goodbye dog days

new 'do

Adèsse gave me my fav haircut ever. Iggy supervised. It feels so me! I got to watch out the window as people stopped by for honey, and a few bumbling bees bumped against the glass. Can’t imagine a better salon experience. If you want to steal my look, ask for "mick jagger with 2 rattails"

fibre arts

ladybug and little wool bag for Leyna

It's my little sister Leyna's 6th b-day tomorrow! I know everyone says this about kids but.... I can't believe she's growing up so quickly. It's really special to know her from day one, being so far apart in age means I get to have clear memories of her first years of life. I remember going on a walk with her in a baby carrier when she was really little and her smiling when it started raining on her head. I remember the diapers and the drool and trying her baby food. hard to believe a whole sentient human has been contained in such a little body since day one... a whole self ready to unfold. I wish I saw her more these days but, every time I see her curls and bright eyes and smile, I am reassured that sisters are forever. I miss her dearly.

One year, her and I both dressed up as ladybugs for halloween without meaning to match! So here's a ladybug I knit for her. It was a surprisingly quick project, took me 1 day. First time doing stranded colour work

scrappy shorts

finished these shorts! another quick project.

progress on stripe-y cardigan

finally split for the sleeves. very motivated to finish this project so I can thrift fun buttons

now that the ladybug is done, none of my projects have due dates which is a relief. although there's an old knit tank top I'd like to fix up so abby can wear it before it gets cold.

swimming

Last week, I took a long weekend and got a few swims in. I (kinda) jumped off the bridge over the river in gaspereau with Abby and Ewan, and then Nic and I went to the south shore for a day at the beach at Rissers. It was a Monday so it was quiet, but Kevin says I should text him next time so he can tell me about the hidden gems of the area. there were so many trees turned wooly-mammoth by lichen.

I borrowed Adèsse’s swift and balled some yarn on the beach. Thinking i will try out some solar-fast on this white yarn made by a sheep named Travis.

horses

This beautiful horse, Ferny, is as sweet as she is pretty. I love her! We were practicing some trotting bareback + no reins on the longline. She’s got a very smooth gait, we will have to try a canter sometime soon.

I also attended a workshop on somatic practices for people who work with horses. Hanna somatics is a little too… mechanical or something, focused on correctness > curiosity… for it to be my cup of tea, but I definitely had some valuable takeaways after I got over the initial bad taste in my mouth. I was a disappointed that the workshop started with “forget everything you know about how to exist in your body” because that’s a bit of a red flag. This somatic, bottom-up, embodied way of being has been a common thread in all the things I like to do - music therapy, yoga, horses, ecstatic dance - so I hope my next experience is more positive.

other news

finally sent out some long overdue birthday cards that have been weighing on my conscience

pray for my teeth. oh god they’re stealing my teeth I’m so scared. without fear there is no courage blah blah blah - let me keep my wisdom! Orion is driving me since the versa's in the shop (again). Here are some cool reflections off the windows of that ill-fated car:

No car has been a fun opportunity to take Kings Transit and get out biking a little. I've always been nervous about biking on the road because of the whole hand signals thing, and the bike is a little too tall for me so I have trouble getting rolling sometimes, but it went way better than expected. I love the crazy fabric patterns they use on bus seats - buses rule, I've missed all the free gossip and commuting time for listening to music and knitting.

the mice have arrived! I've been working on building this mouse house at work for Mabel and Charlie mouse, made by Rion Microys. I made everything except the mice and Orion made the mini artworks. We will try to make little lamps for in there, apologies for the scary flash.

got a new nightstand so I can have my lite-brite out again. I love that thing. Been feeling kinda low so it’s nice to have something to lift my spirits while in bed.

had some dogs at the concrete House and then we summoned our inner chick white in the very echoey concrete gallery

I'm #staplesmarried. it’s official! Nic and I got an affidavit signed that says we’re common law. very romantic. Hopefully it’ll mean I get more funding for school.

the elephant in the room

At work last week, the emergency alert kept going off for the fire evacuation in West Dalhousie and every time I would be started and reunited with my climate grief. Instead of pretending this wildfire season isn't important, I sat outside and the thick humid air slowed my breathing. I drew rain clouds in blue chalk, imagining them washed away when I return to work. when the rain came, it was not nearly enough to put out fire, but it is enough for chalk, and I ask it to be enough for my heart.

A part of me takes pride in not having air conditioning again this year. That maybe I possess the same resilience as the ditch weed, and squirrels, and swarms of flies that also live without cool air. I cry every night for the moss and the chipmunks and the seeds whose homes have been lost to wildfire. animals like me, and plants, in all their imaginative, mystical forms, they all respond to pain. it is a pit in my stomach, a grief that I’m honoured to carry because I know that it is love at its root.

there are things I know deeply but cannot describe - the difference in how it smells before rain versus after, how the bird song changes with the temperature. As the climate changes, I find myself in an uncanny landscape, and I wonder what pieces of ephemeral knowledge are already slipping from me without my knowing. There are ghosts, of course, in my body that I catch glimpses of when I least expect it; people who have passed away, whose bedrooms I’ve slept in, whose great grandchildren have met me. But in this era of mass extinction, I am not sure any of this life will resemble its original form when it returns to haunt us. It’s all just memories.

As the winds from hurricane Erin worsen the fire, I try to keep my hands busy with small heartfelt tasks. Please let the firefighters come home safely, let peoples homes not crumble to ashes. I would pray if I were religious, but I know demanding climate action is the only prayer that will appeal to mother nature.

So, when I feel like I don’t want to take pictures. When I want to crop out the dying tree and the yellow grass and all the other marks of ugliness this drought leaves on the earth, I try to love it all with an undiscerning eye. Like in winter, when any colour seems a hundred times richer against the whiteness of snow. This is a season for resilience. It’s not too late.