time out

after the giddy excitement of having my work accepted 

by a rather lovely store in Los Angeles

it was good to retreat 

to the woods and shores of Haystack in order to be a quiet student

thinking about traces and marks

under the guidance of Helen Carnac

the weather varied from almost tropical

to cool fogs and mists

there was time to walk barefoot in the woods

and to eat wild strawberries

i will admit to cooking up the odd brew after hours

there were lovely rust marks on the steel plate

that appeared overnight after i left some fern fronds 

resting on it

light-and-shadow drawings

and the enchanting Maine coast landscape, those rocks

perfect for drawing and dreaming in the daytime

and

at night, the best place to lie back companionably

gazing up at the heavens and the shooting stars

or marvelling at the fireflies below

all the while listening to the lick and curl, slap and splash 

of the incoming tide meeting the small waterfall

that chuckled its way down the hill

through the bog

and out from under the tree roots

to the rocks and the shore

+  +  +

i filled an entire journal

stitching in extra pages

and

even having to let out its waistband

on the other side

after a slow departure from the deep south

due to rather a lot of

f    o   g

and then missing the connection in Auckland

due to a combination of that

f    o   g

and

the fact that the wheels had fallen off the airbridge

and so we couldn't get off the plane until a good thirty minutes after we landed

[i thought NZ was the land of number 8 wire and RP7???]

i arrived in Los Angeles shortly before 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday

which

turned out to be a jolly good thing

as

i have never in my life been so speedily processed

through border security

admittedly being the ninth one off the plane helped.

much chuffed by this splendid beginning to things

i hightailed it to Claudia's house

and zoomed off with her to the nearest thrift store

where i acquired a number of treasures

since when

i have been gathering leaves

sitting at a table on a deck high on a hill above the Hollywood Bowl

stitching and dyeing

 plotting tomorrow's class,

hoping a few people will turn up tomorrow evening

so that my luggage will be a good bit lighter

when i hop over to Haystack this weekend

and

thinking how nice it is that what i call work

is what i would do anyway

even if it didn't pay the bills

+

midsummer/midwinter

in seven days time

i will be in Hollywood

showing a few dresses, some wraps and

a couple of other things

which seems a little surreal

and

possibly even comic, when you think about where i live

and how i work

right now

i'm enjoying some boil-ups

under

the watchful gaze of the angel

[wearing a beautiful crown - thank you Ben and Sally]

the colours are singing

and so is Miss Pigsley

she wants MORE.

not sure exactly what of,  but more.

Boston [wearing a fetching coat]

is hanging about sympathetically

if you're in LA on June 21 [the solstice eve] do swing by the Grau Haus

the gardenias are flowering

and we'll give you a warm welcome

in case you want to wrap yourself up...

just a couple of places remain

in the one-day wrapclass at the Grau Haus

as far as i can count on my fingers, the only other workshop places left this year

will be at Maiwa in September and in Portland in November

most all the other ones are taken

and

the diary is making squeaky noises and popping at the seams

so

it's highly unlikely i will be adding anything else to the schedule this year

especially if i am to realise that other project 

that's warming to a simmer

on the back hob

carpe diem and a mailbox mystery

when i was much much younger

i thought that 'carpe diem' meant 'a fish a day'

[a bit like the doctor-deterring apple]

now i know it means something else and is quite Sagittarian.

[that Nike slogan 'just do it' sums us up quite well

and though it can sometimes lead to trouble

most times i find it a good plan]

anyhoo

when the Dogs Above were having me land stateside a couple of days early next month

i took it as a sign that they wanted me to do something there.

and when i floated the idea to my friend Claudia at the GrauHaus

she thought it showed signs of promise as well.

which means that if you're in Hollywood and at a loose end on the solstice  

you might like to join us for a day of play [and delicious lunch]

[if you're in Australia earlier in June, your playdate could have been found here, except that i just checked and it looks as though it could be booked out]

and thank you so very much to all those who took the time to comment on the previous post

especially if you had trouble with google and had to resort to trailing through the contact page on my website to encourage your pigeon to fly - it means a lot to me

awaiting a few more quotes from printers and then i shall be taking that big leap off the diving board

[fingers crossed no-one takes the plug out of the pool]

finally

i do love getting stuff in the mail

but

this one has my grey cells morris-dancing [with bells on, in nineteen different positions]

.... why is it that i can think of at least nine people whose hand-writing is just like this?

+

+

+

los angeles to goleta by train

it's a wrap, folks.

my four days in Los Angeles have sped by.

Claudia and her family have been so very kind

made me welcome, fed and watered me,

given me a comfy bed

& taken me to gaze at extraordinary flowers in the dark of the night.

today was the last day of our class

there was much last minute bundling

a good deal of stitching

considerable trepidation when faced with cutting

 

and at the very end

the New Orleans tradition of lagniappe 

[something extra]

introduced in San Francisco by Nikki

made its way into our class as well

during our preparation day for the class

Claudia had taken me to Runyon Canyon

to gather windfalls

i happened to notice a large infestation of Dactylopius coccus*

on an Opuntia cactus

we scraped a small amount off with a stick

[about a half teaspoon's worth]

and i put it in my backpack

today it became the last bundle

not a bad wrap at all.

* for those wondering what a Dactylopius is
it's cochineal
meaning the red stuff is beetlejuice. literally.