tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44423415552118469222024-03-11T21:50:44.806-07:00Wonderous WoolerieColours and textures, shapes and surfaces, all points of inspiration for creative outcomes.
Weaving, playing, exploring in the studio of Wonderous Wooleriewonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-81066448793933084482015-03-01T16:30:00.000-08:002015-03-01T16:30:08.475-08:00linen project <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been back from another trip to Peru for a while and the writing bug in me had been a little slack and tired to say the least. However over the past couple of weeks I have been working on something exciting and inspiring.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehi5smZMAatxz0PyRUvYhJZuOIDj3831iAc5tl7xft_nYBlBoZ0YdmbfdI4NlPneWugG7VqlI1QjaRgJ3tLjX4BpIYH-2DNAlgwHj37G6jVzyPpU2LRk7ODMNoG0WMjfh8db26KFDEh8/s1600/DSCN4076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehi5smZMAatxz0PyRUvYhJZuOIDj3831iAc5tl7xft_nYBlBoZ0YdmbfdI4NlPneWugG7VqlI1QjaRgJ3tLjX4BpIYH-2DNAlgwHj37G6jVzyPpU2LRk7ODMNoG0WMjfh8db26KFDEh8/s1600/DSCN4076.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standing close to Viktoria, my very big Askov Lervad Loom</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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In late January (2015) I got a call from Patricia Bishop at <a href="http://www.taprootfarms.ca/blog/page/2/category/Flax" target="_blank">Taproot Farms</a> to inquire if I might be interested in weaving up a sample piece with some linen yarn - home grown by hardworking farmers at Taproot Farms in Port Williams and hand spun by fibre explorer/artist <a href="http://jennifergreentextiles.com/Spin-Me-Some-Flax" target="_blank">Jennifer Green</a>. <br />
Patricia delivered the little ‘bundle of joy’ and I thought - ooops what have I gotten myself into.<br />
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The fact is I had gotten myself into a whole lot of thinking and considering of which way to approach this skein of 156 yards of handspun linen singles.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwA4iHTZ-L_frhkEdgBCF3KVxQ_nWjm5v1xuSx4q3VPymIzrVd3rioHn_5-r5dAXMP_Aqc95KjT_25PaMtgmIY42NAKIkKitkLzy9Rf5Qew3uQ1yIOSk3I3Ewqv0-83r9mWyl6V1m24c/s1600/DSCN4145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwA4iHTZ-L_frhkEdgBCF3KVxQ_nWjm5v1xuSx4q3VPymIzrVd3rioHn_5-r5dAXMP_Aqc95KjT_25PaMtgmIY42NAKIkKitkLzy9Rf5Qew3uQ1yIOSk3I3Ewqv0-83r9mWyl6V1m24c/s1600/DSCN4145.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">swift with skein, so 'small' it is hardly visible in the business around it. </td></tr>
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I had several ideas as to how to weave up the yarn, on a table loom because it is smaller or a little square peg/nail frame because then I could needle weave it all - then I thought about where my little weaving frames were, and had no success in locating a particular one which was right at the top of the list of my ‘must use’ items. And it wasn’t that the store didn’t carry it, it was that it has disappeared somewhere underneath all my weaving and creating stash.<br />
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Through uneasy inner examinations of this possibility and the other possibility I ended up looking at my little swedish Glimåkra loom. An excellent 26” wide loom with hanging beater and, most importantly, soft cotton heddles - as opposed to metal heddles which the other looms had - and then I set about to calculate the possible length of the warp.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kFo23d3suBLy_HtS5P0UbRpf3D_Yej7lIrYpJhfhOaVMBaAn-eAuJoGIqJthKEJPak9u12iSjAntdRmKxy1vxJBSNoFMrrleaz1ikuAGREt_PBz4rLJK4_iJm4fc0hfJrn79zaIeo2k/s1600/DSCN4147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kFo23d3suBLy_HtS5P0UbRpf3D_Yej7lIrYpJhfhOaVMBaAn-eAuJoGIqJthKEJPak9u12iSjAntdRmKxy1vxJBSNoFMrrleaz1ikuAGREt_PBz4rLJK4_iJm4fc0hfJrn79zaIeo2k/s1600/DSCN4147.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">warping board with 60 cm of warp</td></tr>
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156 yards is very little when you have to dress a loom - the final thought and solution which took me to the starting point was deciding that the warp I would make would be about 8.5” wide and 60 cm long (the reeds I use for my looms are set in inches and so width when I weave is always in inches and length in meters/cm - brains are such funny instruments, they don’t mind whatever you do so long as you do it consistently) <br />
The little skein was placed on my swift (see photo above left) and I wound the yarn onto two spools and then proceeded to build the warp on a warping board. Having first carefully measured which peg to start and where to end to get 60 cm of warp out of the skein. All of the usual precautions had to be taken, like securing the cross in
the warp, which keeps the yarn ends in order two by two so the
threading process is easier to handle and some good firm choke ties at
either end to make sure that there was not a lot of slipping about
happening as I was moving the warp from the warping board to the leash
sticks at the front of the loom. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg6ng9yM-TD6IxAm8cYFixVaBCRnLzQsftEbzKR0tFKnXfcZern8b7NfxrmJpkHau3lx-flY833E7DIPrxv9ap8Y1Wx00USUTJWiLWy-IpT5572Jar-U-ugv_3G_D42tlfSTp7ZGZT6E/s1600/DSCN4153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg6ng9yM-TD6IxAm8cYFixVaBCRnLzQsftEbzKR0tFKnXfcZern8b7NfxrmJpkHau3lx-flY833E7DIPrxv9ap8Y1Wx00USUTJWiLWy-IpT5572Jar-U-ugv_3G_D42tlfSTp7ZGZT6E/s1600/DSCN4153.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">scarf warp ready to tie a close knot with the linen warp!</td></tr>
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To start with I beamed a scarf warp on the loom which would use the same threading and tie-up and number of threads as the linen pieces -136 ends of yarn to be set at 15epi (ends per inch) this I hoped might leave me with a nice open but solid fabric - taking into account that the linen yarn was a single not necessarily as strong as a two ply yarn - and taking into account that the dents in a 15dpi (dents per inch) reed are pretty narrow I instead opted to use the 8dpi reed but sleyed the yarn two ends pr dent for 16 epi. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1sZZM-wYjs0gLuC40innEJuQUfa4BD8p1BD0rYcFrMrZfOAnlEBEDWi67UurTk5haxKjpTjBVwZVNO7Y3IWyK6ZijgaFv3yutHwMA_zl-xhIcEzQDWjbyVuoLr8SM26Of_FRENavSYI/s1600/DSCN4154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1sZZM-wYjs0gLuC40innEJuQUfa4BD8p1BD0rYcFrMrZfOAnlEBEDWi67UurTk5haxKjpTjBVwZVNO7Y3IWyK6ZijgaFv3yutHwMA_zl-xhIcEzQDWjbyVuoLr8SM26Of_FRENavSYI/s1600/DSCN4154.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">half of 136 knots done.</td></tr>
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Then it was time to tie the little linen warp to the pre-excisting scarf warp. I had 136 little ends to tie with overhand knots, trying to make the tie lenght of the knot end as close to equally long as possible. Slowly and methodically I went from the right side of the warp to the left, two threads at a time all held in sequence by the leash sticks and the carefully placed choke tie around the cross. <br />
Once the knots were tied I gently pulled each and every one of them towards the back of the loom, through the reed and back through the individual heddles to have the length of the warp stretched out between the back and the front breast beam. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0GqLkezbuj0dw2wGh-lVsGuN8082aUJ0w8IOEd7b7SbSo8vHVfUOBBoWoHRiKUNs82BIghvPUKi9Kq3nsrPk5PhMhXrDry53Fc-BS4EJM-DkgXscM8O5u-y8i8UFPTVif_KNodRyMO7s/s1600/DSCN4162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0GqLkezbuj0dw2wGh-lVsGuN8082aUJ0w8IOEd7b7SbSo8vHVfUOBBoWoHRiKUNs82BIghvPUKi9Kq3nsrPk5PhMhXrDry53Fc-BS4EJM-DkgXscM8O5u-y8i8UFPTVif_KNodRyMO7s/s1600/DSCN4162.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">looped bundles of warp with nylon lashing</td></tr>
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At this point a soft nylon rope was leashed around the front tie on bar and through little bunches of the warp looms, allowing me to apply even tension across the warp. <br />
Then the weaving began. The pieces are done in plain weave, that is, over and under one thread repeatedly and with the threading of the heddles that I had chosen it was an easy weave in that I could alternate two treadles and so it was a straight forward part of the process once the weaving got going. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIf3qGfdpv4hwru8OlKMejX4qbNAUcCDpXT96bpYGGxCQ9fIGaCRKfQu4WXf0HRrRQ0r9HwCPbQCClPN_PuWi6ZJ9wvNjgDztQzpQtfjI1rMqfFHIdmDws0GCX46atvXwB1nmCaD0fLPs/s1600/DSCN4168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIf3qGfdpv4hwru8OlKMejX4qbNAUcCDpXT96bpYGGxCQ9fIGaCRKfQu4WXf0HRrRQ0r9HwCPbQCClPN_PuWi6ZJ9wvNjgDztQzpQtfjI1rMqfFHIdmDws0GCX46atvXwB1nmCaD0fLPs/s1600/DSCN4168.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hemstitched last part, and all those knots showing.</td></tr>
