Search Results for: What Are you wondering

Zip At The Vet, Jon To The Rescue

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Zip in his carrier at the Vet

Zip was not happy.

When the Cassandra from the Cambridge Valley Vet called and told us Zip needed a distemper booster I brought him in.  (Jon found two ticks on Zip this morning and went right to the Vet to get him a flea and tick collar.  In all the years I’ve known him Jon has never found a tick on any of our cats)

It wasn’t easy getting Zip in the cat carrier, and he yowled all the way to the Vets office.  (Fortunately  our Vet just up the road from the farm, it takes maybe a minute to get there.)

Once he was in the crate he didn’t want to come out.

Dr Roosevelt and Casey, the tech, were impressive.  First they threw a towel over the carrier and left the room, so he could calm down.  Then, they opened the carrier door and tried to entice him with feathers and treats.

When he still wouldn’t come out, we took the top off the carrier.

It was either when Casey wrapped Zip in the towel to hold him still or when Dr Roosevelt was finding his kidneys that Zip started purring.  I guess to him was a cozy blanket and a good massage.

That’s when my phone rang.

It was Jon wondering what was taking so long.  We all laughed and I told them how Jon was smitten with Zip.  “I can see that,” Dr Roosevelt said, “he even showed me pictures of Zip when he came in to get the collar.”

Then she said she understood because Zip was a charmer.

Zip didn’t blink when he got his shots.  But as we waited for Casey to get the worming medicine I heard Jon’s voice in the waiting room.  Then a knock on the door and there was Jon.

We all laughed some more as Jon turned red.

I was surprised when Jon didn’t come with me to the Vet.  It’s unusual for him to miss the first Vet appointment of any of our animals.  I assumed he didn’t want Zip associating him with forcing him into a carrier and getting shots.

Now here he was, just as were were finishing up.  Just in time to take Zip home.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

When we got home Zip ran from the carrier, jumped onto the woodpile and disappeared in the woodshed.

Jon enticing Zip to come out of the woodshed

That’s when I got the cat food.  I filled up his bowl while Jon stood by the woodpile calling to Zip.

I was ready to just leave the food in the barn and let Zip come out in his own time.  He wouldn’t stay there long, not when it was dinner time.  But when I saw Jon I gave him the dish.  Then I went to feed the hens and fill up the water in the barnyard.

When I was done, there was Jon holding Zip’s bowl while he ate.

I told Dr Roosevelt that this was a side of Jon I’d never seen before.  And it’s true about Jon and a cat.  Even though Flo was the first cat to seduce Jon, he never attached to her like he has already to Zip.

But it’s not true that I’ve never seen this side of Jon before.  Because he is such a nurturing person is one of the reasons I love him.

A few days ago Jon mentioned that Zip reminded him of his dog Orson that he wrote his book A Good Dog about.  I was intrigued by that comparison.  It made me think about Jon’s connection to Zip in a new way.

I’m still contemplating it, but there is no doubt that the two of them have something special going on.

(You can read Jon’s version of Zip’s visit to the Vet here)

A Bald Eagle Visits The Farm

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The eagle turned and looked right at me.

 

I was just about to open the gate, my arms full of hay when the bald eagle flew over me.  Looking up I turned to see those outstretched wings reaching out only twenty feet or so over my head.  In my memory, they are a silhouette against the pale blue sky.

Then the bird glided up its talons grabbing hold of a thin branch on the dying maple tree in the dog yard.  The branch bounced up and down as the eagle righted herself, using her wings for balance.

It took her a bit to settle, for the branch to stop shaking under her weight.  It was only then that I dropped the hay and climbed over the gate, which is frozen to the ground, into the dog yard.

Bud was already at the base of the maple tree barking at the eagle who paid little attention to him.

You can see bud at the base of the tree barking at the bald eagle, a dark spot high in the branches.

I took some pictures of the eagle then and at one point she turned her head and looked right at me. After that I put my iPhone down and just watched as the eagle sat, swiveling her head around and back.

After a while, I went to the house to tell Jon. The eagle was still in the tree when we looked out the back door.  Then she lifted off the branch, wings spread wide, and swooped down over Route 22 flying low over the coming cars.  I couldn’t help wondering what the people in those cars saw.

We watched as the eagle flew out of sight.  Jon got a picture of the eagle flying away, that classic shape, wings outstretched.

Afterward, I thought of how the bald eagle is so easy to tell apart from other large birds because of their markings.  And that those markings might have so much to do with our fascination with them, which goes back to ancient times.  We have endowed them with such a sense of nobility,  I was surprised when I first learned that they are scavengers as much as hunters. As if it were beneath them to do such a thing.

But of course, that was me, putting my human sensibility onto this animal.  As if they have to live up to my idea of them. I have become more curious and enlightened about animals in general since I started living with sheep and donkeys.

