22 degrees this morning, summer's passed by, garden remnants are huddled under cold frames and David's just finished the new greenhaus. Fresh organic lettuce and spinach in December will be a revelation- if what I've been reading in the Nearings' and in Eliot Coleman's year round gardening books holds true. And if I pay attention to what I'm doing.

Some new photos here of what we've been up to; busy-ness in real time precludes busy-ness online. Hoping that the lockin weather of winter will result in my paying more attention to this blog.

October here means time to "put up" the garden, canning and pickling are standard procedures. Lots of handiwork to do so, cutting,chopping, measuring, cleaning but there is a presence of mind developed meditating on the fruits of the vegetable kingdom that zeros in on zen. Grasshopper, what is the sound of one hand chopping? I took some photos to share these small beauties with my friends. The jar is filled with Tomatillo pickle, referred to locally as "ground cherries". One pal from my reading group turned down my offer of tomatillos with the following observation, "Ground cherries, no thank you! Mom pickled those when we were kids and - oh gross- they look like eyeballs in a jar!!". These are cut in quarters so the horror is averted :)

mobile blog setup

Testing new service to post on the go

Out late this afternoon in Blue River looking for signs and colors of Spring. These sandhills take my breath away with their quiet beauty and secret details, inscriptions describing the biology of place and alchemical wildness surrounding us, cryptic motifs of an austere environment not yet given over to the rioting of summer seeds and grasses.

We're in the process of adding a permanent note of springtime to Chestnut Street, going from deep winter Addams Family grey to sunflower yellow in a few thousand brushstrokes! Trees are budding and tulips popping on this perfect spring day, going out to enjoy the sun and consider how to layout the garden for this year's crops.

Taxes done, good weather, National Library Week and National Poetry Month all in one day. We live rich lives these days compared to the struggles of generations that went before us. Yet still we and our children war, destroy and live in fear of loss of wealth or status. What species is this that doesn't just get on cheerfully with life when the sun shines. A red cardinal in our feeder flinging black sunflower seeds aside while feasting sings within a joy maybe beyond most of us; and we think we know?

Spring Thaw! Now that our fingers are unfrozen there may be more blog posts :)Busy at the library with programming adventures for April ( National Library Week and National Poetry Month) and Summer Library Program- Bugs! for the kidz and Metamorphosis for t/weens. Also The Art by the Stream festival is coming in June, with much yet to do. Auction at the Central House will be held in a week and we're still working on the Youth Art display. Wow, life out in the country can be just as busy as Chicagoland, never bored, that's a fact.

More photos of our snowlocked home after the weekend's ice and snow storms. The colder the day
the blue-er the sky and relentless the light; no soft focus hazy tropical highlights here now. Everything is high contrast, clean edged and without superfluous decoration. Pure, functional forms to withstand the unrelenting cold and exacting lens of winter's magnificent eye.

So much snow we walked downtown to get groceries, rather than risk getting stuck
crossing the footbridge over Saunders creek buried fire hydrant with the creek beyond. Its not too cold today, @ 26 F and we stop to look often as the snow and wind sculpt new views and reframe old ones.

Every other or third day since 1 December 2008 we've had some snow. With @three & 1/2 feet on the ground already, this weekend we are receiving 1- 2 inches of freezing rain (last night) and from 4 -12 inches of snow today. This morning we had snow storm warnings, now we are alerted to the possibility of a blizzard! Outside my studio window flurries of flakes cascade earthward in a gyre. The beauty of this weather outweighs all trepidation, fears of cold or death recedes before the decorative beauty of snowed trees and the glittering crystalline flakes that take your breath away

Red oak leaves still cling to last summer's colors. The trees branches spread like a dancer's or supplicant's arms catch a bright layer of snow in contrast to their dark wet bark, a reminder of the earth buried below the snow pack waiting patiently for the sun and plow, a conspiracy of defiant seeds.

Sudden warming here the last couple of days, from 0 to 40 degrees! Snow is melting and flowing water falling jingles everywhere outside. So I took a walk along Saunders Creek today and shot this short video, ending with a side trip to a local welder's shop where a long curling ice wave has shed off the shear lip of tin roof and melted into a Hawaiian hang ten curl amid the remnants of Wisconsin winter snow.

Flippin' kitty cats, shot after one too many cups of "Tom and Jerry" holiday nog :)