Chinese proverb

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer it sings because it has a song." To me this means you don't need to have an answer all the time but when you do speak it should be from your heart. There are different bird songs. Some are joyful, others melancholy, some yearning and others wistful. You should consider the effect of your words on others. What does this proverb mean to you?
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Where am I going from here?

Last week I cut off a finished tapestry and started another. The joy and loss I have experienced in the past year and a half has made an indelible mark upon my soul. My new work reflects this. These are tapestries that celebrate both the light and the dark. They are an obvious metaphor for my life. This juxtaposition has resulted in a complete shift in my creativity. Everything about my work has changed. I know the weaving I am doing now is taking me somewhere although I don't know where and I'm not certain it matters. Life is a journey and my relationship with the fiber and the loom reflect mine. I would like to think that perhaps, someday I will heal but I may not and I have accepted that. I will show you pictures next summer when I exhibit.
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Pileated woodpecker tree

I found this cavity nest while doing a burn. The birds had a lovely view as it is located on a woodland edge of a bluff overlooking the sea. From what I read in my books the pileated woodpecker rarely uses a nesting location more than once. However other birds use these abandoned tree cavities. You can tell it belongs to the pileated because of the rectangular shape of the hole. All other woodpeckers that I am aware of make round holes. If you look close you can see grass stuck on the bark just below the hole. I have seen robins nest in tree cavities before and have suspected these are the ones who don't like the rain.
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For one red feather

Imagine. It's nap time. Your cuddled up in bed nursing your baby. Your eyelids feel heavy and your just about ready to drift off when you hear a familiar racket. You don't need to get up. You already know. Its the pileated woodpecker sending down a steady stream of bark and chips onto your roof. You wonder what are the odds of this happening during your nap time? And then you begin to wonder how did it know that now there were grubs in that snag? I did a google search and found that all woodpeckers tap on the tree and if there are grubs in the tree they will hear them. So I tapped a barkless part of the snag's base with the broad end of a hatchet and listened. Nothing. I emailed a biologist bird friend who informed me he had heard it before. He described it as a "grating" sound on a calm, warm day. With our temp(s) just above zero that could be a good explanation. I just wish that bird would leave one of those pretty red feathers behind at the base of the tree. Then I would be happy to let him excavate in exchange for that one red feather.
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The Fireplace

This is the brick fireplace re faced in stone. I couldn't get a good picture but its in shades of blues and peach. Some of the rocks are solids and others are patterned. A few have mica (nature's glitter). Those are my favorites! The rocks at the base are in darker shades. As for my question- where is the iron that causes some rocks to stain? The stone mason answered it and told me the iron is in the rocks and it leaches out causing the stains. Generally rocks with iron are weaker and may crumble. I wish I could always find answers to my questions.
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Last night

I got 4 hours of straight, unbroken sleep. This is the first time in months. I felt incredible today. Life felt like a robins song instead of the waking dead. What a beautiful gift for me. Its amazing how much better mentally as well as physically I feel. But the best part of the day as usual is sharing laughter with my daughter.
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We can only give what we are.

When I heard debris landing on the roof I went outside to investigate. There wasn't much I could do. There was no way to get the big birds attention without waking the baby. So I left the pileated woodpecker to continue his excavation in the branch-less snag. Talking about trees. Living trees give us oxygen. A tree cannot give what it does not have. Neither can we. We can only give what we are. This is another great reason for self improvement and brings me to a question. There is an eagles nest I walk by and yesterday when I did I watched one land in the nest with several sticks. The bird spent several minutes arranging and rearranging and even dislodged some which fell out in the process. It is known that they are monogamous and are bonded for life but do they ever have domestic disputes? You know it could go like this, "Hey why did you put that stick over there? I wanted it here." At which point the first one re-torts, "I'm the nest builder around here."
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The Golden Rectangle

Ok, so you knew about the fibonacci numbers.... The golden rectangle is one whose side lengths are the golden ratio which is 1.6. Why 1.6? If you take a fibonacci number in the sequence and divide it by the previous number the result is the golden ratio. It is not true of the early numbers in the sequence but if you continue with the sequence you get it every time. 5/3=1.67, 8/5=1.6, 13/8=1.625, 21/13=1.615, 34/21=1.619, 55/34=1.6176 and so forth. The history of the golden ratio goes back to ancient greece. The purpose of the golden rectangle is that you will proportionally create one that is pleasing to the eye. So to apply this to knitting an afghan let's say width (side a) =4 feet. To find out how long the other side needs to be, you multiply by 1.618. 4x1.618=6.47 feet. So length (side b) =6.47 feet. Curious I measured one of my afghans and found it to be rectangular although closer in shape to a square. Mind you it was knitted for a different purpose. Next time I will consider giving the golden rectangle a try. It appears to offer an appealing and useful sizing guide.
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