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The warp was divided into two pieces, one which would be left ‘raw’ ie not washed or treated in any way, the other piece was destined to be soaked and rinsed and then mangled or ironed. Each piece was hemstitched on the loom to prevent unraveling. <a href="http://www.laurafry.com/" target="_blank">Thank you Laura Fry</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke8aouqPKyjRGNUZlFbcI84XipA-rylBLhMEw06BLFvzAPIrWp6KGKs20gihyDkBl0evDkDLnQEFDei0QKhrQmxTz72WT_LgDb_7alBxJcMQutzHuvBWLsyjrHLsYWNUJoXQXfEs4FgY/s1600/DSCN4175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke8aouqPKyjRGNUZlFbcI84XipA-rylBLhMEw06BLFvzAPIrWp6KGKs20gihyDkBl0evDkDLnQEFDei0QKhrQmxTz72WT_LgDb_7alBxJcMQutzHuvBWLsyjrHLsYWNUJoXQXfEs4FgY/s1600/DSCN4175.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">soaking and doing its wet fibre water dance</td></tr>
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The pieces were cut off the loom and one piece was put in water with a bit of detergent to soak and afterwards the piece soaked in several bowls of clean tepid water. <br />
Finally the wet finished piece was left out on a tea towel overnight to await its final treatment.<br />
I chose to cold mangle the piece as best I could - traditionally in Scandinavia the linen has been cold mangled - that is rolled over either by hand or by machine with a very hard roller which flattens and brightens the fibres in the fabric.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaY0J-gkTdfOzIwbQ7OLwBUn-aKQX_YK6E2ZAdb00iCXCMss2slejO3ISF0SqkEUpjUeD3a7tbbf1j3v0Dhp-Gtxevnp9m57xzFX_5TGPUdpGNWtPxTg0dHK8YuN6Vc9gujcDd_8UpwU/s1600/DSCN4181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaY0J-gkTdfOzIwbQ7OLwBUn-aKQX_YK6E2ZAdb00iCXCMss2slejO3ISF0SqkEUpjUeD3a7tbbf1j3v0Dhp-Gtxevnp9m57xzFX_5TGPUdpGNWtPxTg0dHK8YuN6Vc9gujcDd_8UpwU/s1600/DSCN4181.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two pieces from one pod/warp</td></tr>
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I don’t have a mangle pr se but I do have a some arm power and I also have a most excellent marble rolling pin and our kitchen table is quite hard. The piece was given a good rolling back and forth on both sides. The untreated piece still has its delicious dark woody colour and is very stiff<br />
The washed and mangled piece is a bit lighter in colour and has a slightly softer hand. After many washes and manglings it will eventually turn quite pliable and soft. <br />
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-37213693731124771862014-10-19T09:43:00.001-07:002014-10-19T09:43:24.558-07:00A woven week<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It is sunday and the sun is shining. It was cloudy and iffy looking at 8:30 this morning but now it seems like all has changed again. The air is warm and if you are in the sun it is time to put on a hat.<br />
I have been getting acquainted with both an old and a new icon this week during weaving class with Apolonia at <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Apulaya</a>.<br />
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This red and purple one on one of the teacher/students warps was fun with the colurs, and a challenge until I had thought long enough about it. This moment in time I think I would have to go back to my graph paper to just check up and see that I really had a hold on the right end of the 'thread'<br />
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This one was a challenge for I had chosen to make a warp with four colours + the dark burgundy on the edges. Being mindful of your pickups and dots and keeping it all together is more challenging when one chooses to play with colour as well as pick up a new or long forgotten pattern.<br />
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What is important for me in this process is to stay focused. To not allow thoughts to go anywhere else but on the warp and the fibre in front of me.<br />
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There is for instance a flock of loros (little loud green parrots that will not fly still for a photo) that live close by. The neighbour has a most delicious tree with some orange flowers or fruits which appear most tasty to the little green free spirits. These loros (unknowingly) distracted me the first few days of the week.<br />
I thought that I would be fast enough to untie myself from the weaving, jump up, grab the camera, turn it on and get the big glass door in the studio opened before their flock had levitated from the delicious tree and made it both to, past and way past our weaving spot. Sadly this was a misconception. I have now come to the realization that.....these loros are not flying past for my photo pleasure. They are there for their own joy of life, flying, talking and finding food. I get to joyfully observe their flight patterns as they cross overhead and also listen to their calls of encouragement and perhaps gentle banter.<br />
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This slim-waisted wasp I did get to observe closely though with and without the camera, for he/she was busy figuring out how to get past the window and I just had to get up (my camera right beside me from the loro attempt) and click the button.<br />
It is time to head for the market. Out into the world and Calca we go to see what we can see!<br />
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-70596286378417595352014-10-15T18:53:00.000-07:002014-10-15T18:53:31.592-07:00Peru, Pisaq, again!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am here again, in Peru, - going to school at <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Apulaya Centre for Andean Culture</a> in Calca, El Valle Sagrado de los Incas. The difference this time is that I have my husband here too and we are both learning and expanding our horizons.<br />
We have been here for two weeks now and each moment is a new adventure and experience - like the day we went to Pisaq - as per usual with Apulaya we start at the top and after we had worked our way around the main pre-inca buildings we headed out on the path that would carry us down over the mountain, through all the other sacred spots and small temples in all their glory.<br />
There is a tunnel, not a very long one, but a tunnel never the less. As I was about to enter from my end I saw a young woman come towards me - the moment she saw me she turned around and went back out. I didn't think more of it but continued, encouraged by Soren and Emerita coming up behind me. At the other end of the tunnel (which truly wasn't very long) the young woman was waiting.<br />
She had the sweetest little boy on her back, his name was Johan and ........ she was very interested in selling us some of her weaving. Perhaps I was not super enthused to start with, but greeted her to the best of my ability in my new found Qeshwa as did Soren and then.....she asked if we would like for her to sing us a couple of songs? That was not to be refused and so we had our very own little concert of a medley of I think 4 or 5 different traditional songs in Qeshwa - and after that perfomance there was no way back, we did buy some of her weaving and we did make a million faces to the little person observing us over his mama's shoulder, his hat askew and his eyes sparkling above the toothless grin he bestowed upon us.<br />
This is one little story - the walk that day did last from 10am to 6pm at which point we were downtown Pisaq - the sun dissappeared completely as we descended the last little piece of the way and as we got to the beginning of the now closed for the night Pisaq market we turned around to look at where we had come from and ........the almost full moon rose in the sky over the sacred spot of Pisaq. It was a most magic and beautiful experience.<br />
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-49341945421054328802014-07-05T11:12:00.000-07:002014-07-05T11:14:40.347-07:00Summer Storm!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hurricane Arthur or his tail end or front end, what do I know........the part of him which does not at this point seem to be as vicious as we were warned he would he would be.....is whipping around the poplars.......the poplars we planted twenty years ago when we moved into the house. <br />
They were but thumb thick knee high babies when they were placed in their growing spots. Now they are taller than our two story house, they are so tall that where I sit about two meters in from the kitchen window they fill the whole window frame up.......a lovely multi green waving entity at the moment.<br />
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In front of the poplars are a few darker maples, not exactly as tall but never the less also waving vigorously. <br />
And last but not least are the spruce trees doing more of a body undulation on the front row with their little prickly leaves so short and tightly set that they almost dance to a different drum.<br />
One spruce by the way is very short......a month ago the horse was pasturing out by the trees, coming and going with his buddies the sheep.......and it was fly season.......horses have tender bellies and inner thighs .............as I was admiring all the trees, talking to a friend on the phone Buffy started rubbing up against the spruce trees.......and then he backed in over on spruce. It was considerably taller than him however in one smooth movement he maneuvered his butt into position, until the tree top stuck out under his tail! <br />
