please please rain ⛆

abby's birthday! yay!

one of my dearest friends in the whole world finished another trip around the sun this past week! If you know Abby, you are one of the lucky ones.

abby makes yarn, is beloved by animals (acadia orange cat, Flint, worms, etc.), will go for a swim in any weather, and makes really special cakes. If Abby was not a person, I think she would be a ladybug or a spring peeper.

The first time I met her, I invited her to my dorm room to drink wine and make beaded jewelry - crazy! anyway it worked out because over three years later and here we are, I get the pleasure of making another beaded bracelet for Abby's birthday. I can only hope for the same three years from now.

I am aware that Adèsse already posted the Abby salad but it was so pretty... I will post it again... also going to post cat in a basket again, I can't help myself. Enjoy.

new tattoo ʚїɞ

well, I ended up having a ditsy moment and being an hour late, but the artist, Noah, still fit me in and I got a tattoo with the colour palette of my dreams.

It was a lovely experience - had a nightdog synchronicity occur when Noah's partner cooked them up some dogs on the barbecue right outside. not to mention a beautiful moment when a moth landed on the window right after sunset, like it was saying hello to my new tattoo.

the butterflies have been healing remarkably well, not due to any special attention on my part besides a bar of soap. just the lightest of flaking. cannot recommend Noah (ig: extrahotclubmix) enough. such cool work.

Saw a red moon outside A+O's cottage when we stopped by on the way home. Listened to Big Moon by arthur russell.

cats

unfortunately, I didn't make it out to the barn this week due to Nic being poisoned (read more by clicking this link). however, I did have a great cat experience when Amelia had Nic, Adèsse, and I over for board games while cat-sitting. cat loved my basket, felt bad taking it home when the kitty was such a fan.

fibre arts

well, I am definitely starting more projects than I am finishing, but I'm realizing that might be how my brain likes it. Generally, I try to take on no more than I can accomplish to avoid overwhelm but lately I wonder if I am just fighting my natural creative process.... of doing a million things and letting inspiration from one thing carry me into the next, a positive feedback loop of one project sparking an idea that transfers into a different project/medium.

all that to say, while I've casted on 2 more knitting projects and started various other misc. things, I've only completed a little rug hooking. it's cute and scrappy and will be the rug for a mouse house at the concrete house.

also, I just found out about the c***** f*** m*** briggs & little yarn lead?? is it a secret for locals only? what a steal.

cyanotype workshop

on Saturday, Holly Worthington hosted a cyanotype workshop at the blue cottage! what a dream that was - diving into blue.

feeling so inspired to continue with this medium and other types of alternative photography methods. Holly collected all different plants from land & sea, and covered all the windows with scarves, and it felt like the cottage became a wizards lair. Holly is honestly such a radiant person, she lights up the room and her energy made this workshop magic.

my favourite print I made was a cyanotype that i fixed on expired photo paper. I didn't paint the edges and the warm coloured paper captured a pinkish lumen print of the cheesecloth.

reading

the past few days I have been listening to audiobooks all day long at work. novellas are nice because I can finish them in a day. maybe it will help me recover from my bout of illiteracy. does listening count as reading? definitely a different kind of attention but it's been a nice practice for noticing my mind wandering and returning my focus before I miss any sentences. my mind has been wandering in unpleasant ways lately so I welcome this new distraction. like my art projects, I have multiple books on the go.

finished:

- the hour of the star by Clarice Lispector

- small things like these by Claire Keegan

in progress

- martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

- the years by annie ernaux

please please rain !!

this is a plea to the universe for rain. all the yellow is breaking my heart; it started in the grasses and is climbing up the trees while fall is still months away.

even though most of us deal with climate anxiety, it is hard to talk about somehow. we say "wow it's never been this hot" and try not to say "will it ever be normal again?"

now that it's illegal to go in the woods in nova scotia, i realize how policy will only pull us, the working-class, further away from nature instead of holding all the guilty bourgeoise corporations responsible. I know how desperate we are not to set this province on fire and yet people can still drive through the woods, throwing cigs out their window, we just can't bike or hike through the woods, or any other type of non-polluting transportation. somehow in all this drought, while we try our best to ration water, the golf courses stay green.

If this, hiding on asphalt, is the only way we know how to deal with wildfire season (read: we reject other ways that teach us to be part of the ecosystem like indigenous fire stewardship, or ummmm banning cigarettes and building infrastructure that isn't car-centric), I wonder what kind of relationship the next generation will be able to have with the land, after being banned from spending time with it.

nevertheless, I am so grateful for the beautiful beaches I can visit, and will not be playing with fire anytime soon, literally or figuratively.

thanks for reading!

xoxo,

Jane