Ups and Downs and one more Bunny

 

I am getting worse at Time all the time, so this little pot was late for my youngest daughter. To be fair, she is in her thirties, and will understand. Like the Grand Childrens', it was filled with dry soil and planted with a surprise seed. Add Water and Watch. This is such a fun little form. A truncated cone that was hand built, and appliqued, and the saucer was thrown. The packing to ship is the big issue, but I'm getting better at that all the time. But My. Shipping is getting expensive.

Most things seem terribly expensive to me these days, and I remember when my mother started seeing things as costing too much. $2.50 for a cup of coffee? Highway Robbery. And that was in the year 2000! 

I found the image to the right online, after a lot of searching. These are drop spindles (for spinning yarn much slower than using a spinning wheel) that are much like some I owned Before The Purge. I thought of them when a fellow artist came by to relieve me of some of the fleece I've been spinning, and her using the drop spindle to do that made me remember mine.I generally don't regret selling most of our possessions, but I am sorry to no longer have these beauties. Hand made tools are a joy to work with.

I have also been missing the lush green of the Eastern US. It's crazy, after 21 years, but the feeling is growing stronger. I suspect politics are involved too, but I also long for those green lush Eastern forests. This is what I wrote to a friend:

"I just miss green so much. We flew out to Philly before we left for Australia, rented a car and drove through Maryland and up to Cleveland to see friends and family. We found a State Park in PA for a hike, and I cannot tell you how wonderful it was. The ground was springy under my feet, and everything was so fecund. So much variety in the plant forms. It was dense with life. The air felt silky with the humidity, which I have never been consciously fond of, but Damn. It was sweet.

We have world class hiking in these surrounding foothills and mountains, but they are only green in spring. The sagebrush steppe is fascinating but it begrudges life. And few creeks run past mid July. The Boise River makes our immediate area very livable, but so many people are discovering that. The Rocky Mountains are also spectacular. But I'm pretty sure they will all burn in the next decade or so."

Maybe we never outgrow where we come from. I am daily grateful for this place. . . for the people I love, the people I like, dogs in general, a safe house with a very decent studio. A garden. But I find myself hoping that I don't die here. Isn't that odd.