Moving back and forth with slow determination his whole underside was now getting a most delicious rub, soft pale green new growth on the tips mixed with the mature rougher texture of the older parts of the branches.......ridding him of the winged pests which so eagerly find and chew his vulnerable spots.......from where I stood I could see the glee in his eyes........and then it was too much, the tree snapped and now it stands proudly tall only with its first two layers of branches, circular like a ballerina's skirt, the sister tree is oddly crocked........it has not been broken but it definitely has been given a good shove. <br />
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The wind comes and goes now, pretending to be done, but really it is only about another big breath being pulled in and then......yet another pile of powerful gusts whip around the house, making the trees dance still wilder.<br />
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And this is sort of a post script. The wind is back, the lawn is strewn with freshly ripped green leaves. One of our trees was down on the power line and I have to say I am infinitely happy to be back from the Wolfville Farmers' Market in one piece. There are many trees down, lots of outages.......haven't heard about casualties (yet) and I hope I won't.......one step at a time, thankful to be safe!</div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-2942589390132735982014-04-16T07:28:00.000-07:002014-04-16T07:28:45.372-07:00Magic Mega Blanket!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjnRXFzCxk8s9XvRMjZCLsiSuhL8we5BZ8LXPHiTH81bzJtLJ0ex_T__c0Y1_OmQHCFK1P9sKGw4Zxv0uK3i-xe3t4kcXJ_yspPlantPYxHP9O9K0hiDyNpUBVAL4hqUE_BVCf2_8xKc/s1600/IMG_00000026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjnRXFzCxk8s9XvRMjZCLsiSuhL8we5BZ8LXPHiTH81bzJtLJ0ex_T__c0Y1_OmQHCFK1P9sKGw4Zxv0uK3i-xe3t4kcXJ_yspPlantPYxHP9O9K0hiDyNpUBVAL4hqUE_BVCf2_8xKc/s1600/IMG_00000026.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><br />
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One student........one large idea........three very full bags of balled wool, <a href="http://www.macauslandswoollenmills.com/" target="_blank">MacAusland's</a>, <a href="http://www.briggsandlittle.com/" target="_blank">Briggs & Little</a> and who knows what else.<br />
Point of order......no order shall prevail, other than.....this is a double woven blanket, ie...width on loom is 44" and when done it can be opened up to cover twice that, or a little less after fulling. And so the balls were lined up like colourful beads on the floor and the trapeze was engaged for the 4 meters of rainbow dreams.<br />
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The waterfilled bottles were hung for tension and the warp wound on, centimeter by centimeter, or yard by yard, meter by meter, layers of bristolboard placed strategically so no warp collapse would take place. Many times during the setup Virve (the most dedicated student) said - oh, this is taking a long time - and it did - for weaving takes time when you have to work your way through the planning, setup and execution of preliminaries....nothing takes just two mins. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJJpKVeNnll6XYhMnIgQ_-nn9YtGer1MplkApU0gUjnhmn0wtNRhrbG0XrYjnK4ckrHDxEumx-9y_cn8EDrkBgpLPvfleaacftCWuiqcEcJ9zorb23reEE2zz5OG2MH15F41rl81nDPc/s1600/DSCN1666.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJJpKVeNnll6XYhMnIgQ_-nn9YtGer1MplkApU0gUjnhmn0wtNRhrbG0XrYjnK4ckrHDxEumx-9y_cn8EDrkBgpLPvfleaacftCWuiqcEcJ9zorb23reEE2zz5OG2MH15F41rl81nDPc/s1600/DSCN1666.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Then the weaving began, randomly picking colours out of one bag.<br />
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Once a spool was made, this colour was put aside so as not to be used in the weft again until all the initial colours used in the warp had been randomly woven into the blanket - the warp stripes were 1", 2" and 3" wide and the weft stripes were wider or narrower as Virve pleased. And she played, wondered and smiled bobbing along on the rainbow of colourful intersections she created throwing the shuttle, watching the weft move along from side to side, visible magic in the top layer, hidden wonders in the bottom layer. <br />
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And then the end was near.<br />
It took longer to create this piece than we had expected. I hadn't really thought about a time frame in depth, but knew as the setup progressed that....it would not be done in two hours! We added a couple of extra weaving days on our first time estimation and I had the privilege of weaving along on one of the other looms in the studio as Virve worked her way one pick at a time. Great was her joy when the last piece of bristol board fell away and we could see the loops at the end of the warp. <br />
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It was time to roll off the whole beautiful exciting piece......3 meters and 10 centimeters is what it measured right off the loom......and in a double weave that equals the number of picks you would have put into more than 6 meters of cloth woven in a 44" width!<br />
On top of that I have to congratulate Virve....she had only one thread where the bottom had tangled into the top layer......she looked pleased and I was impressed with her stamina and determination.<br />
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And here it is...full width, the one glitch cut loose so the blanket could be opened up, all fringes and other tidbits got to be fixed in front of the Olympics.......and as it is, on cold days all 5 members of Virve's family fits under the blanket on the couch........not to mention that she has found vibrant combinations in the blanket that she really loves and thus she can use this for a colour sampler for future projects......Congratulations Virve on a wonderful piece of weaving!<br /><br /></div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-3514257117245156212014-03-03T06:07:00.001-08:002014-03-03T06:07:22.944-08:00Kale Princes and Princesses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The day came when in my bag of unsprayed kale from a local green house I
found one leaf completely covered in aphids! How joyful a moment that
was..... as you perhaps saw in previous posts I had been wondering what
to feed those no-longer-hibernating-in-the-wall-cracks energetic
ladybugs that helped me cook every day...... <br />
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One leaf full of goodness...... and not one little red black spotted bug in sight...solution was to return the leaf to the fridge and hope that the aphids would stay as fresh as the leaf in those cool conditions.<br />
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Preparing breakfast and looking out the window to the bird feeders I realized that there were 3 of my spotted guests wandering around on each their window pane.<br />
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I scooped them up, gently, gently and ..... produced the leaf from the fridge..... aphids were still intact....... but not for long........the ferocious aphid fighters went to work immediately and by evening the aphids were gone and the leaf had shrivelled up, the red coated workers had gone to rest in some obscure corner and I have been looking for aphids ever since, but have been plain out of luck!<br />
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So for the occasional ladybug I once again produce a piece of pepper, red or yellow or orange, strictly vegetarian for the next little while<br />
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Back to the loom, where there are still Andean Stars and slow moving leather back turtles in the warp - such a pleasure. </div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-52258481977810794202014-02-26T12:14:00.001-08:002014-02-26T12:14:59.576-08:00guineapigs and llama meals/orno!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am still weaving, mostly on my big looms but in my head and heart I am also practicing the weaving skills I learned in Calca. Soon two years will have passed since I spent 10 weeks in Peru studying and learning with the kind and knowledgeable people at <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Apulaya.</a> These photos are from a meal we had just a few days before my stay was over. </div>
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The food is going into the 'orno', an outdoor clay oven which is filled with wood and left to burn until there are only large embers left. </div>
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Then the potatoes that grew behind the studio</div>
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and the sweet potatoes from the market (i think) went into the orno and the front opening and the side air hole was closed off with rocks and clay. The two roasting pans shared space with ...........</div>
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The guinea pigs which had been butchered and prepared that same morning,</div>
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The salad which came from the garden, with a fresh green taste and a smooth vinaigrette.</div>