I am constantly learning to let them be who they are without viewing their behavior through my human prejudices.

 

Making Clothes and So much More In Sue Silverstein’s Art Room

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Zelle cutting a pattern

I was wondering where the students in Sue’s classroom would be laying out the patterns to cut them.  But of course, they found a very flat and open surface on the floor.

Sue sent me this photo of Zelle cutting a pattern.  It looks to me like she knows what she’s doing.  I can’t wait to see the finished piece.  Thanks to all of you who sent patterns.  I think there will be a lot of homemade clothes created in Sue’s artroom.

Ari making a stuffed animal

Sue also let me know that she has enough stuffing for the students to make those stuffed animals for kids in need.  Thanks to all of you who have sent the bags of stuffing and all the sewing supplies.

burlap and repousse foil

This is one of the ways that Sue’s art class used the burlap that was donated.  So much art is happening in Sue’s Classroom and it couldn’t have happened without the help from all of you.

Naallyah, who is in the 7th grade made this Agamograph.

Depending on how you look at it, it’s either Minnie or….Mickey….

 

Making Felted Soap At The Mansion

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You can see some of the bars of felted soap on the table

“Everyone is going to have very clean hands when we get done making felted soap,” I told the women who sat around the big table at the Mansion this morning.

Peg, Claudia, June, Lori, Janie and Ellen each held a bar of ivory soap in their hand waiting for instructions.  First I showed them the roving that came from my sheep Kim and Socks.  Then I showed them a picture of Kim and Socks.  (We also used some of the colored roving that Suzy gave me when I was making the dryer balls.)

As they wrapped the roving around the soap, they all wondered how it would stay, even though I had explained the felting process.

I don’t blame them for wondering, or even believing it would work the way I explained it.  Felting always feels like a bit of magic to me too and I’ve done it more than a few times.

“Maybe we should glue it,” Claudia suggested.  And I told her a little water and the soap itself will be the “glue.”

It really is very easy to make felted soap.

After everyone had their soap wrapped in roving we put them in nylon knee highs.  Then twisted the knee high and kept wrapping the soap until it took up the whole nylon.

We passed around the bowl of warm water and everyone soaked their soap in it.

I used Peg’s soap as an example and showed the women how to rub it between their hands to agitate the roving so the pieces of wool would stick together, basically making felt fabric.

Ellen was surprised when she found her hands covered in soap. “This is very clean work,” I reminded her, “not like when we were using clay.”

After rubbing the soap for about five minutes, we let them sit for five more minutes before opening up the nylons and taking the soap out.

I didn’t get to take a picture of them all,  Kim (who is an Aide who was helping us) and I were trying to make sure the soaps didn’t get mixed up. Unlike drawings or sculptures, there’s no place to write a name on the soap. Then we  put the soap on the windowsill to dry.

I told the women that the soap will come through the felting and it will be like having a bar of soap wrapped in a washcloth.

The felted soap I made as an example. Now I get to use it. I think I’ll make myself some more.

 

The Ten Second (or less) Video

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In the past month, I posted two very short videos that got over a thousand shares.  Neither of them were videos I took.  One was a  video that Sue Silverstein took of the windchimes in her classroom.  The other was the video that Suzy Fatzinger took of her roving and her dogs Rosie and Tony.

That got me thinking of how very short videos have become a thing (mostly on TikTok) and wondering what my five or ten-second video might look like.

I’ve done it before, made short videos that I’ve posted on Instagram.  But what if  I intentionally made some very short videos?  What visual stories would I tell in under ten seconds and how would I make them interesting enough to want to post them on my blog?

I’m creatively excited by the idea and came up with my first attempt over the weekend. This was a longer video that I edited down to get both Fate running around the sheep and the Canada Geese flying overhead.

The story isn’t new, but perhaps  I’m telling it in a different way.  This process has me thinking differently,  which is probably what I like most about it.

“Nourishing Tears” Postcards For Sale

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My Nourishing Tears Postcard and Magnets are for sale in my Etsy Shop. Just click here.

“...last week again someone told me not to cry. A good friend who is moving away. My whole life I’ve been sensitive, often trying to hide it. But the older I’ve gotten the more I stand up for myself about this. As I said to my friend, “Please don’t tell me not to cry. It’s how I process things.” I realize crying can make others uncomfortable and they want to “fix” it, but crying for me, is healing and helps me to move forward.”   Barb Techel

When I read Barb’s comment on my blog it reminded me of how often I heard the same thing she described throughout my life.

I too am one of those people who cry easily and often.  As a kid, I had the support of my mother, who appreciated a “good cry.”  It was my father who warned me that “I’d never get a boyfriend if I cried all the time.”

I remember uncharacteristically telling him that I’d find a boy who didn’t care if I cried.

