Deer Season, Deja Vu

Deer season ahead.  The deer are running now, sometimes in front of your car headlights.  Driving at dusk is a fraught experience, 45 mph seems too fast.  Not much has changed in my neighbor Falk's yard since last year, except he's not there.  His old blue truck is parked behind the sheds.

I wove 3 more pillows of rag, linen, and Rosepath,  and will weave some more.  I'm waiting for new yarn to arrive, silk and alpaca cones in choice colors, only 2 back-ordered! My plan is to make wristwarmers and scarves with similar designs to these pillows.  I'm also planning for Sno-Crush, first all textile show, here, Nov 20 - Dec 31.

uphill

The wild clematis is a little garland of puffs along the hill road. The woods on the side hill of the valley is not so leafy now, but the Witch Hazel is in bloom with its small yellow starry flowers.
I wish my weaving could merge into the rough fissured bark of the century (at least) white pine. I don't try to copy what I see. It's usually after I've woven something, that I see what I have been looking at.

Late Bus

Dusk happens suddenly these days. I walk up the hill after the late school bus comes through Avalanche. The woods is settling down, a few birds call, a cardinal chip-chip-chips. Two deer run across the road in front of me, their white tails flagging. There is a bow hunter in the woods.

My bench cushions are woven and shipped now.  Still some pillows to make and  sew together tomorrow.  But now, there are a few of my Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms leftover, and some red wine, suppertime.

Hen of the Woods

All weaving came to a standstill.  My husband brought home many bags of clusters of Hen of the Woods, or, Maitakes, that he collected  in the woods.  The mushroom clusters grow at the base of oak trees in the fall. (Similar mushrooms growing on different tree species should be avoided).  They  are very flavorful, and taste like tender meat on chicken wings. They have a firm texture, a little chewy.

They pull apart easily before they are cooked.  I've been sauteeing them , or roasting with olive oil,  garlic and rosemary, salt and pepper.

Often the mushrooms are huge, and may weigh up to 40 pounds.  Enough to last the whole winter, until the morels come up in the spring.  They freeze well, so I've been putting them away, and sampling, sampling, sampling.

All Sewed Up

All the panels are woven now.  So, I sewed them. together.  This isn't the bench they'll be used on, but I wanted to see how they'd look.  I'm especially pleased with my sewing.  I'm finally getting the hang of that.

I'm also pleased that these remind me of the rag rug covered sauna benches in the Finnish saunas of Northern Minnesota, that I loved when I was young.  I wanted to weave something with a  Finnish look, that brought back that memory of sauna smoke, lake and northwoods.