A New Year's Wish for You

My favourite New Year wish for you

first posted on January 1, 2014.

May your day be filled with blessings

Like the sun that lights the sky,

And may you always have the courage

To spread your wings and fly!

May your past be a pleasant memory,

Your future filled with delight and mystery,

Your now a glorious moment,

That fills your life with deep contentment.

May your troubles be less

And your blessings be more

And nothing but happiness

Come through your door.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours

May the clarity of light be yours

May the fluency of the ocean be yours

May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

Blessings on you and yours this new year.

Our Show is Closing on December 18th With a Closing Online Conversation

 

Judy Martin, Miranda Bouchard and I would like to invite you

to a closing reception online at Zoom.

Like last time you can register through this link

The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

I noticed that you have to scroll down their page to get to the

registration link.

We are very grateful for all of you who have managed to make the trip to see our show.

The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum tell us that it has been very well attended

considering all the Covid restrictions.

If you have been there very recently you will have met photographer Paul Latour who has been documenting the show.

The two installation images here are by Paul.

Perhaps we will see you online in seven more days!

 

When Beavers Live Close By

 

It amuses me that the beaver sticks have gathered in their own little corner of the show.

"Chasing the Moon"

Memories of daily walks down to the marshlands

Watching as the landscape changed when beavers moved in.

When they moved in and built oh so many dams

what was a meandering stream became a lake

covering all the grass you see here.

They would greet me and the Rusty Pups

with noses just above water

and sharp black eyes watching....

....then with a noisy slap of the tail on the water's surface

they would casually get on with their business.

I imagined that slap to be a greeting 

but of course it must have been a claim to territory where we were not welcome

My work is a bringing together of snippets of memory

Trees stripped of bark and marked by strong beaver teeth

Cold dark waters of winter

Marshland grasses that flourished so well in that watery environment

But turned golden yellow in the long wintery months.

On winter mornings after a good snowfall

the beaver tracks were easy to find 

 revealing nighttime activity and favourite pathways

 leading from water's edge towards the woods and back again

The black velvet water so uninviting on a cold winter's day

yet a refuge, a place of safety where beavers can thrive.

And of course a moon on a windy, winter's night

whilst I am warm and safe in my bed

the beaver were busy as beavers tend to be

fixing leaky dams

and storing edible trees underwater.

Such fascinating creatures who can change a landscape with two strong front teeth!

 I hope you too find joy in observing nature at work.

So many thanks to Susan Purney Mark and Miranda Bouchard for their photos of the show.