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And finally my plate.... I did not get a full guineapig, but about half of one on my plate. It tasted deliciously - the 6 year old daughter of the house finished her guinea pig off in minutes and was she ever happy and hungry! I had seconds and ....... as it is I am looking forward to going back to Peru in the fall, again to spend time at Apulaya, and will bring my spouse this time.... he won't be weaving but I will, and he will be learning language (quechua with me) and looking at agricultural practices, music and enveloping himself in this new to us culture of food, language, laughter and people. </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-36977858600140192352014-02-12T07:12:00.000-08:002014-02-12T07:12:28.178-08:00Winter Visitors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It is Winter still and in an old house there are lots of nooks and crannies for small beings to hide out. These past few weeks I have never been all alone when cooking at any time, day or night. </div>
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I figured if I wanted to keep the company happy I had better put something nutritious on the table - the stub of a cauliflower was my choice and I even added a drop of honey and a drop of water</div>
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And there they sat..... content (I think) or confused......they would fly off and come back later</div>
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Sharing a meal or a snack is also not out of the way for a ladybug, these two quite enjoyed a piece of orange pepper<br />
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And then there is the clean up mode... did you know that a Ladybug washes her face just like a fly, a squirrel or a little mouse, one foot flies up over the face and touches the whole surface, this was one busy cleaning creature for a while. </div>
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And finally..... another yoga position, one hind leg sliding out under the other.... is this perhaps some version of pigeon? I do love creatures, big and small and it is wondrous to get to take the time to observe. </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-34746036321584754272014-02-03T16:14:00.001-08:002014-02-03T16:14:29.595-08:00Winter visitor <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When cooler weather prevails creatures hide in the wood stack and get carried inside the house by the wood stove fodder we bring by the armloads or they come in on the dog when she has been out rolling and frolicking - sometime before Christmas this little dude met me in the middle of the kitchen floor and we had our first conversation, which..... caused the bear to curl up on itself and pretend to not be present.<br />
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I could not feed my new friend to the chickens and I didn't want to just dump it, after all, it was almost Christmas and so I found a little plastic container to slip the lovely one into. I added some lettuce and some cabbage, some of it slightly damp.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsApJ_lZGHbkksTQyMAsJrAp0ZPua4IVkdPqIhG2AJ5g3Ocuf-kqRqoDFqgPQ-hKbnl0zr_opRe0KY8Pbk8Q5t7rbkWnyxrbsWeT_d2KJaaSn_7AnNxOtUb44OdBN8E4EmUsMBxTlIJvk/s1600/DSCN1604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsApJ_lZGHbkksTQyMAsJrAp0ZPua4IVkdPqIhG2AJ5g3Ocuf-kqRqoDFqgPQ-hKbnl0zr_opRe0KY8Pbk8Q5t7rbkWnyxrbsWeT_d2KJaaSn_7AnNxOtUb44OdBN8E4EmUsMBxTlIJvk/s1600/DSCN1604.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a>I have to admit that I did not yet notice signs that there was a lot of eating going on and this morning I looked at my guest and thought for sure that it was the end of the line for this little guy. However, I was wrong. As soon as I brought the container into a slightly warmer part of the house movement was seen. Slow movement and enough movement that I thought I had better dry the little one off, I think in my un-wisdom a few days earlier I had plopped a few wet lettuce leaves into the bowl and ..... now my friend was wearing a rather wet furcoat, at least on one side.<br />
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So the creature was moved around gently on the toilet paper and in just a few mins there were wet spots where the dampness had been sucked out of the furcoat. I felt quite relieved. Since movement was not at any time going along with that rapid eagerness these littly wooly bears show on the hot asphalt in the summer I also had some fun foto opportunities - those little legs, such stout limbs for fast forward when the weather is warm and the world is easy to explore.<br />
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One final photo - looking at it and hearing my yoga teacher's voice, now engage your belly muscles and lift your head and your shoulders of the floor, keep your legs straight, do you feel it, if you need to hold your head up gently with one of your hands..... ha, I had had the most wonderful yoga lesson just 30 mins before all these events of resurrection and joy took place!<br />
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I have not worked here on my blog for a very long time...... there is no real explanation, I got caught up in a (time) warp of some kind.....however, as I pondered what I did last on the blog I found this..... enjoy, and happy New Year 2014 to one and all!<br />
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We live in a rural yet quite populated area, new houses are shooting up everywhere. Putting pressure on wild life of all kinds - and also putting them closer to us for a little further observation. As a kid in another country seeing a raven was a rare and special thing - also probably because I grew up in Copenhagen, a big city perhaps not as desirable a territory for ravens.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raven enjoying a smoked eel head!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Here in the boonies on the funny farm one of the nicest signs/sounds of spring are the ravens starting to cluck and do their spring songs - we do of course see them during the winter months too but not as often. The top of the barn has an excellent spot with a view to the compost bins and so sometimes allows me to enjoy the experience of one of the ravens, as he /she waits for me to fill the compost bin with delicacies.<br />
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Recently I found smoked eel at the Wolfville Farmers' Market, the fish
man (<a href="http://www.wolfvillefarmersmarket.ca/producers-and-products/producers/details/1/66/vendor-directory-the-fish-store">Eric Publicover and his wife Sandra)</a> along side with some smoked salmon and lots of fresh haddock,
rainbow trouth and other such delicacies on that day also had brought
... a few packages of smoked eel from this Nova Scotian Company, <a href="http://www.willykrauch.com/">Willy Krauch</a>.<br />
And so for a few days Søren and I enjoyed a special treat which was part of our child hoods but is now rarely ingested. <br />
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The raven seemed very happy with the scraps and leftovers from our treat and spent some good times in the compost balancing and snacking before ..... I got too close with the camera and ....<br />
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It was necessary to spread the wings and take off. My job is to work on getting faster with the camera - the only way to ensure that I do not end up with eerie half photos of flying raven's wings. </div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-70414887391160689972013-02-06T17:03:00.002-08:002013-02-06T17:03:55.773-08:00My first visit to an SOS children's village<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the first days in Peru the friend I was traveling with was going to visit her 'daughter' at an <a href="http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/" target="_blank">SOS Children's Village </a> My friend and her family supports several kids through different organizations here in Peru. I asked if I might join her to visit with the family her 'daughter' lives with.<br />
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My interest in going along for this family visit stems from the fact that since I was myself in my late teens I have always supported a kid somewhere in the world - India, Rwanda, Tanzania and at the moment a child in Bolivia.<br />
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For the first child I was active and wrote letters and noted birthdays etc. When this girl graduated and got a scholarship to go to university we no longer kept in touch. I was given a chance to support another child and I did, and so once one little person moved out of the system I welcomed the next. I am not very active any longer on the correspondence side other than in always making sure the monthly payments are done.<br />
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However the visit at the SOS village in Peru has given me some food for thought.<br />
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The village is in the middle of a very urban area - and there is a 'cluster' of houses all belonging to different families of the SOS organization.<br />
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The family I had the good fortune to visit consisted of 9 children from around 10 to 21 - the 21 year old has chosen to stay on with the family whilst she finishes her university studies.<br />
