a Wren for Easter

This card is by a local artist - Bruce L. Bunch www.brucelbunch.com
We bought this at Trillium Saturday when we went for the opening new work there. In case you don't recognize the bird, it is a Carolina wren. We have a pair nesting every year near the back porch. For several years, they made a nest in the old gas grill that came with the house. We'd leave the lid propped open a bit and they seemed to think it ideal. The pipe rusted however, and since then, they've been nesting under the eaves and in the bushes near the back porch. They are very companionable and little afraid.

The first year Buddy the sheltie came to live with us, I would leave the back screen door propped open for him with his water and food on the porch. Somehow a bunch of flies got trapped inside the screened area. Our pair of wrens, not ones to miss an opportunity, flew in to feast. Somehow the wind blew the door shut and the birds were trapped.

By the time I noticed and went out to release them, they were so full, they couldn't fly. I could actually see the bulge in their crops. They had to waddle to the door, giving me the beady eye over their shoulders, hop down the steps and sidle into the boxwoods.

Its tough to believe how hard life is.
I can't get a firm footing, everything slides.

dahlia dye

cochineal exhaust, mix, pomegranate dyed roving

pomegratate dye

Note the bit of cotton on the right of the fiber blob. It picked up the color more strongly than the churro. Alum was used only.

morning

The sky's first blue of the day is always amazing. Today it is a milky robin's egg. Touched by fog and tree stems dark with rain.

January 09 - the month that looks back and forward

early

I like the dark early morning world of the sleepless. It is preindustrial. No cars pass on the street. The air is fresher and crisp. Rain drips from the eves in a symphonic harmony which sounds all the louder for the absence of machine noises. Driven by the dogs' need to go out, I become another mammal. Albeit one who can solve the riddle of doors. We communicate, dogs, cats and I, with small sounds and eye contact. I enjoy a oneness with the world that is distracted by lights and sounds. On Sundays, even the train is not running. The loudest sounds are the click of my keys and the chuckle/growl of the fridge. Stillness is such a gift.