We are sure to emerge from the corona in an altered state. Some things are going to change completely (some of those things will be positive for sure) and other things will drift back towards a state of complacency. One of the positive outcomes will hopefully be our increased attention to hygiene, health and communicable illnesses in the modern era. Having spent lots of time living in and visiting Japan, mask wearing there is de rigueur, or essential- a responsibility and expected, especially if you are sick with even a minor cold. We could definitely benefit from this.
We are going to go forward with holes in our lives where people who held our hearts, hands and memories used to reside.
We will go forward with uncertainty, in our work, our play, our basic well being. I don’t imagine this will ever really “be over”. It will “be different”. I think it warrants imagining and wondering what that looks like now, so as to adapt, adjust, and plan for a different kind of future. I keep thinking of the analogy of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. It’s like we might have the opportunity to rethink how we want to emerge from life in the corona. The time to think about that is now. Looks like we will still have a couple more months to think about all this possibility and prepare!
There have been lots of monarchs emerging in the backyard lately. They float through the air as I am weeding out the grasses that have taken over here and there after the rains. There are lots of wildflowers blooming that have reseeded from past seasons. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of poppies back there (not that i would want to!).
These are just some of the thoughts that pass through my mind as I keep busy out in the studio and garden this past week.
One item of note, it was one year ago yesterday I tripped over the low dog fence in the backyard breaking my arm. It was an instantly regrettable moment. A not so funny April Fools Day. One year later now, there is no pain, and all has healed very well. But to ensure I don’t do any such silly thing again, Trevor has built a new fence with a wonderfully easy opening gate! Sometimes, isolation allows for chores that have been long put off, to be accomplished! Yay! Now onto the fence on the left side which has needed new posts for a long time, thanks to termites. Currently we are enjoying lettuce, beets, daikon, eggplant and herbs from the garden. Just put in some broccoli, zucchini, chilis and tomatoes and have other seedlings to plant out soon.
But in the studio, I have been at a number of things, moons of course. And I’m adding a new tutorial for moonmates on the Moonmates page. One thing I realize while doing these, is that I will never run out of ideas for making moons. Each time I make some I want to try something different. It’s just how it goes. I have tried so many things over the years and it’s fun revisit some of them and to also try out new ideas. This is what I do love about shibori- the endless possibilities. There is always something new or different to try.
I’ve received some lovely emails and messages from you all upon receipt of your moonsets. Thank you. It inspires me to continue. My friend Mo in Australia who always makes love-ly and heart-felt objects put an indigo moon to work in her recent post Raggedy Blue Moon Heart. Jude was so kind as to put a link in her sidebar to the moonmaker page. If you haven’t ever visited Jude’s blog, Spirit Cloth, I would recommend it and subscribing by email. She’s been at it at least as long as I have (2006ish) so you have a lot of catching up to do over there!
In other announcements… all May and June workshops at the JANM have been cancelled and we are working on creating a schedule for July -Dec in the coming week. Stay tuned. Also, stay tuned for some new silk shibori ribbon in the shop. Haven’t got them photographed or listed yet…that’s next on “the list”.
You might be a fan of John Prine like I am and since hearing he was ill (COVID-19) I’ve been refreshing my play list with some of his music. Here’s one to get you started…I picked this version as it has a monologue about the song at the beginning.
One thing I have really enjoyed during this isolation time has been checking in with friends I don’t often communicate with. Some great catching up has been going on. A friend and I were texting re John Prine and other things (like how we’ve been friends for probably close to 20 years and she hadn’t subscribed to the blog (subscribe by email in the sidebar). She had a sweet memory of John Prine she shared (her husband has been a dealer of vintage vinyl albums forever) and she said I could share it here-
Shibori Girl 