morning

Morning Mention-ings

April 24, 2014 by The Noisy Plume

A few details worthy of mention:

1. It has become a habit. A delicious habit. Oatmeal with almond milk, a drizzle of fresh local honey, strawberries and toasted walnuts. I ask you, is there anything more scrumptious and rich than a toasted walnut? The flavor truly transforms a dish. Try it. If you are loathe to fire up your oven for a few nuts, you probably need to get a toaster oven which is as magical and practical as a baby angora unicorn. Maybe even more practical!

2. USPS now has sheets of songbird stamps available for purchase. They are the loveliest little stamps I have seen in a while. If you are a letter writer residing in the USA you’ll need to purchase some, as soon as possible, and then use them up quick so you can buy more.

3. That fantastic green glass goblet is one of six Robert brought home from Georgia recently. He was home for a week between deployments and brought me my first two fire presents of the year! Fire seasons gifts are a holy and wonderful tradition he has kept for the past seven years of our life together, something I always look forward to and frankly, occasionally badger him about. He is good natured about my badgering and knows it’s not the actual gifts he finds for me that are important to me, but the fact that he thinks of me and misses me when we are apart. Presents are a manifestation of my constant presence in his heart, even when a fire season keeps us apart.

He always finds at least one present to bring me while he is off in the boonies battling flame, every single year. In years past, gifts have been wonderful and creative ranging from caribou antlers and fox skulls to surrealist art prints from an artist in Bend, Oregon to a warthog skull from Arkansas. I have never received a shirt or a piece of jewelry. Though I might, someday. Robert is a wonderful giver of gifts. A girl never can tell what she might receive — except for that caribou antler, I guessed that present correctly over the phone, across the thin air between Fairbanks, Alaska and Winthrop, Washington. Anyway, I love those pea green vintage goblets. Rob transported six of them, most miraculously, and they are a delight to sip from. He also brought home a heavenly host of crystals he found on the ground while hiking around and working in Hot Spring, Arkansas! Tremendous! Extraordinary!

4. I was in Oregon last week — more on that soon, I’m working up an essay on the topic — and found the most exquisite batch of stationary in Sisters. Travel here to see Angie Lewin’s work.

5. I am currently working in the studio like a true she-beast trying to build up some beautiful inventory for an art walk I am appearing at on May 2nd. It’s been so fun! The new work is so springy and fresh and I feel free and lighthearted out there as I tap away with my hammers. A light heart is a blessing. We all know this.

6. Fresh eggs! Finally! You know, I’m down to one hen here. I’m pretty sure she thinks she’s a dog. I’ve been faffing around with the idea of getting her a pal this spring but for two years now, I’ve wanted to switch over to a pair of laying ducks which are reportedly less destructive on garden spaces than hens. Do any of you keep laying ducks? If they are free range, how do they do with your garden spaces?

I’m off to perform my daily hour of morning yard work which involves, on some days, the delicious extraction of dandelions from my flower garden, herb garden and succulent garden. This time of year, it feels fierce and maybe even cathartic to yank up a dandy by its taproot. So satisfying. Dandies, be warned, in a couple of seconds I am coming for you and there will be no escape.

Be well, dear folks.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast, chicken, fire, morning, spring

March 17, 2014 by The Noisy Plume

Did I tell you Robert deployed for early season work in the southeast a couple of weeks ago? I probably failed to mention that, and a thousand other things. When he is away, I tend to fall head over heels into work. I had an explicit text from him last night that simply stated, “You are a crazy hard worker. Please take a day off. That’s an order.” Days off work don’t really exist for me. A more accurate phrase would be “taking a day out of the studio” — which is what I am up to today.

It’s frightfully springy-stormy this morning with clumsy splatterings of rains and high winds whipping at the house and wind chimes — the perfect kind of day to hike up a mountain and find a little shelter from the elements in a nest of lichen, fir and stone. I am packing my bag with tea, water, camera, sketchbook and a sundry of snacks to sustain me while I’m gladly wandering. It’s going to be such a beautiful afternoon and evening out there. I can feel it in my bones.

Which reminds me, did you all see the full moon rising the other day? I was out running on the mountain with the dogs in the early evening when I saw it push up over the snowy peaks of the Pebble Range into a pure blue sky and weigh anchor in the sagebrush — perfectly round and golden. I felt that moonrise in my bones, too. Oh, did I feel it.

Have a delightful monday, you little wildlings. I will too!

