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September 13, 2008
Community. Creativity. Chipmunks.
Here is where I have been for at least 10 days of my bloggy silence- at Ragdale-
(thanks, Nora for letting me use your beautiful photos!)
You know you live a charmed life when this is the backyard-
And plus there are the prairie, the woods, and many little magic places in between. I worked in the new and improved Barn Studio- oh, how to describe it? A smallish barn, with white walls, skylights, an old and aesthetically challenged but entirely functional rocking chair for knitting and reading in, magic drawers and cabinets for stowing one's extra tools, and one's secret stash of emergency cookies- for low blood sugar purposes!- and also finding one or two interesting and helpful things that have been left behind by previous residents. How great is it for holing up on a rainy day? Well. If you have tea, and lots of pencils, and some good music (or not, you can listen to the raindrops on the skylights) then you can suspend yourself in time and so many things will come to you. Its true!
Here are some things about the prairie in early September-
The plants are tall and tangled and they sigh and hum, crackle and buzz and breathe. There are swarms of dragonflies, hundreds of goldfinches that land on plant stalks, bumblebees on big fuzzy thistles, green-gold irridescent beetles, butterflies and moths in every size and color, and furry caterpillars. There is wild asparagus (-who knew?)! And millions of yellow flowers!
Oh! The living things!!
And around the houses, and in the crevices of the many stone walls and under the shrubbery- jillions of chipmunks who gave me this message-
"its our world. You just live in it. We won't be fooled by any schemes involving cashews either." They will look you in the eye very sternly if you block their doorway to the Chipmunk Underground, too. So look out cause they're serious!)
And the dead things- which are feeding and working their way towards transmogrifying back into living things- I became fascinated with the preponderance of fungus, lichen, and moss on all the fallen trees and decaying plant matter in the woods. Some of which is working its way into my work.
There is so much more to tell!
Like how indebted I am to all the nice people who I met whose energy inspired me to new levels- what was it Alexis had on her studio wall? Ah, yes! "The work comes from the work! Keep experimenting!" Thanks so much for the timely reminder!
Still much more to tell! I'm sure I will get to it- including some new work I started and some I finished. Now I am
off to re-assimilate some more!
Oh, p.s.I saw a hummingbird in our garden here at home yesterday. Perhaps it knew I needed a reminder that beauty is something that thrives everywhere, we just have to look and see it.
Posted by pippypippy at September 13, 2008 09:12 AM
Comments
Oh, wow. I had heard Ragdale was beautiful but I had no idea. I'm so glad you got to have this experience!
Posted by: David at September 13, 2008 01:41 PM
It looks so incredibly peaceful. And beautiful. And green.
Glad you got to go! Hugs to Marcel.
Posted by: kim in oregon at September 13, 2008 02:51 PM
Sigh...Ragdale...
Is Regin still there?
Posted by: cari at September 14, 2008 01:00 AM