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In this particular house two of the kids were blood siblings ..... often though 'family' does not mean there are blood relations, it means that the children and young people live together as a family would, sharing house, cleaning, shopping, cooking, fun and tears, they become each others sisters and brothers. They create their own family. There is a designated paid housemother - as I understood it in this case the housemother has been with the kids for many many years - watched them all grow up and is guiding and helping them along within a system which can be pretty rough on children if there are no family members to look after them or if their original family is so poverty stricken that they have given up hope looking after the child. <br />
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My friend goes to visit this family every time she travels in the area - they all know her well - and she knows them well. There is a lovely connection between them all. The connection that helps a child remember that someone outside or far away cares about..... his/her well-being, the efforts to do the best he/she can in school, in life in general - through a foster parent plan a child or young person does feel their worth and they are given hope that they will themselves be able to move on and up and become the best person they can hope to be!<br />
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I had not thought that deeply about why and how and what the real impact would be - really, it is often hard to know and understand things and events fully until one has seen with ones own eyes or felt it on ones own body the true colour of the situation. There are always sponsorship drives going on from many different aid groups. The children I have sponsored over the years have been through <a href="http://www.ccfcanada.ca/" target="_blank">Christian Children's Fund </a>- the reason for this being that at the time I sponsored my first kid this to my knowledge was the only sponsor organization available in Denmark.<br />
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I have continued on with this Fund. Must say though that I do question the need to mix religion into bringing up children of other cultures - should I choose today I would choose a non-denominational organization like for instance <a href="http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/" target="_blank">SOS Children's villages</a> - or another organization <a href="http://www.charityintelligence.ca/" target="_blank">Foster Parents Plan</a>. I am sure there are many others out there. The fact is that an amount of $50 or less a month is enough to get a kid to school, to provide food and clothes. In many cases there is money for the rest of his/her family as well for improved living conditions, more animals for better nutrition etc. It takes so little and I highly recommend it. In some cases one can even go visit with the kid(s) like we had the chance to do. It is a learning experience. <br />
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I have not put up any photos of the village and the children for privacy reasons - only the sheep which were part of a small flock which this family of children and young adults had to look after - for food and wool - there was a vegetable garden, and hens for eggs and roosters for soup (I am sure) shared fruit trees of different kinds. For the kids who enjoy sports there was a nice paved sports field and there was a community house close by for bigger mixed family gatherings. Truly an impressive spot. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to go and visit and talk and laugh and discover the happy family feel that was very evident within this group of children and their caretaker. <br />
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-75771257331693378822013-02-06T16:35:00.003-08:002013-02-06T16:35:45.017-08:00Volunteering at a school near Calca, Peru<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It is winter here in Canada now, cold, windy, snowy. I have a husband on a tractor cleaning up the two driveways in the dark from the snowstorm that we had on Monday this week.<br />
And for me it is time to do a little more blogging about my adventures in Peru. <br />
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I had prepared the photos in this blog a while back, just didn't seem able to find the words to adequately describe the joy and the learning and the pleasure that surrounded and overflowed in me when we visited the school and had some fun learning hours with the kids a few times a week during the last part of my stay in Calca. <br />
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Emerita taught classes on colour theory with the kids using some of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Itten" target="_blank">Johannes Itten's</a> methods of seeing complementary and contrasting colours. They were all eyes and 'some' ears.<br />
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Letting them paint with brushes and aniline paints, using old soup tins to hold the water and off they were after some show and tell instructions.<br />
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Here they are looking at a boy/men's traditional hat (chullo), knitted in brilliant colours and with patterns/icons that have significance for the family, telling about their fields, their mountains - their life in/with Mother Nature/PachaMama.<br />
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Younger kids expressing themselves - the youngest class was grade one, I believe the kids were around 5 or 6 years old. This being their first year in school we got the class room teacher to translate into Quechua some of what Emerita had shared with everyone in Spanish, just to make sure that the kids had a chance to understand better what it was we were up to in their class room. Some of them hadn't started learning Spanish until this year in school. <br />
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The focus of a few of the bigger kids. Having first written a poem about their lives on the mountain. They run back up to 4200m on the weekends to spend time with their family and friends - when they have to go and herd animals, sheep, llamas, alpacas up into the remote spots to find good grazing for their family herd<br />
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The last class that I was part of - the kids had brought in weaving from their families - and the topic was 'Icons in your mothers weaving, what does it tell us' - there was chatter and focus and stories and afterwards eager kids with pencils, paintbrushes, paint and beautiful poems illustrated by the authors.<br />
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The sink where the kids washed their hands and their plates and spoons after any of the meals they had at school and where they just splashed each other for the fun of it because ..... what else is there to do with running water on a reasonably warm day at school!<br />
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Boys playing soccer in the back ground and the girls having a serious conversation amongst themselves and with Emerita about their lives in the mountains, about herding, living, playing, and going to school. <br />
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If you go to the <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/en/volunteering.htm" target="_blank">Apulaya website</a>, there is a short movie with more in-depth information on the work that Emerita and Valerio do at the school, sometimes by themselves sometimes with fortunate volunteers like myself. </div>
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It was a privilege to participate! </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-20562924859838017132013-01-08T07:16:00.001-08:002013-01-08T07:18:08.186-08:00Market photos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Market in Calca, Sunday Market - extra vendors, lots of people and dogs</div>
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Below: The quail egg lady in action - she boils eggs right there and </div>
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peels them so you can enjoy a quick snack. </div>
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We took home 6 eggs in the usual plastic bag - raw eggs - so we could have sunny side up fried eggs for supper. The yolks were the size of my thumbnail</div>
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And then there were the cheese tables. </div>
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These here are unpasteurized local cheeses- artfully pressed and decorated. </div>
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Yolanda, the wonderful cheese lady who always had time for a chat and a smile in her eyes. I got my pasteurized (in the yellow wrap) local cheese from her, and some other treats for different occasions. We have an agreement that when I come down next time I will bring my husband (he agrees too)</div>
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A fruit and vegetable booth and ..... this is where I got some of the small cocoa bars which I brought home for Christmas gifts. For the price of five little bars a sixth was always slipped into the bag - I didn't think about this until I got back to my room and looked over my loot =-)</div>
