In Between Seasons

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130912 Morning Storm Clouds (1)The past two days have been hot and humid, the cicadas buzzing away.  I brought the dogs out at 6:30 this morning and this is what the sky looked like.  Something you normally see as the clouds build on a humid summer afternoon as the thunderstorms roll in.  It feels like July.

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This kind of weather does something to my brain – I can’t quite comprehend the garden being done (yes, other than digging potatoes and rutabagas it’s done). My mind has moved onto Fall jobs.  Bringing in and stacking wood, that’s what I should be doing but not it this heat.

Then I look out over my newest garden, still ablaze with color,  everything taking on the ochre colors of autumn and my mind knows that winter is coming.

130912 Colors of Fall

 

Beating a Seven Year Old at Croquet

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My family can certainly relate to many aspects of this post.

cobrunstrom's avatarconradbrunstrom

croquet stuff

The other day I played my first proper game of croquet with my seven year old son.  I’m pleased to say that I beat him convincingly.  I’m horrified to say that I’m pleased to say that I beat him convincingly.  I’m pleased to say that I’ve rationalised my own horror at how pleased  I was to beat him convincingly.

I first played croquet when I was about his age.  The game is part of my childhood – interwoven with my most persistent and recurring family memories.  And it’s not all good.  Croquet reminds me that I have a foul temper, that fits of incandescent rage can descend like spooky red mist in an instant and that my capacity for self control has always been limited.

Croquet is a nasty nasty game.  Much more cruel and unpleasant than golf – and all the better for it.  Of course, croquet, unlike golf…

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Weaving Wednesday 14

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130910 Blue and White warpI went to the studio last night to thread the warp on one of the towels we are doing for our round robin.  This warp is cotton in alternating colors – 4 threads blue, 4 threads white.  Pam had wound the warp and beamed it (she did on all 11 looms, crazy woman).  The threading, slaying and tie off was up to each student participating.  She asked me to do this one.

The  warp was wound with the blue and white threads together so when I was threading I has to separate it into groups of 4 as I went along.  I posted a pic to FB as I was doing it because the beginning seemed like a tangled mess to me and it was difficult for me to get a rhythm going that would carry me through.

Just as an FYI this is the sort of thing that makes me just a little crazy.  I love order and symmetry and this seemed anything but.  The threads would tangle together – blue and white as I threaded them through the heddles.  I threaded them in groups of eight.  When the blues were threaded the whites were tangled but once I finished the whites it seemed to straighten out.  For a person with an OCD in order and symmetry this was pretty stressful.

It gets better.  Being the novice that I am I counted the heddles on the first shaft to make sure there were enough before I started – I figured I was good to go.  You guessed it – I was short on two shafts at the end.  DAMN IT!  I had to move heddles from one side of the harness to the other which was a struggle (that, my friends, is a wild understatement).

I had been looking forward to a quiet evening meditation with fiber.  I got a hot, frustrating 3 hours.

There are lessons learned here.  The most obvious to me is count your heddles – all of them, don’t assume anything.  The next is that I can fix my mistakes for the most part.  The most important one for me is learning to work through that OCD.  Yeah, yeah, it made me short of breath with an extreme headache but once it was done I relaxed and thought “that wasn’t THAT bad”.

Years ago, in my quilting days, I had a lot of trouble letting go of control of my projects.  The colors had to be just so, set in the right spots, the seams perfect, the points exact.  I met a woman whose work I greatly admired.  I worked with her on the CT Quilt Search Project for over 3 years where I saw scrap quilts that were stunning.  I couldn’t figure out how they decided what went where to have these textiles of scraps come together with such beauty.  We talked about it at one point and she said “Put all of your light pieces in one bag and your darks in another – as you’re sewing them together just pick random ones alternating from one bag to another”.  That was way, way out of my comfort zone.  I had no control but I forced myself to do it.

I ended up with a beautiful top, exactly what I was looking for made in probably half of the time because I forced myself to let go.   I need to remember those lessons every time I do something that I’m frantically trying to maintain control of – you just have to let it go.

 

Mr. Photobomb

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130908 Pear Tree PhotobombI just had to take a photo or two of the pear tree.  It is loaded with fruit this year and I am always amazed at how the branches bow down to the ground without breaking.  The light was harsh but it was a beautiful evening.  And guess who just happened to be in the shot.  One of many that he was in.  You’d think he was waiting to see the results.

