solace

dear friends.

thank you.

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 i've just returned from the Observatory

where

i observed the solstice

by hanging the solace pennants

opening each parcel i travelled around the country and around the whirled

many of you enclosed letters with your work

letters of joy, hope and sometimes sorrow

moving me to tears at times

as i held each piece in my hand i felt the love you had put into it

i learned some new words

(and will need to relearn long-forgotten morse code to decipher one flag)

you sent wishes for peace

blessings for the natural world

prayers and hopes for friends and family in need

and for loved ones you had lost.

you told stories of gathering to share food, talk and stitching

shared memories and stories

shared precious fragments of cloth that held personal significance

i thank you all.

you'll have noticed the indigo dip didn't happen.

the water situation at the Observatory is tenuous

(it all stil needs to be carried in)

and so i had to abandon that idea

which was as well, i think

as they are beautiful exactly as they are

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i shall be building a website for the project

carefully typing out your collective poem

and will leave the postbox open

in case there are more to come

in which case i shall add them to the circle

whenever i visit the Observatory

in the meantime, my gratitude goes to

(and in no particular order)

Heidi Monks

Cherilene Chan

Donna Kallner

Frances Westwood

Bodil Møller Larsen

Jo Roszkowski

Denise Fordyce

Isobel McGarry

Cassie Gibson

Mary Heath

K O'Donnell

Joy Hopetoun

Cynara Mori

Jenni Worth

Shari Bubner

Arija Schwerdtfeger

Nicole Howe

Wen Redmond

Amanda Holloway

Gerdi Schumacher

Dorcas Pennyfather

Penny Crompton

Evelyn Parkin

Louise Plint

Therese Swift-Hahn

Mo Crow

Cathy Wycliff

Celeste Hansel

Liz Ackert

Beth Brennan

Cindy Monte

Maya Sara Matthew

Jo Ann McGeever Metzger

Yvonne Habbe

Malin Sjöstrand

Suri Vangolen

Morna Crites-Moore

Janet Tobler

Susi Bancroft

Lajla Nystad

Holly Story

Diane Kingsley

Christi (Possum) Carter

Wendi Trulson

Jenny McHenry

Indra Stephenson

Tracy Duddridge

Eva Rodriguez Riestra

Lotta Helleberg

Emma Riley

Sue Fisken

Jane Flower

Kathy Wonderlin

Tina Meakin

Helen Trejo

Carola Heptinstall

Donella Wilson

Sue Gilbert

Fiona Burchell

Lynn Jones

Ronnie Ayliffe

Kathy Jolman

Jessica Grantley

Eileen Schramm

Nanette Gilbert

Jo Brook

Deb Cocks

Jan Rowan

A Sibson

Robert McCulloch

Mary McCulloch

Lorraine Meeks

Carrie Vartarandi

Emma McWilliam

Pat Morrissey

Margaret McCathie

Diana McPherson

Parvin Morrissey

Kate Bowles

Bridget Ely

Barbi Crisp

Jo Britt

Suzanna Klein

Nancy Thorne

Lindy Frayne

Jyah Gage

Tricia Copeland

from

Australia

Canada

New Zealand

the USA

England

Wales

Scotland

India

Denmark

France

Germany

Sweden

Spain

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Christi has kindly been gathering some of the backstories here

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some screenshots from my batfone below

you can see i have a bit of editing to do

and then

i need to choose an image of the whole circle for the postcard....

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there's a bit of blue creeping in, conditions for photography were not ideal and sunshine/wind/shadowdancing were the orders of the day