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Picking up food, vegetables, fruits or treats at this market was always fun and lovely, and .... as ever when one goes to a market, be prepared for the urge to do impulse shopping, that is .... the nature of market going - one never knows when leaving home what might be available on this particular day. </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-42574098805268390362013-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:002013-01-08T07:00:05.299-08:00Weaving with Apolonia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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To start off the year 2013 what follows here is a lineup of photos from
Peru of how we (<a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Apolonia from Apulaya</a> and I) proceeded when we started up my last
weaving project about 10 days prior to my return to Canada.</div>
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It was a relaxing and yet very exciting time. I had spent the weekend putting extra twist into some of my naturally dyed yarns from Chinchero and I had played with my colour pencils, as well as thought about which of the patterns I had previously woven on narrow bands would be the ones to put together to attempt a wider piece of weaving. </div>
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Anais came to join us, she even gave me a hand for a few minutes rolling the balls of yarn back and forth. It is in her hands and mind, she has watched her grandmother prepare warps and weave so many times. She has not yet woven a band, but .... she will, sooooon!</div>
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The cross, so beautiful between the two sticks in the ground - the only back draw to making a warp like this is ... if you are not limber enough in your hips and legs you might get a bit sore and fidget a bit while you are working on getting it all together. </div>
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The sheep skins are lovely they keep the dampness and potential coolness off your butt and adds a bit of softness between your knees and Pachamama (Mother Earth) as you focus on the task at hand. </div>
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Fingers picking up/making string heddles - I was excited to be doing this particular piece because it was a wider warp and that meant incorporating a heddle stick = something which I hadn't worked with before and thus.... a new challenge. </div>
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One would have thought that looping a string around every other warp thread would be 'easy' - and well, it is easy, but ... never the less it is also easy to accidentally pick up the 'wrong' warp end or get them twisted or.... there is ample ground for learning experiences which need a little bit of correction and thus an insightful repetition of the action just performed. </div>
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And the birds were singing and the dog(s) came around to help out and lend a paw!</div>
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Then the actual weaving began, one pick at a time, slowly meticulously and with absolute concentration. </div>
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The first little bit has been done - a zigzag river pattern on each side of the star - and progress was slow - the trick is to memorize the pattern and so it flows effortlessly from your fingertips (a real Andean weaver does this) I am as ever thankful that I had pen and paper, not to mention the colour pencils, for those were/are tools of need for me still - perhaps one day I will be able to have it all in my 'internal confuser' on top of my shoulders. </div>
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Happy New Year!</div>
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Wishing everyone lots of exciting and successful projects of all kinds for 2013. </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-15811150087233568122012-12-19T09:05:00.000-08:002012-12-19T09:05:26.466-08:00Day of the Dead, November 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzvA2FszQhfJJFVbVDxpfgFp5aXhfAkkHWfhIU3ymMIpE_9GXIA8gsjve7iWFSWVOB8s-p4f-1rHpfmNTgdeq8BLG_HAMkok_MLyZdRp5B1NWwRyOilLvUjlS4IZv3bk0ACoamfv2ZW8/s1600/P1120916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzvA2FszQhfJJFVbVDxpfgFp5aXhfAkkHWfhIU3ymMIpE_9GXIA8gsjve7iWFSWVOB8s-p4f-1rHpfmNTgdeq8BLG_HAMkok_MLyZdRp5B1NWwRyOilLvUjlS4IZv3bk0ACoamfv2ZW8/s1600/P1120916.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The morning of Day of the Dead started with another ceremony - not a
long one, but a few minutes of conversation with and remembrance of the persons we
wished could have enjoyed this meal with us. Instead we ate the
now 'tasteless' food. Since all our ancestors feasted all night on the
essence of what we offered up last night there was little left but
the 'shells' of the goodies - I do think though that the ancestors were
kind and left quite a bit of taste for us to enjoy. <br />
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The first plate of many which I filled and emptied this morning. And the company was.... absolutely excellent from first to last bite.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwKH-VthevzwOaBld1KmE38iBTM-PqVwqu0hIEzY_zNa-hmQK1ODUk1ga2KGHlXAHYcIsnqKhtXrh6tJba358XZ3smqXrmAw-QHQtnJEtD0WwHEwo3BbHuRFpqds7GKdCX9NiEjS6CTc/s1600/P1120918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwKH-VthevzwOaBld1KmE38iBTM-PqVwqu0hIEzY_zNa-hmQK1ODUk1ga2KGHlXAHYcIsnqKhtXrh6tJba358XZ3smqXrmAw-QHQtnJEtD0WwHEwo3BbHuRFpqds7GKdCX9NiEjS6CTc/s1600/P1120918.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All at the table - photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5pBXWeoeuPJhwdiJSSNicDKO3A3ajasRIIXlNNTSo3rA4RHEpDT7-RT-WGVKfhgkGqpyrfsSO4IMhEGT4K_gqK1iLxT7NKnLZRUwBaS1h8PijusEspqD1o1jeJtJrjCHpaXUtyuRUio/s1600/DSCN8320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5pBXWeoeuPJhwdiJSSNicDKO3A3ajasRIIXlNNTSo3rA4RHEpDT7-RT-WGVKfhgkGqpyrfsSO4IMhEGT4K_gqK1iLxT7NKnLZRUwBaS1h8PijusEspqD1o1jeJtJrjCHpaXUtyuRUio/s1600/DSCN8320.jpg" /></a> And here we are at the Cemetery where ..life is fun and full where the
conversations with the ancestors, the newly dead or the ones who have
been absent from our reality for a long time flourish and flutter - young and old alike are busy communicating and respectfully remembering. The men atop this rolling staircase are celebrating and having a drink with their relatives - whose remains are placed too high up to talk to them directly when standing on the path below, but with this aid of a rolling staircase it works fine, one could even say it is close to comfortable! </div>
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Sound systems are not easy to operate nor come by and so... to make sure
that everyone can hear the words of importance a megaphone is used. The
choir sang loud and beautifully enough to be heard without amplification although ...... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUVqAWtiyvNTehZmhLswHsfR0Tieg4pi1Tx8URseASQScJkh3ejsXlurvJHXCakQAY1rj0KaXdCT1kvjlKJqt1dYyqKfO5Q3anrXo5m92E0HgyZpmpF816BNUh83gHP8AAdKxDhYeOTc/s1600/DSCN8327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUVqAWtiyvNTehZmhLswHsfR0Tieg4pi1Tx8URseASQScJkh3ejsXlurvJHXCakQAY1rj0KaXdCT1kvjlKJqt1dYyqKfO5Q3anrXo5m92E0HgyZpmpF816BNUh83gHP8AAdKxDhYeOTc/s1600/DSCN8327.jpg" /></a></div>
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I did feel my heart hop and skip a few times when the repairs going on at this grave site 50 meters further along the pathway got a bit too loud - power-drills are not soundless, with or without amplifying. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15B8WQJSxjc491rGxCacTyDauReBuNCVYpoPdIcpM2dw0Y4YtHVlJpq3o401lQHKmobU96a6OXqTeto3TJYx1ZgIHsLCi6ZokKmwAts25N0R-e_ZAjPFR3OELq3qzViaO7ciwCW9kXm4/s1600/DSCN8341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15B8WQJSxjc491rGxCacTyDauReBuNCVYpoPdIcpM2dw0Y4YtHVlJpq3o401lQHKmobU96a6OXqTeto3TJYx1ZgIHsLCi6ZokKmwAts25N0R-e_ZAjPFR3OELq3qzViaO7ciwCW9kXm4/s1600/DSCN8341.jpg" /></a> A photo of a grave site we walked by on our meanderings at the cemetery that day - there are rose-petals in the pattern of a cross on top of the grave and my eyes caught the beauty of the purple candle sitting there on its rock. What I didn't see until I came back and uploaded my photos to the Ipad was ..... the two cigarettes neatly placed on the rock next to the candle rock - as an offering to the dearly departed - one of his/her favorites perhaps. In all the wall cubicles one could observe miniature favorites of the dead family member, be it a soccer-ball, a car, little battery run dancing flowers, you name it, it was there. I have never seen a cemetery this lively ever in my life - paintbrushes were in use to smarten up cement tombs, beer bottles were carried in, dogs were about, I observed two kids around ten years old sitting at a grave-site making patterns with rose-petals - living and dead mingling above and below in their heads and hearts. It was lovely to see and an honour to be part of, even if I was on this day 'just an observer'.</div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-36317627472194340302012-12-19T08:56:00.001-08:002012-12-19T08:56:14.212-08:00Day of the Living, November 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Preparing lunch for November 1 - we did not celebrate Halloween on Oct.