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2014/03/17/7820/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: morning, photography, tea, thinking aloud

January 23, 2014 by The Noisy Plume

When we began walking, the valley was white with the frayed edges of a fog bank. We walked long enough to watch the sun burn the clouds away revealing a brilliant sky, bluebird belly and red berries divine.

In the studio, all was warm and I built a few bare, sterling canvasses to be worked with and finished out tomorrow. At the height of the day, I looked out the big studio window that opens to the West, saw Tater Tot sleeping in the sun and I joined him there for a bit, running my hands over the silk of his ears while hearing our heartbeats collide under the pleasant blanket of January light.

It was such a lovely day. Now friends are coming for dinner and drinks and tea and talk. Rob is in the kitchen making his famous sweet chili (The secret? HONEY!) and I suppose I’ll go help out. I hope you are all better than well!

Items of note:

I am over here today with a dash of prose and some pretty photos — Dog Power.

I failed to mention this little interview last week.

You’ll love this, not just because the fellows strip down to their gitch for most of the film but because it’s awesome.

And how about this beautiful, online book — a quick read that will make your heart light and your soul yearn for the summer forest and the mountain meadows brimming with lupin and larkspur.

Tra la la!

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2014/01/23/7581/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: dogs, how to spend a day, idaho, morning, studio, walk

Slow Starter

September 18, 2013 by The Noisy Plume

I’ll miss mornings like these at the LCITW. I wouldn’t call myself an early bird, but I am very much a morning person. I rather like everything about morning but especially like the light. The light looks just like I feel — slow, stretching, rising, reaching, yawning, tea brewing, daydreaming morning light. Beautiful. It’s like being with a good old friend, easy and bright…which is a magical thing to think about — being friends with a distant star that regularly supplies my mornings with ancient light. It’s the little cosmic things that make all the difference…

Robert is an early bird. He hops right out of bed with bright, beady eyes and gets to it. It’s almost disturbing to witness the tiny violence of him leaping into day the way he does. He really grabs morning in his teeth and gives it a shake. I like to wake up, lay about in the warmth of my sleep coccoon daydreaming and drowsing before I finally get up, wander down the ladder to the main floor in the cabin and begin my morning ablutions. I quit drinking coffee. Did I tell you that? I quit early on in the summer. I woke up one morning and opined aloud, “I think this junk hurts my stomach.” That morning, I had herbal tea instead, and then the next day too, and so on and so forth until I was an official non-coffee-drinker. It wasn’t hard. It feels good. My stomach feels much better, all the time. On a whim, I made myself a cup a few weeks ago, just to see what would happen to me if I reintroduced it to my purified system. I spent most of the day twitching and stuttering, my limbs were herky jerky, my mind was racing. It was awful.

Anyway, now that I am exclusively a tea drinker, I brew my tea (today it is double bergamot earl grey decaf) and usually go for a walk in the woods with my cup in hand (out to the tabernacle) or I settle down on the loveseat here and write for a while. Sometimes I write for me, other times I pen letters to far away friends. The dogs come in and out, checking in on me, waggling and wiggling and smiling. Farley puts his head on my lap and asks for a ear rub. Tater Tot bites my pen. They like the morning too. Penelope usually hops up with me and curls herself around my feet which is a soft and warm sensory experience. I have been known to say that I keep a weenie dog simply as a foot warming apparatus. But don’t worry, I am sweet on her beyond this appointed capacity of hers. Unless she’s being bad. When she is bad, she’s terribly bad. And the cat? Rhubarb is usually passed out somewhere after a night of hunting in the wilds here. He brought home a rabbit two weeks ago. Unbelievable, right? It was sad, but only natural.

My mornings dawdle, draw themselves towards noon — creeping, leaping, shimmying and sashaying. After my first cup of tea, I have a second. I make something to eat. I dawdle about some more. I sketch out a ring idea. I tidy the kitchen. I go running. I wonder what the new bird song is I’m hearing. I feed the cat. And eventually I make my way to work where I usually stay late. Last night I was in the Airstream until 10PM or so. A late start means a late end to the day. I’m slow to begin but a strong finisher. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I wonder though, what are your mornings like? What would you change, if you could? What is the very best thing about the way you start the day? I ask because I want to know, but also because it’s good to inspect things from time to time, make the changes that need changing and appreciate the things that need appreciating.

Have a good one, you wild pack of sweet little corkers.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: creature of habit, little cabin in the woods, morning