5 prompts at 10

1. Each day, kharis proffered, until it stopped.

2. Pedestal: for a Statue or for a Caryatid.

3. The overtones and rhythm of drumming transported him.

4. God help you if you don’t have another place to go.

5. It's okay to look back.

Neruda's Tribute

Ode to My Socks

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

-Pablo Neruda (trans. Robert Bly)

slow learner

sometimes the wind gets
knocked out of me
oxygen gets
sucked out of me
when someone does something
that affects me.
repeatedly: it must a part of what they are.
why do I think
things will change?
it's an easy thing to hope;
it's so difficult to
change one's own perspective.

...and the hits just keep coming...

Blue Moon

Plans for the moment:
_finish dresses, insert labels
_writing goal: a page a week of personal content, a page a week of professional content
_warp with multiple colors and widths for color studies
_devolve old clothes: make quilt material or get rid of them
_try another new venture

...for those who DO

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

― Andy Warhol

August thought

...end of summer in the field of lavender and roses.

Wondering

...how dates birthdays anniversaries all figure during a full moon.

CA State Fair 2012

Had some big fun at the state fair on Sunday at Cal Expo.

At the UC Davis station, watched a goat get milked. Also saw sows with nursing newborn piglets, and saw pregnant cows ready to drop.

In the livestock area were colorful Jacob sheep fleeces, newborn and old.

Dairy cows were judged for udder size, teat resiliency and capacity for production.
"They're being treated like animals!"
"Oh, they ARE animals!"

A 4-H contestant and his goat wait.

A judge speaks to each 4-H entrant about their goat while others wait their turn.

Janice Kang, Spun Yarn. Fiber dyed by Lisa Souza.
This is well spun with uniform consistency; something to aspire to.

Janice Kang, "Haapsalu Shawl", knitted garment.
Pretty with intense nupps; beautiful lace that would have benefitted from a more open display.

Kurt Thomas, detail from "Donn and LaMoyne", paper mosaic.
Meticulous work.

Victor Chaney with "The Flying Marbellos", kinetic sculpture.
This was especially fascinating and engrossing. It took 2 years to construct and was one of at least 5 of his sculptures displayed at the fair.

Linda Mihara, "Blue Wave Dress", Wet-folded mulberry paper (36" x 12feet).
Exquisite. I'd love to wear this as paper or velvet. Blue-black is one of my favorite colors.

Ianna Frisby, "Archaeoacoustics", mixed media.
References drawn upon include ancient pottery, lasar reading, a bell-flower amplifier, and "his master's voice".

Dave Lane, "Device for Creating Stars, Model A", Sculpture.

There were corndogs!
I got my annual ration.

There were corporate sponsors!
Reddy Kilowatt was taking a break. That's a joke! he was not there and hasn't been for a generation. This is the second reference that date-stamps my memory of corporate advertising.

Of course, some things are fleeting and don't last long enough to be recorded - here's a remnant of the late afternoon.
We looked at a thermometer on the way home: 104F. Unbelievable but clearly tolerable - good thing we didn't look beforehand!

TdF 2012

Na lei hulu hipa (from inside to outside):
2-ply merino off a bobbin from SW 2011 (yep, pretty old);
2-ply "Salad Days" from several "first-try" bobbins;
TdF 2012 project of 2-ply cashmere-merino.
They've gone through the wet bath and are drying.

After the yarn was dry and hanked up I had a chance to mention the project to Lisa. When she asked if it had a tight spin I knew I had to revisit this yarn.

I put the hank on a swift and put it through the wheel again, adding more twist. This first pic was taken when it was taken off the niddy-noddy.
Looking good!

This second pic was taken a few minutes later as the yarn was no longer constrained with tension.
Looking wacky!

I made wool soup again. I love the aroma. We'll see what's up when this is dry in a few days.

a gem in The Little Hours

This is the time the swooning soul hangs pendant and vertiginous between the new day and the old, nor dares confront the one or summon back the other. This is the time when all things, known and hidden, are iron to weight the spirit; when all ways, traveled or virgin, fall away from the stumbling feet, when all before the straining eyes is black.

--Dorothy Parker

...is then balanced by La Rochefoucauld.