Findings and Friends

Lunch made by my friends at Sweethaven.  Tim, Gayla, Christine and Sonja.

Gayla, Chris, me and Sonja.

Sonja has just discovered that Gayla is just like her Bajan mom except she's Jewish. Her coat and hat didn't come off all weekend. She was freezing.

Rust bucket for dyeing

Another fallen woman in the garden

The  Scottish Broom invading everything.

Lovely mushrooms growing in the rock garden.

Hellebore

Me feeling spoiled and nurtured by my friends but fighting the persistent nausea.
 Hence the slightly inebriated look.

Lovely smelly Myrtle

Rose bush attempting to swallow the old greenhouse.

Fragrant home for the ants.

Swallows nest. All birdies fledged.

Driftwood bird house

Old grinding wheel. Carried with me now for more than 30 years.

May Poles and Morris Dancers

 May Day celebrations at the Agricultural Hall and Farmer's Market on Mayne Island.

Food, costumes, parades. The Queen of May and Maypole dancers chased around by sooty faced traditional Morris dancers. Crafters, bakers, gardeners, woodworkers and jewellers. Fresh organic produce and honey. 

Community.  All ages. All wanting another time.

I will learn it here.

Silent Places

There are little hidden places all over Sweethaven Farm. Musty little caverns, cracks in walls all through the wood shed that reveal soft and glowing objects. Bone, powdery mould, rotten things, crumbing surfaces and soft little amorphous beings.

I found a little cave or burrough. The mushroom was growing in it's entrance. Earth smells exaggerated.

The bark has many subtle colours and came from the kindling pile.

People wonder why I don't use lots more colour in my work and I am stunned. There are a hundred colours of white, grey and a thousand browns from fawn to chestnut. I am lucky in that I see those colours.
This makes my husband laugh. He says he once saw the primaries and black and white and was completely confused when he'd be looking for something from me and I'd ask him to find me the baltic blue one that has a touch of maroon. He went to describe his yellow t-shirt last weekend and when asked the colour he said a soft yellow that was a cool yellow that leaned to the taupe. My influence there.

I thought about people who dream in black and white. What whites? What blacks? The variations are endless! I wondered if I dreamt in a thousand tints of black and white. And why that was considered lacking creativity.

Heavy Heart

  Busy and hard reality last week. I got my injection which laid me on the floor for a few days. Saw my oncologst who gave me mixed news regarding my health status. The breast cancer has been held at bay and the tumours have shrunk measurably. I am amazed because I have been feelng really awful.

I listed the Vancouver house, found a new artist for my studio and rented out small talk Gallery for the summer.  It is now in serious negotiation for the sale in October.  All brought tears to my eyes. All these changes will be complete in a month or two.

Tim and  I packed up another truck load and have arrived back on Mayne Island wth frends Ayzia and Katherine. My new comfy couches have arrived. The rest of the house contents are now here.

Next truckload is the rest of my studio.

  So I am here for the rest of the summer. It is my new country home.

Deer One went crashing into the bush. He isn't so sure of these other beings.

Deer One

Hive

Ray sent me this photograph of a discovery he made in Golden Ears Park.
This paper wasp hive has been naturally crafted over a bird house. The wasps moved right in.
I bet the birds didn't!

Found my first tiny wasp's nest on Mayne Island and also discovered a line of eight barn swallow nests in the eaves of my wrap around porch. They weren't there last week.

Deer One came for supper again tonight. He is eating all the flowers off the Scottsh Broom.  He greets me now and we stand and stare at each other until he starts eating. His antlers are coming in.