Happy New Year from the Studio
And remember the advice of Mary McGrory, “Always approach the shrimp bowl as if you own it” !
Month: December 2008
Winter Yellow
29 December 2008
Crisp shadows on the bare hardwoods and bright sun raking the frosty grass…which yesterday was basking in 62 degrees of winter warmth…enough to bring three canary yellow dandelions to blossom…
On the Eve
24 December 2008
Listening for the first time to the new Emmy Lou…All I intended to be…sweet soulful sounds …with the backdrop of a silvery ice storm outside the studio windows.
Icy rain glazing every limb, fence rail, bird feeder, pine needle and windchime.
Gulliver and I put on our ice trackers and harnessed up for the early morning commute. Helping each other to avoid the slick walkways and frozen puddles in the lane, we managed just fine. Outside chores are done and the pot of coffee is fired up so we have settled into the office to pay some bills and work on a special project for LRK…one of the latter will be great fun.
Pat reports that dear friend May just can’t figure out why her 95 year old self won’t die. When Pat arrived at her hospital bedside yesterday she found May well along her way…then Pat’s cell phone rang…and May opened her eyes and asked what was for lunch.
My hospice worker of a partner has seen a lot of death and dying. Through yesterday’s tears for her mentor-friend she was yanked back to the humor and laughter that weaves through the compassion which is the core of her soul.
And as I wrote that sentence…Emmy’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s “All that you have is your soul” began playing…that’s been happening a lot to me lately.
“…I hope to dream, I hope that I can sleep again
And wake in a world with a clear conscience and clean hands…”
It’ll be hard to think of waking up in a world without you May…but for now…for today…on the eve of the end of your journey here…keep dreaming.
Solstice Soup
21 December 2008
So I got an email this morning from Maureen…
Hi Heather and Pat,
Just wanted to let you know I received the birthday chocolates in the mail. What a treat, having treats delivered! You can never have too much chocolate.
I have also been trying to plan a Christmas meal for Peter and I that is a good vegetarian meal that we don’t usually eat. I thought of the mushroom barley soup Peter said you used to make that he loved. I have made the one in the Moosewood cookbook and I was wondering if you used that recipe or a different one. If you have a minute today or tomorrow could you send it along?(if your share recipes!!!) We would love to have it is a new Follansbee tradition (the kids will probably never eat it but who knows!) Thanks.
Have a great holiday – stay all cuddled up and warm. We are planning to do the same.
Love,
Maureen
AND…as so often happens in this wonderful life…our worlds, and in this case our cuilinary spirits, weave through and around each other in a delightful dance…
New Paintings
8 December 2008
Here are some brand new paintings that have been sent to the Granary Gallery up on Martha’s Vineyard.
Remembering another O
Old Trails
2 December 2008
A tip of the hat to Lin whose friend who verified that the gift of yesterday’s feathers came from a Yellow Shafted Flicker. We have a pair of flickers who live in the giant pin oak tree that grows between the studio and the log cabin. I’ll try to catch them at the feeders for a photo op … in the hopes that they are still with us that is.
This morning found Gully and I headed down the icy roads to our old walking trail along the railroad tracks. She and I spent the first decade of her life taking long walks in what was then a neglected series of fields and copses. Here is a look at an early painting from those tracks… Milkweed (Clicking on the image will take you to the Painter’s Notes on my website.)
Last year they began building a monstrous new middle school on what we thought of as our own private pasture. In all the years we walked there I don’t remember seeing three other humans. Now, after months of destruction and earth moving, we returned to find a rolling landscape of mowed grasses, a playground and parking lot at one end, our swampy pathway paved over and most of the wetlands filled in.
I don’t know how this has impacted the wildlife in the area, since we didn’t see any I’m a bit worried. But I have to say that the changes are not all together unwelcome for this older woman and her much older dog.
Today we had to stay off the paved paths as they were ice covered, and since the school children around here got monday off to go hunting…ugh…we were careful to both be covered in safety neon orange… but once we hit the earth it was sweet to walk without having to worry about ground hog holes … and swampy cold water seeping into our boots … and the small wandering creeks are still filled with that cool clear water that Gulliver loves to wade through… and with all the fields mowed we had much more room to run and roll.
I’ll keep my mind and my eyes open to what painting opportunities might be on this new horizon …and enjoy the gentler geriatric friendly tracks before us.
Go out and take your own selves for a walk today,
HN
Morning Treasures…and a mystery.
1 December 2008
We have had a couple days of rain here along the little Conewago Creek. And the water is rising.
Gulliver and I were up early and tiptoed out of the cabin and over to the studio for our morning ritual walk to secure the perimeter… when I spotted a streak of yellow in the muddy leaves. Then another, and closer to the fireplace…several more. We followed the trail and came up with 15 or 16 feathers…and it looks like a near miss because these were the only parts to be found.
It was about this same time last year when I first received a gift of feathers from this same bird.
Then, there were two or three and they were beautifully layed out a thin crust of new snow. I didn’t recognize any winter birds with that much brilliant color so I gave one to Zola so we could both investigate which bird had offered them up.
The longest in this batch is 5 1/2 inches and the smallest is a very mish 1 1/2 inches. ( If your monitors are unreliable, the yellow is a true canary yellow and the black is raven.)
And now, it would seem, another … rather stronger… message. This bird is seriously trying to get my attention. So, I am throwing it out there to you all. I eagerly await hearing from you experts…Who is she ?
Meanwhile…back on the easel…I am struggling through the beginnings of a large portrait of the camp on the bluff and am relying on the continuing saga of Russell and Holmes to take my critical self away and free up my right brain to do its thing. We have finished our romp on the Moors and have now opened the door to a stranger…or is he ?
Ah… the mysteries.
HN