It took me 45 years, but I did.

Jon was the first man I met who wasn’t put off by my tears. Which made me realize that sometimes I had used my tears to do just that.  To chase people away.

Jon loves my tears even more now.  “Oh,” he says with delight as we’re having a conversation, “you’re going to cry.”   He can see it coming and loves to be right.

Not that Jon likes to see me unhappy.

Many times my tears are not about being sad.  There’s a whole range of emotions my tears express.  While others told me I was too sensitive, Jon’s intrigued at how close to the surface my emotions are.

And tears are literally cleansing no matter why we are crying.  Hormones and other toxins in our bodies are released when we cry.  Which may be one of the reasons we often feel better after crying.

But whether you cry easily or not, my Nourishing Tears postcards and magnets are a symbol of hope.  Hope that something good can grow from the bad times even if at  that moment it seems things will never be better.

This morning Jon was wondering why it was taking so long for the flowers to come out in his raised garden bed.  “It’s only been a month since you planted the seeds,” I said, “it takes time for them to bloom.”

I was going to make my Nourishing Tears into regular cards that you can put in an envelope.  But there was a misunderstanding between me and Brad at the printers where I have my cards made.

Now I’m glad to have them as postcards.  This way all the people handling the mail, from state to state, get to see those Nourishing Tears too, instead of just the people who send and receive them.

(As I read this post over, I see it’s just what I needed to hear this morning.)

My Nourishing Tears Postcards are 4″x6″ and come in packs of six.  They are $12 including shipping.  My Nourishing Tears Magnets are 2 1/2″x 4″ and are $7 including shipping. You can buy them in my Etsy Shop, just click here. 

Or if you don’t like using Etsy just email me at [email protected]. I take checks, Paypal and Venmo.  

 

Art Class At The Mansion

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The “new” activities room At The Mansion

There activities room has been redone at The Mansion.  Paryese and Bonnie the new activities directors have been working on it, rearranging and repainting it themselves. Jon and the Army of Good are helping out to get some of the things (like a big clock with waves on it and a CD player) they need to finish it off.

I especially love the big round table we now have to do our art class at.

There was lots of space so we could all sit together and enough room on the table to do our work.  We made cards today. A simple kind of zentangle.  We started with a circle and worked from there.

I encourage everyone not to worry about making mistakes, because there are no mistakes in what we were doing.  No straight lines, or perfect circles.

We did the drawings on card stock and everyone got an envelope for their card.

Ellen’s drawing

Ellen caught on after a while when she said her triangles needed to be colored in. I love the simplicity, use of the space, and her choice of colors.

Peg’s drawing

Peg quietly worked on her drawing.  I told the class that any line is a good line if you create it with confidence.  I see that confidence in Peg’s work.

Nancy’s drawing

Nancy has difficulty holding a marker.  But she still made a wonderful free-flowing drawing with a good abstract composition, shapes, lines, and colors.

Claudia’s drawing

Claudia chose to use one color.  I love how direct and bold her drawing is.  Unlike most of the other pieces, it has the feeling of being an object, something concrete. I keep looking at it trying to figure out what it reminds me of.  A few things come to mind, but it remains elusive to me.

Jennifer’s drawing

Jennifer’s drawing has an ease about it. It’s playful with a lot of movement.  There is something joyful about it. I find it inspiring.

Lori’s drawing

I find Lori’s drawing intriguing.  I look at it wondering how she made her decisions.  That one black square, and the choice of red and how it’s used.  That floating circle and loose “ribbon” make me think there is something going on I should understand but don’t.

Ruth’s Drawing

Ruth showed up late, but was still able to catch up with everyone else. I see something of a quilt in her work and a modified tic tack toe board.  She was going to give her card to Peggy who didn’t come to the class.

Next class, we’re going to work with clay.  Everyone liked the idea of making coil pots, so that’s what we’ll do.

Kitty Calendar

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Kitty Days Of The Week

Jonne sent me these embroidered Kitty Days of the Week.  They’ve been sitting in a box in my studio for a while. I also have some embroideries with women doing similar chores on the same days of the week that Bev sent me.

I remember my friend Mary Kellogg talking about doing laundry on Mondays. I think she even wrote a poem about it.  (I’ll have to find it.)  But except for my Amish neighbors, these house cleaning rituals seem to have vanished (thankfully) with modern conveniences.

I pulled out all the Days of the Week embroideries I have and had a good look at them,  wondering how to use them and if they all belonged together or would be used for different pieces.

I settled on working with the cats or at least starting there.

It was a challenge because there’s so much white space and I didn’t want the pieces to look boxed in.  So I sat down with my Gee’s Bend book for inspiration.  When I saw a quilt that had lots of white fabric and each piece bled into another piece of fabric with a lot of white, I knew that was what I wanted to do.

