Betolt Brecht, Autumn Equinox, and the Creative Spirit

More than 20 years ago, I discovered this poem by Bertolt Brecht. It relates to the creative spirit.
It runs through my head at certain moments and I feel it relates to all the artists out there who are extremely talented, but unrecognized.

THE ABANDONED GREENHOUSE

Exhausted from watering the fruit trees
I lately stepped through the open door into the small greenhouse,
where in the shadow of the tattered blind lie the remains of the rare flowers.
Still, made from wood, cloth and wire netting stands the installation

Still, the twine holds the pale withered stems upright.

Bygone day's attention is still visible,
many a subtle touch.

Across the tented roof sways
the shadow of the common evergreens which,
living by rain have no need of art.

As always,
the lovely and sensitive are no longer.

 

Tit versus Tat~The Saga Continues, Will My Print Shop Win????

I walked into the garage to see how the very huge cleanup (of Wayne's junk~ooooops) was progressing, well it is progressing, but very slowly. I thought I would shame him into moving faster and then I turned around and actually could see my wood furniture (for setting type ) and lead spacers. So I softened alittle.  But I took the picture anyway. I call this Wayne's Wall of Shame~though of course like any hoader, he says he knows exactly what is there and why. Especially the why part.

In the above picture, you can see my wood and metal furniture along with lead spacers used for setting up type jobs! Certainly a postive vision.

As I walked back into the house, I walked right past the dining room table. Then I backed up.....
I felt a little guilty because in reality this is some of my crap on the dining room table....well a lot of my crap on the dining room table. As a matter of fact, we forgot we had a dining room table.

So here is my contribution to fairness between the sexes. Tit for Tat, the struggles between QuillnAros and Goliath.

 

Parrots, Windows, More Light just in Time for Winter Blues~

The first photo of my bird's cages, and yes they do take up quite a bit of space, is taken from my studio on the second floor. The cages are placed in front of the bay windows and have a fabulous view of the garden. Me, well I had a very small window and the seal has been broken since I moved in 15 years ago.

NOW, my window has finally been replaced by a bigger, brighter window that lets in more light, a room now with a view!  Finally I can see the garden from my studio window. I have a view that the birds have had all these years!

Previously, the only room with a view, lucky ducks!

Wayne's perfectionist son, measuring and cutting and installing

Roy, Kim's alter ego, balancing and measuring on the outside

My Babysitting Duties~ Sumo~ Built like a Purdue Chicken (a 5 lb chicken!)

My girlfriend and I trade babysitting services~I sit with her two parrots and she sits with my four parrots. Actually four of my parrots make two of hers! I swear, Sumo the Blue and Gold Macaw must weigh 5 lbs. (well I am exaggerating alittle!) I took this picture of him to send to my friend because I tried to explain what he was doing ON his swing and she couldn't envision this. Me either!

He puts one wing around the metal side of his swing like he is holding on (which he is), then he rests the longest part of his tail feathers on a rope toy hanging from the top of his cage which stabilizes his back end.  After a few minutes he starts swinging back and forth and says, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Color Inspiration for the Marbled Parrot Feathers

With the garden bloomin' and rich in color, I thought it would be fun to show you some of my inspiration for the color combinations I use. Most all of these flowers are grown from seed and reside in big pots scattered amongst the garden flowers.  The rest are perennials.

Such a beautiful color combo!

The honeysuckle vine~perfect hummingbird attractor

a new kind of sunflower~one of Burpee's Hybrids

cockatoo feathers are a perfect white canvas

a color combination that heralds Springtime

One of the new kinds of zinnias seeds I tried this year, very easy to grow
from seed and flowers show dual shades of coral

this marbled cockatoo feather reflects the colors of the
natural Moluccan cockatoo head feathers

 

Marblin' Momma's Corner Garden

I have been concentrating my energies in the garden for the last few months. I usually focus on physical labor when I have decisions to make or am doing unnecessary mental acrobatics and obsessing about stuff that should be kicked to the curb (so to speak) So I will show you why I planted an elaborate garden in the first place. Beauty aside, I wanted to plant greenery so I could use it in my papermaking endeavors and originally I did do that. I started making paper because of my printing press and all that beautiful metal type. As Hubby uncovers my print shop in the garage, I will then start making paper once again, and will return to where I started (if I can remember!!)

Japanese paper with seeds, long fiber

Western paper, cotton, with boiled and dyed zinnia petals
 

• I cooked the petals of zinnias, marigolds, any interesting seeds for just a few minutes. Then, I used fiber dyes to put color back into the petals and seeds. There is variation on what absorbs the dye and how. The Japanese paper has tons of color, long fiber floating through it and texture, while the western paper is smooth cotton fiber and has lots of zinnia petals.

The Corner Garden~Mind of Its Own

This year, the weather has been different (from last year and the year before). Very cool nights, somewhat cool days, lots of rain, infestations of different types of worms, bugs~now I spied a few japanese beetles. I am out there with my machete, bug begone, and mosquito netting! The pictures will give you an idea, the difference between one month ago and now. It looks as if most of the flowers are going to bloom at once, rather than take their turns as in years past.

More green than flounce

How did I end up with almost all yellow zinnias in my pots? I think it is likely
that our grazing nocturnal animals ate all the coral ones

a touch of pink

The corner garden is now dark and mysterious

I use the petals of zinnias as an addition to my handmade paper

You may think this is kudzu. Almost. It is a trumpet vine that I hack all
the way down every year because it hasn't bloomed and now
after 7 years, it is going to produce hopefully more than one flower.