Still Settling In

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I tried another outing into the square. This time it was the chili making contest.

I only saw two people I knew…both men from the morning coffee gathering. I put all my tickets in the one jar but found out this morning he did not win. But I did last a half hour smiling and tasting chili and pumpkin offerings.

My walk back down the hill was preferable to eating any more samples.

Past some lovely fall trees.

The night before the chili contest I went with friends to a very good restaurant in town. It was nice to be waited on, have a lovely wine and company before coming back home for more conversation.

Over the weekend I stayed home to work on the garage and locate the last of the books that needed to come inside. I wanted to locate my carving tools because I am getting itchy to make marks in wood. I am thinking that the Burke and Wills Story would be nice done in wood cuts. And now need to find enough small blocks of wood to get started.

Saturday was spent putting things away once they were moved to the house and doing laundry.

Sunday was baking a loaf of pumpkin, banana, walnut and maple bread.

And I got another drawing in the Meadow Book.

The only way to get better is to keep doing it. I photographed this favorite tree that is on my walk the other side of the meadow.

I love how it presents itself to anyone who will look at it. Every single Eucalyptus in Australia does this….leans in and spreads its branches out to get your attention. I used this one for the model of where Burke and Wills spend several years. You can see the door near the base and an upper circular window that Burke sometimes uses.  I wonder whether I am more content being by myself and in the company of a good imagination than out there in the public.

I did try to find out if there was a sewing group in the area. I went to the local quilt store on their day for people to bring in what they were working on and sit and sew. Thank goodness I was smart enough to just go in as a customer looking for thread. You can tell if the store caters to hand sewers by looking over their threads. Good grief!! Only a few odds and ends of very pale embroidery thread. A few balled spools of mercerized cotton…mostly off white but a couple deep indigo ones that I selected one of and headed to the register. All the fabrics, and there were plenty, were those crispy feeling cottons for quilt making. Nothing in there felt good to the touch. There was not even a package of cheese cloth! I paid over five dollars for the one spool pf thread and was told that the store was for machine users only.

It reminded me of when I first moved to the area thirty years ago and was invited to the local fiber group meeting. I was told to bring what I was working on and talk about it. I took the first of the Sarajevo coats about the war going on there. They were passably polite, uninterested and eager to get back to their discussions on craftmanship and marketability.  I slipped into the kitchen to see what refreshments were on order only to find some of their children, that they take everywhere, smearing the cream cheese they had wiped off the treats into the cracks in the floor boards. I did not go back.

Anyway, I am getting myself ready to start carving and pull out my little scraps of cloth to stitch together. I miss working on these pieces from last year.

It is supposed to get quite cold tonight so I will head inro the meadow to see the changes before I get out my necessary tools to start something new.

The crows are gathering so one might be the next addition to the Meadow Book.

I bought myself a steamer to try on my clothes. Even though I love ironing, steaming wrinkles from clothes left too long in boxes seemed a good idea.

More later

Some Lovely Sights

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I caught the full moon this week. Mostly over the roof tops.

And then the morning’s walk up the hill into town.

Yesterday I walked over to the creek and was surprised to find a monarch butterfly. He will go into the Meadow Book for sure.

During the day I baked. Pumpkin Maple Scones and Second Best Malted Cookies I Ever Ate, but with the substitute of a malt extract for beer making. They were not quite as sweet but still very good!

And two days ago I did a watercolor illustration of Burke and Wills looking out their window.

And one more walk to the creek. First heading over toward the bridge to the Indian Mound.

Leaves on the ground.

And the beauty of the massive amount of white flowers supplying nectar to the insects.

I took the scones to the men this morning. There was quite a feast waiting. One of them had brought in donuts and another had a crock pot of his chili we will all be tasting again at the Chili Cook Off Contest tomorrow evening.

Now off to meet a friend for lunch….

Til later..

Along The Hiwassee River

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Where I live now is not far from the Georgia beginnings of the Hiwassee River. The Chatuge Dam controls the flow of water levels in the river. When I last walked the other end of the Hiwassee on my Riverwalk trail near Murphy, NC the water was very high. So was the mosquito count and catfish thrashing about.

But two days ago I went back to take in the changes along that walk. It was later in the morning so the light was a bit different and more people were out.

