may rhapsody

people lived here
the guards at the side door of the ancient city of rhamnus used to play board games to while away the time
the main gate/entrance to the city


an anchor
some inset piecing
madness
a map of travels, weaving in stitches

as far as the eye can see
the stormcloth
it was thundering growling coming closer. A libation of wine, part of my rusty collection, a eucalyptus bark storycloth from last year. bundled just in time and left for the storm..an offering
may has been stormy
and windyI am working on word patchwork-very much pulled into the shadowy hall where the suitors eat and drink, where the beggar king watches and plans, where the boy becomes a man, where she spins the yarns of their lives faultlessly weaving and unweaving their fate

mothers day

this was at my doorstep when I woke up. what it says is, of course, I love you mum.
reflections
layering waves
I'll vote for invisible baste anyday
layers of wind

this looks like the beginning of a cloth. I love hewn stones (as opposed to cut)
once more this looks like a prayer to me
striving towards the light

sky

sunrise
gulls. they come inland when the sea is too rough. that's what the fishermen say.they make the wind visible


the cemetery is the border between civilised and wild, for the village. I live on the other side.
soft and fluffy. I gathered as much as I could find. Not sheep, I think it is sheepdog down.must be moulting because of the heat.
the house I live in is the one on the left. The view is south-east, towards Marathon.
these are proliferating-cheeky little ...nodding their heads in the wind with their tongues out.I've decided(it is a bit like a what if) to take part in a christmas market, Im busy making fishy pouches from clothes and scraps

the car burst its radiator so I get to walk to my sons school school. Great!

philemon and baucis

the treecloth I've been making for jude hill's cloth to cloth online workshop, backsidetrunk and beginning of roots, up close
all components secured, cloth washed. All fabrics have been dyed by plants from this area. After I washed it I saw the face on the trunk, but the embellishing will come later. It has been so satisfying to make, and magical, really. It is full of stories. I see the olive tree of this land, after the fire, is she praying, or is she dancing? I think a beetle will keep her company, a little lizard and a scops owl,

this is the olive tree which lives next to the houseand this was a fragrant home for a family

today we sre going to the sea to wash the fleeces

a blessing in my dyepots

when I opened this bundle, I got goosebumps. I still look at it in short glances.
it is a long piece of heavy cotton. there were copper pipes in there and rusty scraps of metal
another one with coins
twice folden, thrice dyed
coreopsis. many more to come
the sig vat, rug yarn- I like this so much, my mind is turning to weaving
these are strips tied with rusty stuff and left in the remnants of dyebaths, pomegranate, onionskins
pile of rags, poppy iceflower in the back
indigo. cotton sheet. many dips. my firdt!I am so grateful

a moment in paradise

it is not all burnt. on the way my boys asked me a thousand times, watching the blackened trunks, are you sure it is green where we are going?and when we climbed out of the car and started walking, their joy was tangible. oh, it smells good they said, over and over again. I realised how hard it is for them to live with the evidence of the catastrophe of their environment around us. the outing was an exploration of new storywalks for the museum, because we cant take children to the old ones.
and of course a dyeplant hunting excursion for me. see the cotinus coggyria (smoke tree) lower left in the above foto

and joy of joys madder, madder madder everywhere. it is like a second spring, we have warm weather after rains, sprouts seeds and flowers all together on the same plants. I hope the winter is not too harsh

these are wild pistachio galls, source of tannins and yellow dye which is very lightfast, according to D. Cardon. The bushes are full of them.

I opened one, it was full of aphids. Cardon says they were used before the insects broke out. I promised the boys we'll explore properly during the weekend, I see me dyeing next week

:-)