31 - we completely ignored it - instead on this Nov. 1 we are preparing a
wonderful lunch in the orno outside - chicken, plantain, sweet
potatoes, what else could any one wish for. It is a day for celebrating
family and friends and I am fortunate to belong to the friends part of
this and get to spend the whole day with Emerita and Valerio's family at
Apulaya.<br />
Apolonia and Modesto getting the orno going so there will be enough warmth and embers to turn the chicken pieces and veggetables into delectable morsels in just over an hour's baking. Anais is busy with her good friend Chava - the little dog that will do whatever Anais tells her to do. Buddies!<br />
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Delicious tomato and peanut sauce for dipping the above mentioned orno baked vegetables in when they have been served on our plates in just a little while.<br />
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Looking at this photo I am thinking that I need to remember how Emerita did this - or I have to make my own version of this - the fact is, this made a scrumptious 'salsa'.<br />
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Chicken exiting the orno with the aid of Valerio and Modesto, not to forget the oven mits. That orno is very hot indeed.<br />
We enjoyed our lunch at the table from the 6 year old to the almost 105 year old - although we were missing one person, a new Apulaya art student and volunteer , <a href="http://www.luciebause.com/" target="_blank">Lucie from ..... Alberta</a>!<br />
She did arrive eventually, plane cancellations etc from Lima to Cusco are hard to control, the circle complete for our evening ceremony. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEOgcucjB4VMwCY5soeACBw5yu80sgXAdqtS-g6YkNQnksWMv0EcmsjUyfTNRI-U1N_Uxv1NNjxWdyTaJYoRATx8ziSawgTcHSsT3LwXXG3ZC_jptlwGsWcxdbv_himZMZJLOyK3cfIY/s1600/P1120893.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEOgcucjB4VMwCY5soeACBw5yu80sgXAdqtS-g6YkNQnksWMv0EcmsjUyfTNRI-U1N_Uxv1NNjxWdyTaJYoRATx8ziSawgTcHSsT3LwXXG3ZC_jptlwGsWcxdbv_himZMZJLOyK3cfIY/s1600/P1120893.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a> Anais, Pia and Lucie, waiting for ceremony to start. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Earlier in the day I had been invited to also place treats on the ceremony table in the hall way. We went to the market and I had a ball purchasing treats for my family and friends. The treats are made/bought with the intent to make relatives who have passed on happy - this is an offering of some of their favorite foods - on this night after the celebration of Day of the Living - All Souls Night - our relatives come to stay with us, to see how we are doing and to give us a hand if we reach out and ask for their help. In this reciprocal culture when we give an offering we are entitled to ask for help or guidance in return. This was a bit foreign to me but I sent off thoughts to the people in my life who have already passed on, family members and friends - strange how long the list is when one starts to really think about it - and wonderful to know that .... this was in honour of all of these 'souls', spirits, it felt overwhelming and good at the same time. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKHQD8Oi98tEh2-0-NliMtW_kWD-nTvgBs-0HOptT7bbhfQ5Ou3IEIMWHSBXw4HQ9hIdDQgZXFzASfwzCiuaEYf18Zbv_QJz0n7dgit4ldYLXsbc7t5RI_O3Ow5-nMcoAYfpP0c9nWbc/s1600/P1120897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKHQD8Oi98tEh2-0-NliMtW_kWD-nTvgBs-0HOptT7bbhfQ5Ou3IEIMWHSBXw4HQ9hIdDQgZXFzASfwzCiuaEYf18Zbv_QJz0n7dgit4ldYLXsbc7t5RI_O3Ow5-nMcoAYfpP0c9nWbc/s1600/P1120897.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modesto, Anais and Apolonia. Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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We are waiting for the ceremony to begin. <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/en/religion-spirituality.htm" target="_blank">Modesto (on the left) is a paqo</a> - a mediator between the natural and the supernatural worlds - he will perform the ceremony, a blessing, a mass over the foods and treats - calling on our ancestors, inviting them to come and enjoy this meal we are offering them and asking for their protection and aid or support as one feels one needs it. Anais is excited, to be looking at all the treats (which won't be eaten until the next morning) and to be with her grandparents during this beautiful and peaceful ceremony. It is a time of joy, being able to connect with our departed loved ones. <br />
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Spiritual view ...... ah, no, it was Emerita who had gone up the stairs in order to get this view - in a moment or two the ceremony will start, the lights were turned down a bit so it wasn't too bright, it was evening around 7 or 8 pm after all -<br />
the ceremony lasted for a couple of hours, was read and recited in a beautiful mix of languages, Spanish, Quechua and Latin - my heart was filling up with sadness, longing, happiness, pleasure, memories, respect and thankfulness that I was able to honour 'my dead' in this manner - a whole new and wonderful way of connecting with loved ones now existing in a different realm. </div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-75176630183931601452012-12-19T06:46:00.001-08:002012-12-19T06:46:43.044-08:00Bands and views from Juana's in Huaran<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When the sun got too high in the sky arrangements were made for me to
sit in a shaded place just so my 'pretty face' wouldn't 'come to harm'
again. I was moved just inside the kitchen door - a stick was hammered
into the ground just outside the kitchen door with the most magnificently large and impressive axe and
then..... I was placed on a low stool with blankets and sheepskins on
top for comfortable softness. Then it was time to get 'hooked up', one
end of the warp to the stick/peg outside the kitchen door and the other
end to the woven belt I had tied around my waist sitting on the comfortable stool just inside the threshold in the kitchen.<br />
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This was my view - and as the rain came later we both jumped up, Juana and I, and took the laundry down.This is where Juana cooked us lunch and boiled water for tea - the kittens were just starting to move out of their box and surprisingly so, though perhaps it shouldn't be, they never ended up in the fire, they knew how close to get. They were in constant motion looking for food, playing a bit and looking for food again. Their mom would come in also looking for food and then she settled down in the box for a nursing session. I couldn't resist but had to give the little ones not yet in the box a hand - I 'flew' them in, so they could partake too. <br />
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And the bands I wove with Juana, the wide one that was my first choice to the very right. Closest to the side of the photo is the back of this wide band, then the front - then comes the yellow/red band which worked up reasonably fine and fast without too many hickups to weave, the side with the narrow zigzag being the front of the band, the back has long floats and a wider yellow zigzag. Finally the orange and black band - the front is the diamonds and the back is the longer rather hickuppy floats. Looking at all three bands ..... I cannot believe how lucky I feel to actually have sat there in the kitchen at Juana's - working, learning and weaving up these bands. Soon I will have to redo them here at home, that is.... make new warps and sit down focused on these particular patterns trying to do them with no mistakes this time!</div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-38828816718658987852012-12-18T11:01:00.001-08:002012-12-18T11:01:43.064-08:00Three weaving days in Huaran instead of Canchacancha!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7j4z882rrbG5xwiRUlIKtMSqrSo2MuUz-pi0BnLw6bHbkhVyvkYlz-2dDSBCplKPjR-buS9ZFpPwqyOR4-tgKjZ1MNMhC8D0Cq4dbgL2Qo5YRTVjVQk3o4-h88y_G4hoFr6OqTjCaQQ/s1600/P1120863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7j4z882rrbG5xwiRUlIKtMSqrSo2MuUz-pi0BnLw6bHbkhVyvkYlz-2dDSBCplKPjR-buS9ZFpPwqyOR4-tgKjZ1MNMhC8D0Cq4dbgL2Qo5YRTVjVQk3o4-h88y_G4hoFr6OqTjCaQQ/s1600/P1120863.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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As it happened having to leave the village up high in the sky did not mean that I lost out on any weaving lessons. The Peruvian people is a very very flexible people. The people at Apulaya are very very flexible people too - and so since I was relying wholly on their guidance and knowledge during my stay here ..... it was totally wonderful for me to realize that within 24 hours of returning to my room at the hostel in Calca all was organized - I was going to Huaran to weave with Juana the three first days of the following week - first though I did get to enjoy another day at school at Apulaya, then two weekend days of .... walking in town, reading, weaving, spinning at home and hanging out in the garden with some of the other visitors at the hostel.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkj4P21jVWILu46k1DcAXrhWiTjiGvRVRFTdJq3K3s5flHXA5rbeoVx8LKA6MBjS7LVdnSqs215m758HoE7ktO4bE19mt-Fka5YmacpgDyOfkYhJv0kAEd4s2VPFuucqGaOC4E8mWb7M/s1600/P1120870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkj4P21jVWILu46k1DcAXrhWiTjiGvRVRFTdJq3K3s5flHXA5rbeoVx8LKA6MBjS7LVdnSqs215m758HoE7ktO4bE19mt-Fka5YmacpgDyOfkYhJv0kAEd4s2VPFuucqGaOC4E8mWb7M/s1600/P1120870.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Monday morning early Emerita knocked on the gate and I came out with sunhat, sun screen, small backpack and much joyous anticipation as to how my weaving would go today. I had vivid memories of the beautiful wide band which I had started up in Cancha Cancha - mostly because I had taken it home and had looked at it long and hard trying to decipher what I needed to do next - hm - I would not say I had been extraordinarily successful.<br />
So it was quite a relief to say hello to Juana and realize that she had started another band for me. This one more narrow and with a pattern more easily manageable for learning the technique her hands work so deligently.<br />
