bells and breezes in Bratenahl

curious?

there's more detail at Christine's blog here

warming ever more to Cleveland

i'm daily warming more and more to Cleveland

it's a wonderful place with an incredible diversity of interesting architecture

[this one looked to me to have Louis Sullivan's style, reminding me strongly of the Wainwright Building in St Louis]

there are masses of beautiful trees [even a 'Latvian Garden' which has a sculpture called Mara's Akmens - meaning Mara's Stone - that happily for me shares a name with my godmother]

then there's that lovely lake that changes colour seemingly by the minute

and fabulously friendly people [even at the bank] who offered heartfelt personal welcomes to their town

today Christine Mauersberger kindly drove me around 

so we could run a few errands together before the Shapeshifter class begins tomorrow

and gather a few more supplies [but this below wasn't one of them]

Heinen's at Rocky River blessed us with an abundance of bouquets

i visited the whirled renowned Morgan Conservatory to have a look at the workshop area prior to our class there next week

and i fell in love with yet another rusty bridge

and found poetry nearby

with my initials in it

unexpected paperwork

last night i absentmindedly used the Cleveland wandering map

[kindly provided by Christine]

as a coaster.

i didn't want the condensation running down the side of my glass

to mark the lovely floor in my treehouse

this morning i thought i might go for a wander

and went to dream over the map

which was thoroughly stuck together.

now when this kind of thing happens in the movies

[or when somebody goes to surreptitiously steam open correspondence not intended for their eyes]

they simply whip the offending item over the steaming kettle

and within seconds the problem is solved.

in this instance

the problem was DIS-solved

- clearly the producers of the map have designed it to decompose quickly in the event of irresponsible tourists dropping said item in the Cleveland landscape.

note to students in the up-coming paperdye class : if you were thinking of bringing a local map to include in your work, don't.

stick with undyed, unprinted papers please...

more cleveland

i am so fortunate to be in the hands of the superbly capable momma bear extraordinaire

Christine Mauersberger.

who not only organised four classes in Cleveland

found me a tree house

hung my exhibition [guided by handwritten notes from a cardboard box]

is fixing delicious lunches

collected me from the rental car depot [and has ferried me all over, even diverting for coffee in the mornings]

and today took The Precious

[the youngest of The Three] to the airport, so she could head back to dance school in Oz.

not content with all that

she gave The Precious an exquisite blouse on which there were many beautiful stitches.

sigh.

[i could become seriously accustomed to this rockstar lifestyle]

that picture is a tad gloomy

here's a better look

meanwhile the students were beavering away

good times.

great students in the class

and

loved catching up with Lotta and Kelly again

cleveland

the fall foliage is glorious here in Cleveland

as are the stars underfoot

the Dogs Above have smiled upon us and

our dyed samples flutter like prayerflags in the breeze

the squirrels have left us a few walnuts

the challenge was to combine

a walnut + cloth + string

and see what happened.

making tracks...or taking them

although i love driving

i also like trains

they give me a chance to

observe the local flora

and think my way into a place

+ there are some places it's hard for me to drive away from

so it's better if the control of the vehicle is out of my hands

 [fortunately for me i will be back very soon]

also

handsfree locomotion means i can play with the batfone

and with amusing photofilters

bear with me.

the 'City of New Orleans' runs to Chicago through 

fascinating country. we even spot alligators sunning themselves 

[no snaps, too busy gazing in wonderment]

after a brief legstretch in Chicago

[hoofing it from Union Station across to the lake

and up the shore a bit then back along the river to the station again]

we pick up the hire car

and head east

following our noses.

Dog willing and with a fair wind

we'll be in Cleveland tomorrow.

 

background work

 

 

usually i swing into the US through San Francisco

this time i came in via Dallas and pootled down to New Orleans

where i had a few errands to run

on the way to Cleveland

a splendid purple bicycle now awaits me

for when i return to take up the residency 

at the end of this month

i plan to cycle all over this town

and

up and down the banks of the Big Muddy

but today i simply walked around a lot.

 

the folk at Madeline Island School

have asked me to let you know that the class i am leading there next summer is half filled

so if you were considering that possibility it's probably worth making a decision soonish

please contact Madeline Island School of the Arts’ website for details

 

a thoroughly rotten apple...

yesterday was my one day at home
after Geelong and before heading Stateside for two and a half months
i filled it with as much as i could
laundering clothes
packing new sets of workshop materials
having a gin with my mother
and laptime with Martha

who is not best pleased by the sight of the suitcase
i even spent an hour blissfully weeding in the garden
creating a small patch of order in what otherwise resembles a hayfield

and was put in mind of my favourite scene in Michael Ondaatje's book
'The English Patient'
where the nurse, Hana, takes her nailscissors and cuts a perfect footsquare patch of lawn in the long grass around the monastery where she is caring for the burned man
[it's not in the movie version, which makes it easier to imagine somehow]

i took photos of the roses
the quince blossom
the rich chocolate earth
crab apples
and the horses

and then last thing at night
after cooking dinner and while doing the dishes
i foolishly downloaded a so-called update on my iPhone

and then
my phone no longer worked.
so i had no alarm to wake me for the 4am airport trek
and consequently stayed up all night so i wouldn't miss my flights

i've managed to restore some of the functions to my phone
but all the audiobooks have disappeared
as well as my lovely late afternoon photos.

i'm not at all happy with Apple at present.
on the bright side
i shouldn't have trouble sleeping on the plane
having now been wide-awake for 29 hours...

nine days later

it was a glorious week on the shores of Corio Bay

at the Geelong Textile Forum

[conceived, organised and brilliantly run by Janet de Boer and her fabulous team of dedicated volunteers]

where i taught as part of the "Design Focus" group

the weather threw everything at us 

from thunder and lightning and soaking downpours

to balmy blossom-filled spring sunshine

it was a wonderment to see how many people are including 

ecoprint items in their wardrobes these days

often as foil to bold pinks and purples

and it was a joy to be told by former students

[taking part in other classes]

that they had brought their plant-dyed samples

to incorporate in new work.

 

being at a Forum for a week

is a little like being encloistered

away from incoming news and most other media

so

in the quiet evenings i managed to work my way through some of the reading pile

including

'a Field Guide to Getting Lost' by Rebecca Solnit

which contains delicious and devourable text  [example below]

we all worked solidly, even on our one afternoon off

and there was much burning of midnight oil

as people dyed and stitched into the wee hours

on the last day

we sewed some rather lovely garments

and the students all wore theirs to the last supper

and now i'm dashing home for a day

to wash my socks and scanties

empty and refill my suitcase

ready to fly out to the United States

on Monday morning