i've written about noticingproject before . every day alicia and heather (from 2 different parts of the usa) post photos of the small things that they notice in their day. i check out their blog every morning with my first cup of coffee. it gives me a moment of reflection and a reminder not to let this day fly past. this week they're calling for others to submit photos of what they've noticed. i submitted this photo of seaweed stretched across the rocks on the beach at dark cove last weekend (my first trip to the cabin this spring), and it was posted yesterday.
for the day and start on this knitted wrap. it's for my may etsyfast challenge "may flowers". i wanted to knit a wrap that holds all the excessive colours found in tulips. it glows brightly in the sunlight.
last night i finished my last mat for my last exhibition. as a painter, for years exhibitions were my focus. that's basically how i presented my work. there's a lot of pressure around exhibitions. sending out proposals. lots of rejections. some acceptance. making the work. photographing the work (to send out with the next proposals), shipping the work, doing press coverage, getting people to come to the opening. coming to the opening. the opening. the reviews (or not). the sales (or not).
, but through a newfoundland dealer (linda lewis at baynoddy). when i first started looking i had a set image in mind of what a wheel should look like. many don't anymore. this little one grew on me. it's small - so it's portable. it has a double treadle. both feet are working so it doesn't put as much strain on you. i can buy an attachment to go with it so that it can handle the slubby irregular "art yarn" i want to make. i'll pick it up in st. john's the end of may.
forth...
as a young wife and mother i had a recurring nightmare. in my dream i would suddenly remember that i was responsible for some rodents - hamsters or mice or rats . when i went to look in their cage they would have multiplied unbelievably and i knew all that they had to eat was each other. i found this absolutely terrifying and i never knew what to do...i always thought the dream was about me somehow neglecting my responsibilities to others. i now know it was about me neglecting myself.
all last summer and into the winter we have had a rat living in our composte bin. when i put orange peel and hunks of bread etc. into it i would think about feeding her. in the winter we would sometimes see her under the bird feeder eating the fallen seeds. she was large and healthy. we knew that there would be a nest in the compost this year. so yesterday we dug in and discovered 8 of the cutest little baby rats. fur covered but still wobbly on their legs. mum rat was nowhere to be seen. what to do? i'm a buddhist and an animal lover so this was very hard. we got a bucket of water and one by one keith put them in the bucket. i put a lid on the bucket because i didn't want to see. for awhile they swam around and then they drowned.
yesterday was a lovely day. clear sky and the temperature got up to 9 degrees. the snow is going quickly now. abigail and i puttered in the garden for a couple of hours this afternoon - raking, pruning. i brought out the wooden table and chairs for the porch and sat outside and knit. once again my studio has expanded to include all out of doors...
i thought i had finished the mat yesterday but something's missing. there isn't enough "dialogue" between the border and the inside. so today i'm going to pull out the centres of the florets and add orange circles. i think that should do it...
at these gatherings we bring new work or work in progress. some of us have the advantage of being able to work as we participate. i finished knitting a scarf. rilla brought along some woven scarves and with a neat little "fringe twister" finished off the fringe (she'll take the scarves home and felt them). 
urve has been working on a major glass piece. it will be 100 glass salmon on stands "swimming" upstream. here is a flat salmon before urve "shapes" it into a swimming pose. (in newfoundland there is a foolish tradition for tourists having to "kiss the cod"...)
overnight winter returned. yesterday morning we spent in the garden. raking the front bank. all winter the snowplough blows snow and salt and gravel up onto the front bank. we've planted tiny daffodils all over the bank so first thing in the spring we need to get rid of what the plough has left. it is beautiful this morning though with the soft wet snow clinging to every surface. but it doesn't feel like spring...
thanks for the inspiration heather. now i think i'll start a monet's waterlilies or an o'keefe's poppies...
yesterday it felt like spring was finally here. the temperature climbed up to 12 degrees. i hung out laundry for the first time since november. marilee and i took an extra long walk along the old highway with the dogs. in the afternoon i cleaned up dog poop in the backyard (wondering how much of it was skipper's...) and took the burlap protection off of the bushes. where the snow has melted in the ga
rden, shoots are coming up everywhere. in their darkness they have been feeling the light.
wls, start with a theme. this guides me in my choice of colours and textures. it becomes a challenge to "describe" this idea in yarn. the shawl i started yesterday doesn't have a title yet but it's all about the damp earth- april rain and the snow melting and what's exposed 
ke this give me permission to keep going...
