i've been in woody point in gros morne for the past couple of days. i spent sunday night with a friend who has a summer home/print studio which overlooks the ocean and while she worked late into the evening pulling prints,i sat out on the back deck knitting and allowed the stillness to flood over me. that night i slept with the sliding door by the bed wide open, the sound of the rain, the waves, the lights of norris point twinkling across the bay. yesterday morning we went over to brenda's summer artist residence in glen burnie for a 1 day wool dyeing workshop (both natural dyes and acid dyes). i learned so much. that dried banana peels give a rich tan colour. by adding a drop of tna detergent to the dye bath you can avoid soaking the fleece ahead of time. how to safely mix up the acid dyes... and much, much more. like most artist, i learn best visually - actually watching the process rather than reading about it in a book. i feel i can approach dyeing my fleece with alot more confidence now.
in my pursuit of getting more balance in my life, i've made a mental list of things to spend more time on. in no particular order: friends, reading, gardening, meditation and yoga, cooking and baking. things that have taken a back seat when i spend all my time working on my craft. when i was married and the children were small, food preparation was a big part of my life. keith is content with simple and repetitive meals so there has been no incentive to put time into food preparation since we've been together. and with menopausal weight gain i've tried to avoid baking. but lately i've really been wanting to cook and bake again. so yesterday i made these muffins - a recipe from my past. (couldn't find rhubarb in the grocery store so raided my neighbour's patch - they're away for the weekend but i knew they wouldn't mind).
as a child in the 1950's, i would spend all my days out of doors. we didn't know what sunscreen was. or sun hats. in the early 60's i hung out at the local swimming pool. lathered up with johnson's baby oil. rarely burned and by mid-summer had tanned to dark brown. in the early 80's i bathed nude in the intense heat of the greek sun. but it is not the same sun now. i find it frightening. 5 minutes in the sun without protection and i feel that my skin is being rubbed with stinging nettle. what have we done to the sun...
i've joined a book-club. we are very small - only 3 members. and slightly disorganized - we've only had two meetings so far because we wait until we've all finished reading the book. we take turns hosting a "book-related" dinner at one another's homes. our first book "pride and prejudice" called for an elegant evening. last night we discussed "wuthering heights" over vegetarian shepherd's pie. i love rereading these books. i wouldn't be doing it on my own. for me it's like opening up a box that shows me who i was when i first read them - as a teenager, as a university student and who i am now. our next book is a new one for 2 of us - paulo coelho's "the alchemist". the meeting will be at my home and i'm already thinking about the menu. (any "vegetarian" suggestions?) walking home from the meeting last night i took this photo. catherine and heathcliff were in my thoughts.
yesterday the plan was to go down to the cabin for an overnight stay. after lunch we packed up and went looking for flora the cat. we leave her indoors with plenty of food and fresh water and access to her litter box when we go to the cabin over-night. in the winter she's basically an indoor cat but when the weather is good she loves to be outside coming in only at night. yesterday was a hot day and she's spends days like that hanging out in the woods. as every cat owner knows - if the cat doesn't want to be found, she won't be. so we waited, and after about an hour we realized that the day was slipping by and we were on hold, so we decided to stay home (flora finally showed up around 6:00 pm). i was determined to take a holiday anyway (it being canada day), so did all the things i would have done at the cabin. i sat on the deck looking out over the garden and enjoyed the sound of the wind in the tree-tops. the colours of the garden. knit a little read a little. even dozed off - as i would on the cabin deck looking out at the ocean. we had a wonderful holiday.
