SMW White Violet Center for Eco-Justice

We went to SMW to teach a class in color theory and a class in dyeing protein fibers for the staff and volunteers of the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice.   They have a wonderful alpaca breeding and fiber program.

We stayed in their straw bale retreat house, which was not far from where they keep their alpaca boys.

The boys are out off the main roads of campus, so they don't get as much company as the girls do.   They loved K2.

White Violet believes in all kinds of sustainable living.   They grow a lot of organic food for the SMW kitchens and to sell at the local farmers' markets.   

They have a lovely old greenshouse.   Alas, it will be with us for not much longer since the heating system is kaput.   They'll be getting a new one soon.

This is where K2 found that fabulous rose.

and she made friends with the greenhouse cat, Scruffy.

Behind the greenhouse is a lovely little contemplative garden with a fish pond, lights and a bench.  It's cool and green and shady.

Old Iris

I mentioned before that we inherited some old flowers when we moved here - forsythia, lilacs, peonies and some iris.    These are the iris.

Their flowers are smallish.   They're a cloudy purple with cloudy yellow contrasts.  On the modern iris scale, they're nothing much to get excited about.   

Until you smell them. 

They smell like distilled heaven.

And on the inside, they're amazing.

[Photos: K2]

What old fashioned flowers do you like?

St Mary of the Woods College - Church

Last weekend, I taught a color theory class and a dye class to the volunteers and staff at the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice which is under the auspices of the Sisters of Providence at St. Mary of the Woods College, near Terre Haute, Indiana.

The Sisters of Providence are known for their hospitality and their reputation is well deserved.  They are so friendly!  K2 and I got to spend a night in their straw-bale retreat house and wander the beautiful grounds the evening before the classes.   The next few posts will be a photo tour of our stay.

I love churches.   I especially love churches designed to be beautiful on the inside so that even if the sermon is boring, every where you look there is something to bolster faith and delight the eye.  One of the highlights of the SMW campus for me was the 110 year old Church of the Immaculate Conception.  [Wiki has some fabulous information about its history]

We were there on an 'off' night at dusk.   The chapel, though usually brightly lighted, was dark. It was quiet and peaceful and even K2, who had to be coaxed into the church with the promise, "There are no gnats or mosquitoes inside!", was quickly entranced by how beautiful the space is and didn't want to leave.

In fact, we fought over the camera.    These photos are hers and mine.

The front of the chapel entrance.

The pews are small - only long enough for a pair of sisters.  I love the glow of the old wood of church pews. 

The ceiling over the sanctuary at the top of the nave.

The ceiling over the intersection of the transept and nave.

Beautiful stained glass windows on all sides, both levels.  Every one was different.

Another window.

You can see more of the windows in this view.

The chapel was two levels.  I love the arches - echoed above and below and over every window.

Beautiful plaster friezes between the arches and every arch had a wide casing with medallions at the center top.


And, yes, those are marble columns.

This is the view I loved best.

I'm so, so glad we got to come here.  It was a beautiful contemplative place to spend an hour.  I'm looking forward to next year.

After the storms

Red at night, sailors' delight. 

K2 took these pics after one of those bad storms we had a couple of days ago.   Even though they're a little blurry in places, the colors are fabulous!

 

Garden Nooks

Like most of the rest of my life, my garden is a collection of organized areas that really work, loosely connected by areas that are not so organized and that sometimes don't really work, but that are better than no areas at all.  

If you know what I mean.

Here is one of my favorite garden nooks.  It's one of those areas that really works - right off the back patio that we bricked over for a really big anniversary a couple of years ago.   To the right is our apple tree.  The tall plant to the right is comfrey [symphytum officinalis].

And here's another view...  The tall plant to the left is my siberian iris.

And here's a close up of that garden witch.  She was a gift from my mom a few years ago [Thanks again,  Mom!] This little creature has a lot of attitude and looks especially awesome with a candle inside.  She presides with a lot of style over the whole back area. 

