with one of those big bundles and it smells delicious but it doesn't even stay fresh for one day.

Shared Harvest - The Beginning

This is the first week of picking up my veggies from the Shared Harvest CSA at New Pond Farm.  I am very happy that there are ton of arugula leaves ... one of my favorite salad items (along with avocado, but I'll get that from the store). 

What I took home today: broccoli, Pac Choi (Chinese cabbage), buttercrunch lettuce, White Russian kale, curly kale, lacinato kale, multi-colored "bright lights" chard, radishes, spinach, dill, and kohlrabi. The radishes are huge ... in fact, I thought they were very small beets! I also didn't recognize the spinach at first ... I knew it looked familiar, but it took me a while to recognize that it was spinach. Funny. 

This is my other new thing for this week. Not at all sure where it's going. But it's nice to have something to sew. I like the different blues and the thread which I dipped into the indigo vat, all crumpled up so it came out variegated.

The indigo vat, last year ... learning from Glennis Dolce - Shibori Girl. I did so little, maybe this summer I will pay more atention.

Light

I walked into my kitchen this evening and the light hitting the flowers on the table was breathtaking. I grabbed my phone and took a shot.  I didn't really capture it in all its glory, but this is the best my phone could do.

I was amazed to see how this shot turned out ... the camera actually captured a rainbow of colors streaming through the air. 

Happy first day of June!

Beginning

The pieces in the top photo all want to be together and so do the pieces in the bottom photo. Whether these are two separate projects or all part of one, I'm not yet sure. It's too soon to know how it will end, but it's definitely started and so I will pursue it - whatever "it" is - to its perfect conclusion.

It feels so good to be excited about doing something. I've been fretting for quite some time about when-oh-when will I ever get back into the studio and start making things again. Luckily, I stumbled upon  THIS  and it was exactly what I needed to remind about what is the most important part of the creative process.  

Hint: You have to show up.

The thread, by the way, is some vintage tan crochet thread which I dipped into the indigo vat when I took an online class offered by Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl).  If you are not familiar with her work (and even if you are) do yourself a favor and go exploring because she makes some really drop dead gorgeous stuff and it is always a treat to spend time browsing her latest creations.

As I ponder what I will make with these elements (and this may only make sense to you if you are old enough to carry West Side Story in your memory), this is what keeps going through my mind:

Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!

Daily Bread

I recently learned how to make focaccia ... not that there is a whole lot to learn ... I had just never done it before. I've watched my daughter make it many times, but never did it myself. The thing is, it is very easy to make ... the kneading seems so much easier than when I make "real" bread ... and the finished product is hugely delicious and very versatile ... like tofu, it can take on whatever flavor you want, depending on the toppings you use. I'm thinking I could just make this every day.

Flower Power

Bud's daffodils

Another reason to love living in Redding: Bud McQuade's field of 40,000-plus daffodils. Every spring, we Reddingites know to take a drive on Cross Highway where nearly 97 year old Bud McQuade lives in a house he built on property next to the house where he grew up.  It is a breathtaking sight and one which lets us all know winter is truly behind us and summer will be staying for a while.

My daffodils

I have a few daffodils in my yard too. They will not impress a passerby as does Bud McQuade's glorious display, but I find joy in them just the same.

It occurs to me that flowers are like a magic show in the fact that they are stunning to observe while difficult to understand just exactly how their magic happens. Even so, it is so easy to take them for granted. Sure, we all sincerely appreciate their beauty ... but do we truly embrace how profoundly phenomenal it is that these gorgeous bits of tint and fluff exist at all? That they push their way through the ground with amazing fidelity to the rules of nature and serve us in so many ways? They please our senses with their beauty and aroma They provide food for the bees who then provide honey. Many plants and flowers have medicinal properties. Others can be used to dye textiles.

Of course artists are in debt to the world of flowers. Can we fully imagine van Gogh without  his sunflowers? How much the poorer would we all be if Monet had not painted his waterlilies, or Georgia O'Keeffe her poppies? And I am certainly grateful that Imogen Cunningham  used her camera to immortalize a magnolia blossom.

If you really want to appreciate the magic in flowers, consider this: flowers help the poets to write and lovers to unite. That's pretty good magic, is it not?

The earth laughs in flowers. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Daffodil photos: Doug Crites-Moore