Playing with Light and Structure

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There aren’t many times when I’m visiting a new place where I allow myself the time to see what’s around me.  I look at things but I need time to actually see them without distraction.  My visit to Fort Knox on the Penobscot river last Friday allowed me that time.  I had gone to the state park with the intention of going to the observatory at the top of the new bridge.  In order to do so you had to buy a ticket to the state park (a brilliant move on the part of the state of Maine I might add).  After making my expected trip to the top of the tower and looking at an exquisite view on a pristine, blue sky morning I began to photograph the shapes around me, not just the landscape.

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The bridge is an amazing structure.  I have to admit it was shocking to see in some respects, it looks so out of place in its modern design as you come around the corner on Route 1 and it seems to appear out of nowhere.  From the river it is stunning.  The sun on the water reflecting sparkling circles on the concrete above.

I had a few hours at Fort Knox State Park and for nostalgic reasons I figured I’d take a look around the fort. Old forts anywhere were always in our vacationing itinerary when I was a kid and I remember this one being a pretty good one.  I was more than pleasantly surprised.

IMAG0936The fort is continually being restored and maintained but is a very large complex of earth, granite and brick.  And the light . . . oh, the light.  This was one of the first hallway/tunnels I walked into and it took my breath away.

IMAG0927I continued to walk through tunnels with slits for windows letting the morning sunlight in.  I thought about the thousands upon thousand of feet that had walked across these brick floors from the Revolution on.

IMAG0943It’s difficult to think of something constructed so beautifully as being fully armed in preparation for defense from attack.

130906 (2)I played with the light for a few hours and walked around really in awe.

IMAG0951This was really the highlight of my time away.  It was quiet, I saw four people while I was there. I was allowed a few hours of solitude where I could just soak in morning light on arches.  Where I could allow my mind to imagine living here in anticipation of a fight to protect what I felt was mine.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  I don’t believe a battle was ever fought here.

I can only speak for myself but photography like this is a very private, personal thing for me.  Of all the creative endeavors over the weekend this was really my favorite.  Most people around me don’t understand the need to be alone in order to be creative, to see what is in front of you.  I don’t know about you but there is just so much noise around all of the time – both visual and auditory.  Sometimes you just need to cloister yourself away in order to see, think and create.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Recap of Fiber College and Maine

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What a whirlwind this trip has been.  I drove home to Rowe last night, leaving at 6:30 after class (and picking up lobster and clams).  I arrived about 11:30.

This was my first foray into the “fiber” world and all I can really say is it was interesting.  I find it amusing the style of dress “creative” people wear.

My first day (Thursday) I took a book binding class with Anna Low of Purplebean Bindery.  We made Buttonhole bound books.  They are brilliant in their simplicity.

IMAG0890Anna was a great teacher and we each made two beautiful books that lie flat when they are open (always a plus for me).  There were 10 of us in the class and it’s always such a joy to spend time with other creative people.

IMAG0889The class got out early – around 3:30 so I decided to take a drive up Route 1 and see more of Maine.  I rounded a corner coming into the Penobscot River crossing and saw the new bridge.  It defies description really.  Beautiful to look at, creepy to drive across (that could just be my own bridge phobia talking).  I went into Bucksport and all I could think about was that bridge.  I looked it up when I got back to my room and decided to spend my free Friday morning at Fort Knox State Park and ride to the observatory at the top.  That, my friends, will have to be another post.

Friday afternoon I had a class on making scarf pins with Cindy Kilgore.  The class was a couple of hours and was crowded, hot and sooooo much fun!  Did I mention it was loud?  Picture 7 women at a plastic banquet table pounding 12 gauge brass wire with a ball peen hammer on small square metal bench anvils.  Yeah, loud.

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Cindy was a fun, patient teacher.  She explained things really well and by the time I was done I felt really comfortable with the design possibilities and was pleased with my pins.  Not the best photograph but you get the idea.

Saturday I had two classes, one in the morning, one later in the afternoon.

The first class was with Tom Cote, a wood carver from northern Maine.  What an amazing guy.

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Tom was an art teacher for 30 years teaching grades K-12.  You could tell, he was talented and could tell a story and keep you interested all while you were sanding little pieces of wood.  This class was all about making buttons and closures out of found objects.  The closures I made were out of a stick picked up off of the ground in the campground, a wooden bobbin from a weaving mill and a chunk of wood cut from scraps in his wood shop.  It was really all about seeing things around you in a different way.  Almost everything was done with a coping saw, sandpaper and a drill.  A little oil and you have yourself a button.

IMAG0976This photo doesn’t do these buttons justice – but I took it on my fleece jacket on the ground outside of the tent so it is what it is.  They are beautiful.

