-

i took a little break from enhabiten shop 

and the past couple weeks away included some good things- 

canoeing, thrifting, deer watching.  

we did our local broke art fair, saw some live music, i had a birthday!  

...

i also spent time cleaning the house including the studio.  

i put some studio supplies in my shop just now:

if you're interested in any of this stuff head over to the shop.

and i've been working on fun new things, 

lots of dyed clothing, new scarves, head bands!  

i think all that will be ready and available mid-week.

xx

oo

liane

street style

i've been looking at some street style blogs this morning and found this list HERE of 25 street style blogs to check out.  i like the ones focussing on specific places and ones which are straight-forward pictures of people expressing themselves in unique ways.  i don't get into the flashier blogs where the photographer is as much of the subject, if you know what i mean.  i love getting inspired to dress my own way. 

...

on an entirely different subject, another thing i'm thinking about this morning is how hard this long cold snowy winter has been on the wildlife where i live.   we were talking this morning about putting some food out for the deer.  i know it's a somewhat controversial thing to do but when conditions are this hard for them perhaps it makes sense if you do it right.  i read a book on the subject some time back and will give it some more thought today.  have you ever and what do you think?

...

also i posted here the other day that there are bunches of new cushions in the shop now but the post got lost somehow.  

you'll find lavender cushions, cushion covers, pincushions, big fat bolsters HERE.  if you want a more specific ship quote on anything send me a message through etsy with your usa zip code or the country you live in and i'll get back to you!

x

my mother at the window

Deer

by Helen Mort

The deer my mother swears to God we never saw,
the ones that stepped between the trees
on pound-coin-coloured hooves,
I'd bring them up each teatime in the holidays

and they were brighter every time I did;
more supple than the otters we waited for
at Ullapool, more graceful than the kingfisher
that darned the river south of Rannoch Moor.

Five years on, in that same house, I rose
for water in the middle of the night and watched
my mother at the window, looking out
to where the forest lapped the garden's edge.

From where she stood, I saw them stealing
through the pines and they must have been closer
than before, because I had no memory
of those fish-bone ribs, that ragged fur,
their eyes, like hers, that flickered back
towards whatever followed them.

this morning

the deer ate apple drops in this spot and looked up a few times but went back to eating and let me walk and watch for minutes, maybe five.  i wanted to get close enough to take a polaroid but knew chances were best that the deer would only tolerate me so long and only so close.  

i have to watch where i walk up here because there are numerous piles of porcupine poop and deer poop.  i just said poop twice.  i look down a lot as i walk, though, because i'm on the lookout for turkey feathers.  no luck finding them the past few days.  

porcupines let you get pretty close and they seem to stress little over human presence.  i assume that's because they know they can kick your ass with their quills.  i don't push it.

flouncing

i had the pleasure of being interviewed by vibeke here.

she's one of the sweetest bloggers i know.  

i love the questions she asked and the pictures she included.

...

also, finally i've gotten another of these beautiful handmade vintage bedspreads, 

naturally hand-dyed by me, into the shop again.  see here for a mention.

this one's a bit bigger than the last and the shade is dark grey.

LINK

and the deer have been visiting.  

they watch me for awhile and then bound toward the woods 

with the white undersides of their tails flouncing behind.

oh deer

hi good folks!

just wanted to remind you of the enhabiten giveaway going on right now, more information here.

in other news, i gave myself bangs last week which i now regret but more in an oh well way as opposed to an omg way.   also,  we keep spotting black bear round these parts and lots of turkeys and deer and these animals are creeping into my daily thoughts as well as my dreams.  

image via my animal pinterest page

this summer i might have drowned

even the unsuccessful polaroids have something to offer.

as for me, i had a great evening saturday hosting, with my friend and neighbor courtney, an outdoor potluck around a fire.  

and i've been able to watch the deer in the back field most days.  and i walked down the road today and collected 4 enormous baskets of black walnuts for dyeing.  and it's getting chilly here but this summer i went swimming, this summer i might have drowned, but i held my breath and i kicked my feet and i moved my arms around.

love,

liane

PS- there's one stinking really good item left in my shop still.  sheesh!  i'd love to see these swiss cross lanterns find a new home so they are 60% off with the coupon code TAKE60.  insanity.  HERE

2 deer

i watched 2 deer in the field outside my kitchen window this morning.  a calm came over me.  those are the moments it feels everything will be ok.   

i think of the book "the hidden life of deer".  i also think of the time i hit a deer with my car at almost midnight on the highway.  i was driving the exploder which, incidentally, i just sold for parts this weekend.  a car is just a hunk of metal but i drove it for close to 10 years and a lot can happen in 10 years.  so it's also a vehicle (punny) for memories.

hitting that deer was a turning point in my life.  maybe this is what would be a called a mild case of ptsd in common terms.  the event really hit me in my heart.  the physical and tactile experience is still so present for me...the feel of the night air and the fur of the animal, as if i had actually touched it.

there's a field behind my new house with old apple trees and sometimes the deer come to eat the drops.  last night before dusk we spotted two.  they were alert and watching us; they twitched their tails and ears.   they ran for the woods.  we spotted a third, then, which had been out of eyesight.  it had darker fur.  

at dusk turkeys came to peck around in the same field but turkeys, being what they are, don't stir the same things in me.  

the other week a black bear crossed my path down along the road near the dam.  it just stepped right out onto the pavement.  i slowed.  it padded across and into the woods on the other side.  i hooted and clapped my hands together.  my daughter seemed less elated, less lifted up.  then i learned she had spoken about it as soon as she left the car.  a few days passed and she reminded me of it, saying, remember when we saw the bear.  i said yes, i remember.

beautiful animal

my son ethan and i went for a walk in the woods today.   we traveled from the old covered bridge and along the river away from town and toward the place i live now.  we ended up in a beautiful field.  the weather felt too warm for late november but it also felt too good to disagree with.  it's hunting season and as we crossed the steel bridge a pick up passed by with a small deer in the truck bed.   

The Beautiful Animal

BY GEOFFREY BROCK

By the time I recalled that it is also

terrifying, we had gone too far into

the charmed woods to return. It was then

the beautiful animal appeared in our path:

ribs jutting, moon-fed eyes moving

from me to you and back. If we show

none of the fear, it may tire of waiting

for the triggering flight, it may ask only

to lie between us and sleep, fur warm

on our skin, breath sweet on our necks

as it dreams of slaughter, as we dream

alternately of feeding and taming it

and of being the first to run. The woods

close tight around us, lying nested here

like spoons in a drawer of knives, to see

who wakes first, and from which dream.

...

woods and hills

the woods and hills on either side of me are home to a pack of coyotes.  i woke up at 3:30 the other morning to their howling and woofing and frenzy.  i sat by the window for a few minutes and listened.  it was a cold night and i'm sure they were happy to eat.  the noise they make when they've made a kill is mesmerizing.   i almost feel i'm there in the dark forest or in a clearing.  i imagine how they corner an animal, closing in on it.  after reading books about how brutal it can be for deer to make it through the winter, especially the weak, the old and the young, i feel a heaviness.  still, when i imagine the scene it's the coyote's mind i inhabit.

 there's a stray cat living here named socrates.  food and water are left for him on the porch but he spends even the coldest nights outdoors.  he's got a stump for a tail and he's surprisingly chubby for his scrappy lifestyle.  i wondered if the coyotes had finally gotten him but just now i saw him dart across the driveway.