Lots of ducks on the water and an occasional goose.

The river was way down and reflections beautiful.

I love the colors in this photo of the downed tree over the bank.

And this bit of sky trapped in the low water of a creek feeding off the river near the trail heading back upstream.

The flood waters of spring and summer soften the ground around old heavy trees that have little resistance left in them. It will become a moss-covered bridge for critters to avoid the snapping turtles who lurk in these shallow waters.

I always photograph this sloped trail heading back into the light. It was very nice to be back on this part of the river and I will make a plan to head this way once a week because I have missed it.

Back home on the path to the river at this end it is getting drier and the wind seems to have trained the tall grasses to mostly point east.

And in my garden out back….

This grass is so beautiful now that it is fully in bloom.

I pulled out my Boro shirt to sew on. There comes a point where a needle just needs to be threaded and cloth wants to be held to another piece of cloth.

This started out as a small Boro coat that a friend gave me some time back. I thought about just hanging it on a wall. But what I really wanted to do was feel it next to my skin. So what was there was reconfigured and patched with worn clothing of my own and additional old Japanese fabrics I had purchased because I could not leave them behind.

When we were in Japan many years ago with a group of basket makers led by Jiro Yanazawa, we needed to make a stop along a country road. It looked like an old gas station that might have some sort of facility out back. It turned out to be bushes at best. And when I had straightened myself back up, two Japanese fieldhands wandered by. I smiled. They giggled. They had on these wonderful patched and stitched shirts over their indigo dyed pants. The look and smell of these worn, patched, and worn again clothes was intoxicating to me. I would have bought the shirts right off their backs if it was not such an inappropriate thing to even think about doing. Now I will have my own done in the tradition of making something useful again with needle and thread.

If I was in Australia I could wear this shirt anywhere because there are so many people working in textiles and appreciating the history of Boro clothing. By that I mean the many friends whose company I enjoyed there. But here, in the conservative southern United States, I would be looked on as needing to return home to change. Not until I pulled out this Boro piece did it occur to me how few friends I have who would understand or appreciate the story of being clothed in such a history.

I used to buy used clothes to alter or cut up into another piece of clothing. When a former friend (who I am sure was embarrassed by it) asked me why. The best I could come up with was that I was wearing someone else’s history. We were sharing a time together. Perfect strangers feeling the same cloth on skin. It still surprises me how few people even think that it is something to consider. It is more than being mindful of making do and reusing what is there by putting a patch on….it is also about who else pulled this shirt over their heads and stepped out into another place at another time.

It is a very good thing that I like my own company and have become used to walking my own path.

I also have gone back to Burke and Wills. Drawing them more aged has been challenging.

Our youthful roundness will not last forever. Sagging bodies with wispy hairs takes over sooner than we thought. I love how these two have stayed together for so long. And look forward to doing more drawings and putting words and pictures on the page.

Til later….

 

It Is Getting Cooler

Posted on by Sandy Webster

You can feel the crispness in the air. The meadow is dying back.

The colors and patterns call for attention.

Butterflies seem rushed to get what is left in the drying blooms. They are hard to photograph but I get enough to look them up in the Information Center where I now keep the Audubon and Peterson books. I might have to put a sign on the dictionary saying, “I am not a bible. I am a dictionary!” All these years and no one ever assumed it was other than a dictionary. Could be I have moved to an area where open bibles are common and/or necessary.

I had a nice chat with a new neighbor this morning. I think she is the only other one to brave walking up the hill to town…of course she had a dog on a leash to help out. I just pause half way up and take in the scenery while I catch my breath. She says she never misses a day…365 a year! She also says that it does not get slick with snow and ice. Good. I will keep at it!

New drawings in the Meadow Book. Trying to keep up with the insects flitting along my path.

Friday morning at 7 am I will be having breakfast out with the men and MaryJo. It was nice to be invited…maybe they will have pecan waffles. Lee and I always had Sunday breakfast out and waffles were my favorite. He is 85 today.

The shower door is finally in.

Now it is just the grab bars and I think we are finished with the house. The tile man told me he would install them today but I have learned not to expect too much from these busy fellows.

Best to keep your expectations a bit on the lower side and the level of satisfaction adjustable.

Til later….