Harvest & Journalfest

Today my work list is a mile long but it's my last chance to post before leaving for Journalfest so here I am; scattered but earnest in my effort to procrastinate and avoid getting down to business. We'll start with recent journal pages. Here I've cut some new stencils, rubber stamps, and well, you know. The usual fun stuff.

The journal is often a reflection of the mind. Big, tangled thoughts; dreams mixed with reality.

Experiments and records.

Play.

Holding on to what is precious. The things you wish you could carry with you always.

I've also been shooting willy-nilly around the garden and house. John is busy with the harvest. Above is the strange roots on his blue corn.

We got an amazingly large harvest off the tall corn that he thought would never ripen and last night we visited our friends from Oaxaca who taught us how to parch the corn on the grill. It was soooo good, tasting just like corn nuts only more tender and without all the salt and oil. Now John is all heated up to make nixtamal and grind his own corn for tortillas.

The beautiful Federley tomato.

Black figs from the tree. They are so beautiful; I love figs and pomegranates for being so guarded of their beauty. Sex-ay!

A bumper crop of peppers drying in the warm garage.

My favorite variety of squash. No butter needed. Tastes like pumpkin pie. (we bake them in a pyrex pan with a little water)

Tomatillos for the green salsa.

Last year the squirrels got all the walnuts but this year we had fewer squirrel families and a bumper crop of walnuts as a result.

This is a thistle flower from an artichoke plant. It is as big as your palm. I wrote a poem after seeing a bee squirming around in the blossom. Here it is:

Meditation on that bee
threading halleluias
through the
lilac thistle blossoms
trailing prayer flags
whispering grace
gratitude
joy
and amen.

Thank you for humoring me. See you in a week or so.