Spider Web

Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night.

Carl Sandburg

On a foggy morning, the silk strands of a web glisten with dewy diamonds.

A spider hangs in the window, waiting.

After hunting insects all summer, I am beginning to feel a little spider-like.

Patience is key.

Bees will eventually bumble in.

Ladybugs will climb.

A spice bush swallowtail may stay surprisingly still.

The grasshopper will leap into sight.

Tiger swallowtail could get preoccupied with a blazing star,

And a singing Cicada fall from the tree.

The Monarch will make a Royal Appearance,

And unwary flies land before me.

Will you walk into my parlour? Said the spider to a fly: '"Tis the prettiest little parlour That ever you did spy.

Mary Howitt

The Collector

Spider-like I spin

my web patiently, sensing

when you wander in.

I have had a great time looking for bugs everywhere this summer. The spider binding book I mentioned in my last post (click here if you didn’t see that one) is almost completely full of photos.

Spider binding from the top - its shape is the reason for its name.

I realized I could add twice the photos I thought I could to this book because of the wide open format, so I printed the extra photos today. Now I just need to mount them and add the cover photo and I’ll be done.

Another follow up - I am offering a three hour bookbinding workshop on September 28, 2024 at 9:30 am at my barn/studio in Glenn, Michigan.

We will be making a hand-stitched slotted wrapper binding, and, if we have time, I’ll also show you a how to make a couple of fun single sheet folded books. All tools and materials will be provided. The cost is $75 per person. Class size is limited to 10 people, so please let me know as soon as possible if you’re interested by replying to this message (if you received this post via e-mail) or sending me an email at rhodatude@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for being here.  See you next month!

What a beautiful summer this has been. Here’s a brief moment with the sun, before my little part of earth turned away into night.

Magic of June

In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.

John Steinbeck

Heart of a Rose

nestled within her silky white petals

baby sunbeams reach

with tiny arms and fragile hearts

to their mother

June 5 fallen leaves caught by the petal of a Japanese dogwood blossom

June 7 Eastern Gray Squirrel chewing on a green pine cone

June 8 - A cluster of flowers on the mock orange tree, backlit by the rising sun in the front yard

June 8 - Robin building her nest in an old lilac bush by the driveway

June 10 - Cabbage White Butterfly settles on the wild herbs by the roadside

June 11 Tiny Pine Squirrel ate seeds fallen from the river birch outside the front door

June 12 - a bee sat, unmoving, near the eye of a wooden step

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.

Al Bernstein

It’s been a quiet week of gardening, resting and getting ready for summer here. Seeing flowers bloom. Watching the little wild things emerge and come looking for food. Walking down to the lake in the early morning. Wandering around the neighborhood. Summer will be here soon with all its busy activity and social commitments, and that will be good too, but for now I’m really soaking up the quiet.

Thank you for letting me share a few of my favorite moments of this week. Hope your week was beautiful too.

June 12 - A rainbow fragment unexpectedly appeared across the lake as I was walking back up the bluff stairs

Scenes from a Long Walk

Walking sometimes means undertaking an inner voyage of discovery. You are shaped by buildings, faces, signs, weather and the atmosphere…Walking as a combination of movement, humility, balance, curiosity, smell, sound, light and - if you walk far enough - longing. A feeling which reaches for something, without finding it.

Erling Kagge, from Walking

A seagull flying into the sunrise over the Atlantic

fighting for scraps of food in the air

lizard basking in sunshine on the rocks at the marina

Fish crow gazing into the water of the shipping channel

rock dove perching on a ledge above a small local grocery store

egret fishing in a public fountain.

a single white flower floats on the surface of a pond

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.

Steven Wright

This was not just a single walk, or even a single day, but in hindsight it felt like one continuous experience. I am on the cusp of a change, trying to decide how and where to focus my time in the near future. I may begin blogging a little less frequently to make space for other work. Decision making is hard. Walking helps.

Thank you for being here.