At her feet we have a couple of antique hosta, a Japanese painted fern and a tiny 'mouse ears' hosta.  

This is one of the happiest places in our gardens. 

So tell me about your favorite garden nooks.

And more roses...

K2 found these gorgeous things at St. Mary of the Woods College, near Terre Haute, Indiana, where I taught a couple of workshops last weekend.     This rose was blooming just outside the old greenhouse. 

Nice, huh!

So pretty, K2 climbed right on in.

Roses

Rosa rugosa

It's not easy for us to grow roses here.   The problem is, in a word:  clay.

Clay and roses don't really work together.   Roses need good drainage.   The first rule of planting a rose is to dig the hole, then fill it with water [before you put the rose in] to see how long it take for the water to drain away.   The better the drainage, the happier the rose.

When we moved here and started digging the garden beds, I double dug the bed I wanted to put roses in.   Double digging is where you remove the top soil, then dig down another foot or so and loosen everything up and amend the soil, yada, yada, yada.

The trouble was that we were digging down into clay.  My dad came over, took one look at the hole and said, 'You've dug a swimming pool.  That water is never going to drain.'    He was right, dammit.   It rained that night and that water stayed in there for freaking ever.

We tried roses on the terraces, but they didn't like that either.    Then we transplanted some old roses that Eric rescued from a job and they did fine.   And we got some rugosas and they've done fine, too.   Roses can do just fine here.  We just had to find tougher roses.

And don't get me started on those blasted multiflora roses that they wild planted in the midwest to feed the birds.   They grow here, too.

Last week, Eric and I went to war against a giant multiflora that turned out to be a linked community of them an acre across, with canes 80 feet high and thorns the length of your arm.    They were smart, too and fought back.  I have verily been wounded by one!   The blood!  Oh, the horror!

OK.

I might be exaggerating a little. 

But only a little.

The roses were linked.   There were about 8 of them.   The canes were only 15 feet or so high and the thorns were the big scary rose bush size.   The rest of the story is absolutely true.

I swear. 

Guess that bird...

We get this bird for a short time every spring and fall.  I wish we had a better pic for you, but this is all we could get -- through a window and the screen.   

Apparently, I need to wash my windows. 

Hint:  It's a female.   Note the eyebrow, the white stripe on the wing, the striped breast, the beak.

Answer below the fold.

Niobe

This is clematis 'Niobe'.  She hangs out on a trellis in front of the studio.    I love this trellis - a gift from my mom. [Thanks, Mom!]

Clematis like to have shaded feet.   You can plant big plants at their feet or put a rock or piece of art.   I put a garden sign up to shade her feet. 

She totally loves me.

Winner - Cotton Sparkle Scarf

Thanks to all who played the game!  Because I love you all, I decided to give away two of these lovely scarves.   

The first winner of the cotton scarf, as generated by random.org is:
#8, Gina!

Gina said...

"I agree with you completely about the weather here in rural Illiana. Just about the time I think I can't take it any more....we will have the most absolutely beautiful day. Your scarves are so lovely. Since they are lightweight, they are perfect for the crazy seasons here. My favorite warm weather activity is the same as winter....weaving and knitting. Except in the summer I can do both on the deck outside." 

The second winner, as generated by random. org is #13, Pat!

Pat said...
"Walking in the mornings with flowers dressed in bright colors, a symphony of song birds, a new morning blue sky and spring green trees."

Gina and Pat, please contact me [robin at morenna dot com] with your mailing address and the color you want.  Colors [L-R in the photo]:  Deep Blues, June, Old Brass, Sunset, Blue Vineyard, Fiesta, Olive.  Not shown:  Pink.

Enjoy the warmer weather, everyone!

More trees with white flowers

Remember when I was telling you about our trees with white flowers?    I love our trees.  

The honey locusts are blooming now.

