Blog entry
Steady...
After all of the Thanksgiving visiting and joy, it's time to get back to normal.
The days have become soft and gentle again. I finished planting the daffodil bulbs!
I'm still working on emptying the silk fabric storage baskets. Since I'm so busy with dyeing all the time, they fill up fast.
Winter has fallen!
Most of the peach tree leaves have fallen straight down without changing color.
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Hiding in the leaves
The temperature fell to 17 overnight. The rhododendon is a good weather gauge - it really shrivels in the cold.
The first snow has fallen. As usual, I'm in the middle of an indigo dyeing project. The cold complicates this a little - mostly it's just less pleasant to work outdoors.
There are still dozens of daffodil bulbs to plant. Winter is beautiful, but I'm just not ready yet.
First snowflakes
The first snowflakes arrived this morning. The Japanese indigo is finished growing.
Dogwood bush
Redbud leaves and bits of snow
Frozen indigo dyed linen on the clothesline
Cold feet!
November
It was quite cold this morning, with beautiful yellow sunlight.
Sparrows warming themselves on the windowsill and mock-orange branches.
Maple tree in the neighbors' backyard
Late rosebuds
Almost ripe
Houseplants in!
The annual bringing in of ihe houseplants has begun. The nighttime temperatures have been in the 30's.
Old blankets help, but it can;t go on for long. Carrying them in is a heavy and tiring job. Figuring out where to place them is too.
Most of them are great-grand-children- plants from Mom and Granny. They are living heirlooms and connections.
This picture shows about a third of the houseplants settled into their winter headquarters, Now for at least 6 months of plants indoors.
October
There's something about the light in October. that makes the world almost too beautiful. Even on a cloudy morning there's extra richness in the colors.
Flying saucer morning glories
Red nightshade berries and yellow Virginia creeper leaf
Silk dyed with indigo
Virginia creeper
Perennial sunflowers
Virginia creeper
Elm tree
There is an old elm tree growing between our house and the neighbor's house.
This tree is beautiful. It's branches are like an umbrella, giving deep shade on summer days and even some cover from the rain. Ive seen so many birds in the branches - woodpeckers, thrushes, nuthatches, robins, cardinals, blackbirds, finches,warblers,and of course, the sparrows. The squirrels race up and down and use it as a pathway to their home in the hole they've made under the gutter. One day I saw a racoon sleeping on the edge of the roof.
Pansy Dye
Since May, I've been picking pansy flowers and saving them in the freezer. At first I kept individual colors in their own bags - purples and blues together, yellows and oranges in their own bags, etc..Lately, I've just been stuffing them all together so now I have to separate them.
A few fresh blue pansies for the brew
There are mostly purples and blues in this jar, but since I wasn't very careful. there are a few bits and pieces of pinks and yellow flowers
Yellows and oranges
June Inspiration
II've been dyeing silk threads in colors inspired by the velvety shades of petunias
Combinations of lac, logwood, madder and indigo
The milkweed flowers have begun to bloom. The air is filled with their heavy sweetmess. The tender, muted pinks seemed like the perfect color for some handspun wool yarn I've been saving.
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Handspun wool yarn soaked overnight in alum.
Summer
Officially Summer today, though to me summer really begins on June 1st.
Ripe!
The squirrels and blackbirds keep knocking them down.
Raspberries beginning to ripen
Milkweed
Madder stars
Milkweed and madder in a friendly competion for sunshine
Elsewhere