My last class was with Jennifer Carson.  I’ve been following Jennifer for quite a while now, I love her art and especially her creature creations.  I’ve made stuffed bears and dolls for years but decided to take her class because it had to do with design.  It was great fun with a lot of very funny women.  I have found over the years that doll makers are one of the best groups to hang out with.  We all make up back stories for our dolls as they are created – great fun.

IMAG0984This was an exercise in creating from scratch.  We started with a pencil and piece of paper and everyone ended up with a head.  I love doll making for this reason, you really don’t know what you’re going to end up with – it evolves.  A lot of techniques were used in this and the wool felt it the perfect medium – very forgiving.

This half week getaway was a lot of fun.  I met a lot of great people from all over the U.S. (yes, people travel all over just to go to these things).  Each and every one was creative with a need to learn and share.  The location was amazing, right on the shore.  If you needed a quiet spot it was only a few hundred yards away.  This is the kind of event that sends participants home re-energized and ready to create something new and unexpected.  It takes away the fear of the unknown.  You learn that anything taken in small simple steps can be accomplished.

 

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This trip has been interesting is many unexpected ways. When we were kids our family went on vacation one week a year and very often it took us up the coast of Maine.
As I was driving up Rte. 95 the towns in which we had stopped passed by as nothing but roadsigns and memories – Kittery, Brunswick, Wisscasett.
I’m not sure why but I feel like we often stopped at odd obscure places. It could be because my father always had far flung interests, most of which I didn’t realize were odd until I was far into adulthood. Or my mother had a healthy sense of humor that would take us to places like Perry’s Nut House.  I’m wondering what makes someone stop at a place like that.
Since it’s next door to the place I’m staying I think I will find out. This is a place we all remember, maybe only for its name. It’s probably been almost 50 years since I set eyes on it but its name has been in our storytelling forever.
With any luck I’ll be able to report a fantastic experience and perfectly good reason why this has been part of our vacation history. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of it has to do with the name.

Where I Could Spend a Good Deal of Time

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This is what I was waiting for – the lobster, the sunset, the harbor, the boats.  It was also in the mid seventies when I arrived.  Wonderful.

I’m So Done with Peaches

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It’s been a busy few days.  Lots of canning this past weekend in spite of the hot, humid weather.  I always think if being way too hot when I’m canning, it’s the nature of the beast.

The canning marathon began Sunday morning with a large bowl of tomatoes.   The photo looks like it’s all yellow but it was half plum as well.

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These little tomatoes are bursting with flavor, one of my favorites and the plants are extraordinarily prolific.  There is always a bowl of these on the counter to munch on as you’re walking by.

I made the sauce highly spiced with homemade pesto and oregano (and lots of garlic of course).  It was cooked down to be rather thick and then I canned it in small jars (2/3 cup).  You never need much sauce when you make pizza and this just made more sense to me – that and the fact that I had two dozen of these cute little jars.

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Monday I wove and finished my scarf for the Big E.  That took a good part of the day.  It was hot, humid and rainy.  We invited friends over for dinner so the only thing I did outdoors was dig potatoes for dinner.  I also picked peppers and put them in to dehydrate. They were there overnight.  Before going to bed I went online and saw Apex Orchards had put out an APB about an overrun of peaches so I knew what I would be doing in the morning.

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Yes, peaches.  Lots of peaches.  I picked them up around 9:00 and started in as soon as I returned.  This wasn’t the best peach experience I have ever had.  They didn’t peel as well as I would have liked so it was slow going.  I managed to put up 15 pints and with half a box to go I decided to make a little jam.

130903 Peaches (2)I had picked up this new pectin at the orchard and was hot to try it out.  One of the reasons I don’t make much jam is the amount of sugar that has to go into it, this made more sense to me.  I made a jam with peaches, honey and ginger.  It smelled heavenly while it was cooking and what little was left in the pan tasted great.  The thing with jam is it sometimes takes a while to jell up.  By the time I left the house last night it wasn’t looking too thick. I figured I would give it a couple of days to see if it would be thick enough to spread on my toast.  If not it’ll just go into my oatmeal or yogurt.  Mmmmmm, Honey Ginger Peach yogurt, how good does THAT sound!

By the time the afternoon was over I was sooo over peaches.  Canning fruit also calls for serious cleaning – everything was sticky, including the floor.  This may be why peaches are one of the few fruits I put up.  The next will be pears but not until November.  I need a couple of months to recover.

130903 Peaches (3)I will be leaving for Fiber College in Searsport, ME this afternoon.  I’m not sure how much time will be devoted to blogging but I will make an attempt.  All I really want to do is smell and walk along the ocean and eat lobster but I may be coerced into doing a little crafting while I’m there.