Musings: The Mid-Spring Edition
by Cathy Koos
As I start this piece, February is winding up to be one of the driest on record and it appears the West is in the clutches of a megadrought. Project-wise, I’ve been in a bit of a drought myself. I recently moved to a smaller place, a tiny house, so most of my project “fuel” is in boxes in a barn next door.
My son helped me move my stuff and after the 10th box of cone yarn and the 31st box of books, he informed me that I had a problem. He didn’t even know about the six boxes of ephemera and Davy board that I use to make books and journals. So, I pledged to go through each and every box in that barn and … OMG … downsize. So far, I have sorted through eight cartons with four on their way to the thrift store and four keepers. Progress, eh? And in the meantime, I finally found that cone of peach-colored mercerized cotton intended for a woven tunic and a searched-for piece of vintage bark cloth which you will learn more about in the next article.
Nature gives me inspiration right out my door since I am on an 80-acre ranch in the rolling foothills outside Fiddletown. New birds arrive daily and yesterday I was treated to an aerial territory dispute between a raven and a redtail hawk. Every morning I am delighted with almond trees unfurling blossoms, walnuts and figs biding their time, and the vivid green slopes of a bygone vineyard.
Cousins in Slovakia are opening their doors to refugees from neighboring Ukraine, and these events have prompted a deep dive into eastern European textiles, as you will see in an article in this issue. In a war zone, the primary goal must be saving human life, but with all the bombing and destruction, it may be many years before the loss of a culture will ber recognized, Digital records may be all that are left behind.