A little more snow, a little more shoveling. We have not tired of it yet, but because the table is now covered with seed catalogs and lists of plants we’ve propagated for the coming season, we are feeling mindful of spring and the promise it brings. Next week, many of the classes we will offer in 2019 will be posted. I know that a hypertufa class will start the season off, I’m thinking April. For those wanting to sculpt some pots and have them cured and ready for planting, this is the class for you!
I have been spending lots of time in the studio, hoping to have some full baskets of handspun yarn to offer knitters this season. And just think, sheep shearing is right around the corner! More wool on its way!
I am including a photo of some socks I made from old sweaters and have now come to the point of needing repair. I really plan on getting the most out of the clothes I wear! Don’t discard…re-make, up-cycle, repair, mend, and patch, I say.
And, why not a poem to celebrate Valentines Day. Enjoy!
To have without holding
BY MARGE PIERCY
Learning to love differently is hard,
love with the hands wide open, love
with the doors banging on their hinges,
the cupboard unlocked, the wind
roaring and whimpering in the rooms
rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds
that thwack like rubber bands
in an open palm.
It hurts to love wide open
stretching the muscles that feel
as if they are made of wet plaster,
then of blunt knives, then
of sharp knives.
It hurts to thwart the reflexes
of grab, of clutch ; to love and let
go again and again. It pesters to remember
the lover who is not in the bed,
to hold back what is owed to the work
that gutters like a candle in a cave
without air, to love consciously,
conscientiously, concretely, constructively.
I can’t do it, you say it’s killing
me, but you thrive, you glow
on the street like a neon raspberry,
You float and sail, a helium balloon
bright bachelor’s button blue and bobbing
on the cold and hot winds of our breath,
as we make and unmake in passionate
diastole and systole the rhythm
of our unbound bonding, to have
and not to hold, to love
with minimized malice, hunger
and anger moment by moment balanced.
Oh, Denise, you don’t know me. But you know my family, Pia and her children. How I thank you for these beautiful wise, wonderful posts, filled so much with love.
Hello Sandra,
What a kind and delightful message, Thank You! Yes, of course I know Pia and her three lovely girls…wonderful gals, all of them! Glad to hear you enjoy the ‘ramblings’ from Fernwood!
Happy Valentine’s Day, Denise. You certainly have the ‘white’ in the ‘red and white’ for Valentine’s Day. 🙂
Happy ( very belated) Valentines Day to you Judy. Hope you are enjoying the last of winter ‘down-time’. Gardening season soon to come!
I love getting your emails, thanks and Happy Valentine to you too.
Thank you, Brenda. Hope you are having a fine and enjoyable winter season and thank you for reading the blog!
❤️❤️💕 love to see your many projects. Have a sweet valentine day
I’m afraid soon my ‘project making’ will be put off for a bit once the weather turns and our focus turns to gardens and nursery. In the meantime, sewing and knitting and spinning and making take center stage!
Busy, busy! And, oh, those socks!
Yes, busy, busy…always. Still want to make time for the museum and a bite to eat. Love making those socks from old sweaters, comfy, warm, and practical!
Just let me know! If it doesn’t work out before your really, really busy time, no worries. We can always try next year.
Oh, I think there is still time. March is still a possibility, if you’re game!
We sure are! Hope it works out. What fun!
I, for one, am getting sort of tired of the shoveling–this last round felt tedious. But spring will come. I have never seen patchwork socks before–they are very cool!
Oh, the shoveling! Not sure we’re quite out of the woods yet, Kerry. March can be a bugger with late snowfall! Spring around the corner!
Great piece Denise! Spring is just about started here in Kerry. Spent a couple of days working with Sally last week. Sorry that you couldn’t make it, hope your husband is on the mend?
All the best,
Gearoid