so i tried to go slow today. I had that intent in mind right from the start and whenever i found self hustling along as is my usual way, i stopped. Stood still. And reminded self that i was going to go SLOW. Aside from the usual OutSide things to be done, i finally cleaned off the table in the Room. Ever since the kids were here, and then Through Tay's 3 weeks, it's been a tangle of cloth scraps, thread, papers, and things like this


an oh so weathered piece of cottonwood bark from the Goats climbing stump....the complexity of it is a complete mystery to me....how something like this actually Grows, is green, viable at some point...i cannot comprehend.

and on the way home from Alz. B., i stopped at the Walnut Tree to see how it's going and they have begun to fall. This many today. Now, everyday when i am in town, i'll collect more. Half for me and half for Marti.

and while i was cleaning the Table...sorting scraps, threads, pins, needles, pencils, pens and on, Tay spent her time looking through the cloth baskets. There are 7 she has easy access to and she nosed through them, sniffing sniffing sniffing, turning over and moving through the contents and Lo and Behold, she found my most LONG FAVORITE clothing label. It's like a koan. I still don't know what was intended. But i love it very much. and the end, the bottom, it says: You made the right choice".

and even tho going SLOW, just now there was still time. So we considered the dye table. Here you see her checking out the large Walnut vat from last season. She wanted to get into it but i told her it would stain her teeth.

table a MESS


big vat that is enamel and small that is cast iron. Combined them into the big vat for now. Added water. I think there is still potency there.



Stuff

in one of the jars, a bundle.

turned out to be some blooms of the Vitex, or Chaste Tree. Everything here makes brown and green. What do i expect?, i wonder.

Something needs to be in this upper Left edge. It hasn't shown up yet. So, we wait.
I called Dorothy, the Animal Shelter woman from whom i got Tay. Gave her an update. And exchanged story again. Heard again how she had acquired Tay...at the County Fair last year when a woman came up to the Animal Shelter booth holding a very very young puppy. At best, just weaned. Saying that there was a woman walking through the crowd with an armfull of puppies and just handing them to people and going off. She was handed this puppy. But didn't WANT a puppy. Handed it instead to Dorothy at the Shelter booth. Who took her home. This is all that is known.
and i find it interesting that sometimes, like i do with the Goats, i speak to her in sounds, not words. And i have found myself speaking to Tay in sounds that sound like the Navajo language. Soft shushing sounds. She listens to these. Looking up at me. Did she come from Alamo?, the Navajo Rez that is part of our world here? Maybe.
What of a LOT of conversation that Dorothy and i had that was most interesting and significant was that both of us were Surprised and Interested in the fact that she doesn't seem to respond at all to "praise". GOOD GIRL is totally lost on her. This also connects to the seeming fact that she is not interested in being a good dog in the usual sense. There seems rather to her to be a willingness to understand how to FIT. Love and so forth don't seem to play into it. She would like to fit. She is willing to accomodate that if and when she can. If she is not able to, she will simply continue to just go as she knows how. So we agreed that she is not the usual dog. Dorothy said and i smiled, that she seems to be just Evolving. Who knows what might come of it. And i have to agree. And so we Go. But today was day Three. And it was calm enough to take stock. And imagine going Forward. Into What, we don't know. But we will Just Go. It was a very very Good day.