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.

The Evolution of a Piece

Chasing the Moon  50 1/2" w x 40" h

Part of the enjoyment of hand stitching is the time it allows for a piece to evolve and tell me it's story.

In the beginning I started making a piece about the marshlands

after the beavers have left

when sticks and chewed off trees litter the landscape.

The sky called to me but it didn't want to be too clear

and so scraps and bits and pieces of colour interrupts the flow

adding a feeling of blowing in the wind....I hope.

Then the grasses reminded me they had to be included

because they are growing back with renewed vigour

since the flooded beaver ponds have dried up.

I wove them into the running stitch sky.

The Moon asked to be included in the story

among the flotsam and jetsam in the sky

and the title Chasing the Moon popped into my head.

Then the ground demanded attention and so

 I turned to enjoying the luxury of stitching through silk velvet.

 A delicious gift from my dear friend Judy Martin.

And so it is finished

the story is complete

Do you ever feel sad when you've finished?

No more to add

No more days of stitching.

But then a new piece grabs your imagination and off you go again

a new story starts.

I received a delightful addition to Stevie's story this week.

At the age of three she is stitching clothes for her mermaid!

 

With all this distancing I'm missing so many firsts!

Well done sweetheart!

Outside and Inside, Sunshine and Shade

Happy to be sitting in the warmth of the sun
Stitching a beaver story
Watching the woods
Surrounded by birdsong
Interrupted occasionally by a wet Rusty Pup nose seeking attention

when it gets too hot we move back inside

Above the horizon the skies are forming.
For the last few years my work has always included an horizon
A dividing line
Not necessarily horizontal, sometimes vertical.
Perhaps
Because I am most comfortable feeling grounded
as I search for what is behind the horizon?
Or perhaps I am just drawn to that design element.
I don't know.

 I started stitching crosses on the silk velvet ground
Sticks can form crosses
Though the beavers seem to weave them together somehow
with mud and grass.
But then...

 ....turned to check the back and as usual
 loved the expressive free stitches on the wrong side 
compared to the disciplined front.
So....
started stitching the crosses on the back 
in order to get those unruly stitches on the front!
Love it!

As I stitched I thought of how my stitching sister,
Judy Martin, talks about her works
that can often be seen from both sides.  
In her blog post from June 13 2011
entitled 'and still maintain a normal life'
she writes
I've made many pieces over my long career that show through metaphor how we each have two sides. A side we present to the world and a much more interesting 'inside'.
This piece (and still maintain a normal life), however, 
is an attempt to just show our inner world. That too is a duality

I am comfortable stitching this piece
Happy flitting above and below the horizon
as my beaver landscape story develops.

And the ferns are reaching up towards the early morning light
as their story begins.

Be safe and gentle with each other

Yesterday was a Good Day

Walking this land every morning

clears the mind
opens up the heart

and influences everything

especially my work

Right now it is sticks

I see them everywhere

Where there are Beavers there will always be sticks

Some sticks pile up in log jammed streams

Some sticks end up on my design wall

Slowly bringing stitch covered sticks to life I hope

 Some know that I am trying to bring more blue into my life

but I have to say it girls

......

that blue might have to go!

The Rusty Pups and I walk on sticks

cleverly placed in mud 

down in the Soggy Bottom woods.

The work of our brilliant neighbour Steve!

In this strange time
it takes work to keep our days as normal as possible
I wish for you a normal day

Inspiration for Some New Beginnings Perhaps

I am finding the landscape the Beavers have left behind fascinating

Sometimes the Rusty Pups and I

visit the old Beaver territory on our morning walks

Because they are no longer here to maintain their dams

the water had receded

Revealing chewed off stubs of trees and bushes

Jutting up and out at every angle

I love the randomness

Back at home this Groundhog boldly

walked across the front of the house

right under excited Rusty Pups watching his every move 

from the safety of the kitchen window.

Apologies for the photo

it took me ages to find the camera and so got his backside!

Exhausted mighty beaver hunters

and groundhog observers!

New beginnings don't happen suddenly for me

I have to absorb and ponder

and understand 

before I can decide what story I want to stitch

but there is a point, as Meister Eckhart says,

when I do dive in and trust the magic

of new beginnings.

And suddenly you know:

it's time to start something new

and trust the magic 

of new beginnings

Meister Eckhart

We visited the Beaver Dam

A few days ago the ice was breaking up around the abandoned Beaver Dam.

Brrrr!

Today the water is free of ice

I wonder if beavers ever return to places they have abandoned?

The Rusty Pups found it a useful bridge to clamber their way back to me.

It is still cold up here in the North so the ice might be back.

Brrr!

I wondered if I should have put puppies on top of

Beaver Moon Dreaming...

....or perhaps some paw prints!

Moving Toward Year's End

Beaver Moon Dreaming

Still in progress but moving along

Thinking that they live in a watery world....

....I'm stitching swirls around the edges.

Sometimes those swirls break through stick walls

for I also know there is danger beyond their refuge.

Peace and companionship resides inside their lodge.

They even allow muskrats to share their home in Winter.

I am enjoying this stage of adding

and sometimes removing....

....as I work through my encounters with our local beavers

and the fact that they are no longer close by

because the bobcats and coyotes think they are delicious.

I miss them and the simple joy of 

finding their footprints

and worn paths on our early morning walks.

But they will surely be back in a year or two

to build up a new community.

As Winter Settles in and the New Year fast approaches

I have to admit I am no longer a 'winter person'

but I do love sunrise any time of year.

And walking with my Rusty Pup youngsters

is always a joyful adventure.

What a world we live in!

The RP's know exactly where every wild apple tree is in these woods

They think the rotten frozen windfalls are delicious!

Have to say I will be glad when the snow is too deep!

Snow snuffling

to see who is hiding beneath the brambles.

Could be a bobcat or a mouse

a snowshoe hare or perhaps a pheasant.

But the pheasant would have made his noisy escape

way before we arrived here!

Anyhoo, RP Ginger says

enjoy your day!