The flowered table cloth had all the right colors and a good amount of white between them.  When I laid it next to Tuesday’s kitty, I saw that “ironing board shape” and filled the diagonals in with the fabric that is a pattern for Amish dolls.

I saw shapes around the rest of that cat that seemed to work with the images too.  Most of the kitties don’t look too happy with the work they’re doing, or maybe I’m projecting that on them. Except for the Saturday cat, who I distinctly saw with an arch around her.

I’ve never sewn a curve like that before and I considered not doing it.  But nothing else I pictured would do.  So I watched a video on YouTube on how to sew a circle.  It was helpful, and as you can see it worked.

Those little cats, working so hard,  taught me something new.

There were five cats in all.  This is where I’ll leave today.  I have to get ready for Bellydancing and have just enough time to post my selfie with Biddy.

 

Support For My Blog

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Liam and the rest of the sheep wondering where the hay is.

I haven’t asked for blog support in a long time but I could use some now.

First I want to thank everyone who continues to give me monthly and one-time donations without my mentioning it.  I’d also like to thank everyone who supports my work by buying my art, my potholders, quilts, fabric paintings and whatever else I come up with.  And thanks also,  to those of you who send me your fabric scraps and unwanted fabrics.

I understand that not everyone can or wants to donate to my blog, but I do spend my days not only working on my art, but documenting it and posting videos and photos of the farm and animals, my walks in the woods, and writing about my life.

If this is something you enjoy and would like to support it’s easy to do.

I have people how who send monthly donations from $2 to $50.  There are also people who every once in a while send a donation to my blog because they read something that has meaning for them, or they like a particular video, or are inspired by a piece of my art.

I do spend more and more time writing and taking pictures and videos than ever. I post three to four times a day, six days a week.  (Saturday is my sabbath from the internet which really does a lot to revive me.  I recommend an Internet Sabbath).  I’ve been faithfully posting my Monday Morning Videos for six years (I’ve missed a few Mondays due to vacations and just forgetting, whoops) and I hope I’m getting better at all of this all the time.

It’s another process my readers get to participate in.

So if you can and if you’d like, you can make a one-time or monthly donation to my blog in any amount. Just click here or on the words “Support My Blog“  at the top of each post.

I have Paypal and Venmo.  If you don’t use either regularly, you can use a credit card on Paypal as a guest or you can also send a check to Full Moon Fiber Art  PO Box 205 Cambridge NY 12816.

And thank you all for being there, for reading my blog and taking a part in the ongoing conversation whether you donate or not.

My First “Cinematic” Video On My New iPhone 13

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Jon has written many times about how we almost got divorced the first time he gave me an iPhone for Christmas when we first got married.

I’ve always been the kind of person who believes you use something till it falls apart before getting a new one.  So the idea of getting a new iPhone when I have one that works fine, took me years to get used to.

When Jon told me that the iPhone 13 had a better camera than my iPhone 11 and a new Cinematic setting on the videos, my first response was that I didn’t need a new phone, I loved my 11.

The next time he mentioned it and offered to buy it for me for Christmas, I said “Let me think about it, and if I do get it, I’ll buy it myself”.

I did think about it, and how my initial response to anything new that might be something I could benefit from, or might just enjoy, is always “no”.

I know that my aversion to getting a new iPhone or anything that seems unessential is about self-worth. My value as a human being and an artist is something that Jon had never questioned, so my having a new creative tool isn’t an issue to him, it’s just the way it should be.

Writing this I see that his belief in me over the past fifteen years, has rubbed off on me.

Because after he mentioned the new phone the second time, I kept wondering what my videos would look like with the new cinematic setting that the iPhone 13 has.

I love to sew but photos and videos have become such an integral part of my creative life, of my work, of my blog.

I can still remember some of the first videos I took on the iPod that Jon gave me ten years ago. Things like ice melting and teapots whistling. The germs of my Thirty Second Meditations. Not all that different in theory, but very different in quality and technique.  As well as my idea of them as part of my work.

So the third time Jon offered to get me the iPhone 13 and let me know how much it would cost after trading in my iPhone 11, I said yes.  And when he found out he could get an iPhone 13 for even less after he traded in his iPhone 12, I suggested we buy the phones for each other for Christmas.

Yeah, I got the better deal, but I think Jon is just happy to be able to get me the phone without me having a fit about it.

So check out my first cinematic video with my new iPhone 13.    You can see how the focus varies,  blurring the background and making what’s in focus and close up, really pop. It’s not a very good video,  I still have to figure out how and when to use it.  I’ll be doing that by experimenting, so I hope you’ll join me.

Buy these! YOU CAN PURCHASE MY WORK IN MY ETSY SHOP >

Full Moon Fiber Art