I wish I could post the fragrance.    If we're lucky, the weather is warm when they bloom and you can smell them for miles around here.    Right now it's cold and damp.   No noticeable odor, but the flowers last longer in the cool. 

We have other kinds of locusts, too.   Big scary thorny ones.   More on those later.

The Aurora Scarf Project

I belong to the Weaving Indiana guild.   Every other year, we do something related to the theme  for the Midwest Weavers Conference.  This year, the conference theme is 'Northern Wefts'.    Our challenge was to choose a photo of the aurora borealis and weave a scarf to go with it.    The night sky meets weaving.

I have never done a weaving challenge before.   So, my challenge was to actually do the challenge. 

I did it.  Before the deadline, too.   Yes, I'm patting myself on the back.

Photo: geology.com © iStockphoto / Shawn Waite

Here's my first inspiration photo.

Photo: absenceofblackandwhite.blogspot.com

And here's my second one.   I wanted one with blue, too.   

Warp:  8/2 tencel, dyed.
Weft: 8/2 tencel, black.

Threading:  8 harness, straight draw
Weave structure:  Undulating twill

This weave structure was a challenge for me because I wanted to learn 'how it worked', not just repeat the same treadling over and over [and over and over and over....] 


The aurora in the sky isn't perfectly regular, it varies. 

I did a small sample to get the rhythm of the treadling, then I took off and syncopated it.    As Randy Darwall told me once, "The pattern repeats, except when it doesn't repeat."

Jazz meets weaving. 

Giveaway - Cotton Sparkle Scarf

I got cocky and put all my cold weather clothes away.  It's late May!  It was over 80 degrees for several days in a row.   I got sunburned.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.   This is Indiana!  It's been 50 degrees for the last three days.  What was I thinking??

The good news is that I left all the boxes with my winter clothes in a giant pile outside the closet.   It's an irritating pile, but at least my sweats were easy to get to again.  

Also, Eric found a cute purple zippy hooded sweatshirt jacket with stripes inside the hood - on sale! while he was at Walmart grocery shopping [How cool is that?!] - and I've had a chance to wear that around.  A lot.  

Anyway, I'm having a 'Hope springeth eternal' moment.    Someday it is going to get warm and stay that way for a few months.   It's time to celebrate summer clothes.

And accessories.    So, I'm having a giveaway!

 To celebrate the arrival of warm weather, I'm giving away a hand-dyed, handwoven, summer weight scarf. 

The winner gets to choose the color.   I have these colors [L-R in the photo, left]:  Deep Blues, June, Old Brass, Sunset, Blue Vineyard, Fiesta, Olive.  Not shown:  Pink.

The scarf is 72 inches long [not including a couple of inches of fringe at each end], 6 inches wide.    The warp is a fine cotton boucle with a good drape that will continue to soften over time.   I wove these with a fine sparkle weft and the finished scarf is gauzy - you can see through it. 

If you don't win, but would like to buy one, they are $57 each plus $2 shipping.   Email me - address below.

Rules:
1.  Please follow the blog.  [Look down on the right side of the blog - below the Other Cool Sites list.]
2.  Leave a comment telling me your favorite warm weather activity.
3.  One comment per person, please.

The giveaway closes at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning.   I'll post the winner sometime on Monday.   The winner should email me [robin at morenna dot com] with a mailing address and color choice and I'll get it right out.

Good luck!

May Flowers

This is the view from my lower garden looking back toward the terraces.   

I love the irises in May.

These are my favorite iris.  I think they're called 'Congratulations'.  

I have loads of siberian iris.   I love them.    I put them everywhere.   I have a whole bog full of iris.

These are on my terraces.  The rocks in the terrace walls were pulled out of our creek.  We hauled them ourselves.   I placed every single one of these rocks myself.

This is the view from my porch onto the hosta garden and the terraces.

 I can't wait to show you what the hostas look like in bloom. 

Photos:  Robin and K1