October Sweetness

Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine.

Rainer Maria Rilke

View from inside a small cave in Missouri at Meramec State Park

October

Old the year grows,

Casting aside her green cloak,

Twirling in lingering twilight -

Offering her final fruits.

Blustering winds bend her limbs,

Enervating darkness calls her to sleep-

Rocking her bones into winter deep.

Hundreds of white pelicans and cormorants traveling together in Oklahoma

A broken tree cradles the moon at Sequoyah State Park in Oklahoma

Wheat tips bending toward the sun in Texas

Ariadne, the banded garden spider, basking in the light of the rising sun in Azle, Texas

The hunter’s moon descends beneath the trees in Texas

Leaves and twig reflecting in a still pond in Pier Cove, Michigan

Milkweed letting go of her feathery offspring 

Autumn Glory of Ox-Bow and lake Michigan beyond from the Crow’s Nest Trail in Saugatuck

A few feathers wave good-bye to the sun and October on the Lake Michigan Shore in Fennville

What I really want from Music: That it be cheerful and profound like an afternoon in October.

Friedrich Nietzsche

October is a month for classical music. For running into a gale force wind. For flying kites and watching scary movies and eating popcorn by the fire. It is one of my favorite months for the colors and the smells and the winds of change.

This October turned into a beautiful but busy month of travel and events and my intention of blogging twice turned into not even once; well as I write it’s still October, Halloween, in fact, but you won’t receive this until November 1st.

I hope your October was as amazing as mine. The unusually warm weather made it possible to be outdoors so much more than usual, and I got to visit my family in Texas which always makes me happy.

Thank you so much for being here! I will see you in two weeks. Really!! 😊

A Halloween treat for the squirrels - carved heirloom pumpkin 

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.