A light and happy feeling spurred me on and on, especially when I realized that.... this was a pattern which I could wrap my head around without too much headache. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCKnanCEKrLCfBg3Jr9GvYB3nCK5Sg5fWYgjmu-7uxqXxA7gM36565RlysV-gA0r_zMU8V_nGHfZimLNMih0gdKjJlGkdlQoQAB0BIciUhflIziD3_jxNOTVmppqNBcVA_GVACccjlBg/s1600/P1120884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCKnanCEKrLCfBg3Jr9GvYB3nCK5Sg5fWYgjmu-7uxqXxA7gM36565RlysV-gA0r_zMU8V_nGHfZimLNMih0gdKjJlGkdlQoQAB0BIciUhflIziD3_jxNOTVmppqNBcVA_GVACccjlBg/s1600/P1120884.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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These photos were all taken within the first hour of getting acquainted with this particular pattern. There were wrinkled brows, thoughtful glances and maneuvering of the the warp threads and ... after a while some laughter, quiet and then louder - laughter of wonder and laughter of aggravation when part of the pattern has to be taken out again. <br />
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If I am not mistaken too much I believe that I managed to finish this band on this day and I was very happy with myself and my magnificent abilities - or perhaps I finished it early on the next morning - it left me with a good singing feeling inside.<br />
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The next band ..... was another story..... not really a difficult pattern but ..... I was having a lot of trouble balancing the pattern correctly - and again, I remind myself and everyone else, my active language Spanish/Quechua was ... pretty small and my teachers' Danish/English capabilities are even smaller - so ..... learning here is about eye/brain coordination - it is intense, tiring and absolutely wonderful and fulfilling when the light-bulb suddenly goes on and a positive power-surge carries one over the hump of tiredness and confusion into light and beauty. </div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-46417826396515676512012-12-18T09:09:00.001-08:002012-12-18T09:09:44.623-08:00Retreat from Cancha Cancha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">7:30 am, heading down - sad sigh!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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As it was - my stay in Upper Cancha Cancha didn't last long .... only just under 24 hrs - I loved being there, I was amazed that I had made it there and I sat and wove with Juana and her daughter many hours on the day I arrived. The pattern was not exactly easy peacy pumpkin pie, it did make my brain curl and twirl but once again I had a most patient teacher sitting right next to me keeping an eye on my hands and the finger manipulation of warp threads up and down mostly not in the right sequence. Supper was eaten in the kitchen house as the dark had fallen outside. Two of Juana's daughters had come to join us, one had herded sheep all day and the other had been out with the alpacas and the llamas.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The little red dot at the bottom is the roof of the school</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I was taken to my sleeping quarters (the door in the photo above where you can
see the tail of a hen) and tucked in well and thoroughly, I was warm
and comfortable in the storage house, surrounded by skins and hats for
special occasions, supplies .... it was lovely. And I was in my sleeping
bag under lots and lots of warm blankets and covers. I woke in the
middle of the night with a funny tingling in my upper lip and I realized
that.... my face was beginning to swell again - that is, it was only my
lip at this point - I got up in the dark with my headlamp guiding me to
antihistamines and cortizone cream and then.... I had a long discussion
with myself - would it be enough eat antihistamines and to wear hat and
sunscreen to prevent another swollen face or.... what was the
likelihood and .... how would it be if I had to walk all the way down
the mountain with the swollen face! It was hard to decide, I knew that there was a
special dinner planned for me with alpaca meat the next evening but....
in the end I took a deep breath, made a decision and rolled over to
sleep until it was time to get up and ask to be taken back down the
mountain again ASAP before the sun got too high in the sky. <br />
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After breakfast we headed down - this time my back pack was packed in Juana's carrying cloth and although she is 5 years my senior and she gave birth to many more kids than me .... well, she was much more of a mountain goat than me. She was moving at a good clip, for she wanted to get me down and out of the sun before the day was very old. I took a few photos on the way down, with sadness, I would have loved to have stayed - perhaps next time I will bring a sunscreen which is more than 45 or a hat with a bigger brim. For make no mistake I am planning and scheming on a 'next time' only when next time comes... I will also bring my husband who would love and thrive to go and experience the magnificence of the Andes and their people. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juana with my backpack wrapped in her carrying cloth. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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About half way down we met a pre-teen girl out with her sheep for the day, stopped for a brief chat with her and then it was again onwards and downwards!<br />
I made it all the way to my house in a little less than 5 hours and that included bus and taxi ride - going down is definitely faster, although, my legs and hips were some sore for quite a few days after. <br />
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It was a privilege to be allowed to share a minute detail of the life of a 'mountain dweller' - Thank you for welcoming me, Juana, Dorothea, Alejandro and Jose!</div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-31990268863765394712012-12-16T12:47:00.000-08:002012-12-16T12:47:29.052-08:00Weaving with Juana in 'Upper' Cancha Cancha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Waking up the next day... there was a different light and bounce in my eyes and step again. It does a world of good to have a good long night's sleep behind you, even if in your sleep there are moments of loud weather noises and it was not easy to know if the roof would blow off or not. Back in the kitchen we enjoyed a steaming warm plate of vegetable soup and a big cup of morning tea, more cat purr and since Valerio, Emerita and Anais were on their way back down the mountain again and I was scheduled to continue up the mountain for another hour... Dorothea found her weaving to show us what she spins and weaves.<br />
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It was time to head out into the beautiful wild and new landscape again, I knew that ... Upper Cancha Cancha was .... just around the corner and so .... with Jose being kind enough to carry my backpack we set out. After a few minutes he swung in to have a chat with some friends behind a fence pointing me ahead - and true to form I kept putting one foot in front of the other - staring ahead of me, not in a discouraged manner but in a determined manner, I won't be needing so much time today .... I won't be needing so much time today. And I didn't, for we didn't have far to go. Jose trotted past me with my backpack and then I just had to keep my eyes on his rapidly shrinking body blending better and better into the colours and textures of the mountains surrounding me. I was not left all alone though - behind me at an equally brisk walk came Dorothea - she had had a few things to do before being able to head out for Juana's (her mother) house.<br />
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When I looked behind me there she was a colourful dot, rapidly gaining size in the landscape. Dorothea caught up with me and we walked (slowly) and talked, across the language barriers - using the few words that I knew in Quechua and trying out a few Spanish ones and then..... Dorothea getting me to try out a few new ones. It was hard work getting up the mountain path and she saw my tiredness and suddenly as she was walking and spinning (and with the end of her spindle digging out a few useful herbs that had just come to the surface in the hope of rains - and stored them under the brim of her hat) she also began to hum and sing - I was so pleased to be able to engage my ears and tried to not loose momentum, one foot in front of the other and repeat! Then we got to the point where we could see the homestead of her parents and I pulled in a big breath and stopped - we were almost there - I was however panting for air - D looked at me and said something which I understood as a question as to whether I could sing or knew a good song - I stood there in the middle of the Andean mountains, at high altitudes and then I began to sing In Dublin's Fair City - a song I used to sing to my kids with great gusto when they were little. Dorothea lifted her hand and gently massaged the top of my breast bone through the jacket and sweaters I was wearing and when I had finished up one verse it seemed that I breathed much easier and ..... we could go on. It was quite a surreal moment - and when I think back to it I have to smile in wonder that I was able to sing and at the choice of song. But what does it matter, it was what came out and D's gentle touch helped settle my struggling system.<br />
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This is a 'stripe' on a bag Juana had for sale - it was the pattern I chose when asked what I would like to weave.<br />
It looked interesting and different from what I had been working on with Apolonia down in <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Calca</a> and ..... how hard can it be anyways! (rhetorical question)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKIDDHMpaZ9OfhpjBqiicZZSSlfakD8ATJ0LUbJ5KvkJNDFYCM7WPvxNktpGlVCcS378BJA570Hq1sdx_N4oyepdtgO_QtsSDys058QNtCNewNM4gdq3ac1rk5zQ-oLtjMDdpF2uhMBw/s1600/DSCN8140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKIDDHMpaZ9OfhpjBqiicZZSSlfakD8ATJ0LUbJ5KvkJNDFYCM7WPvxNktpGlVCcS378BJA570Hq1sdx_N4oyepdtgO_QtsSDys058QNtCNewNM4gdq3ac1rk5zQ-oLtjMDdpF2uhMBw/s1600/DSCN8140.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dorothea at work</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Dorothea and Juana started out making a warp for me - as per usual custom all happens on the ground. They had two large iron spikes which were hammered into the ground.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ7FOWB3IBpCIzg07KiA4ZAm-hthzIm4prKo4_BvRLbLcCcH2gA8tmqPVVsQ2VqMnyNPec7H7RtofgfzCOkRhP9zXUdyxxQBvV0kzZ5Zk10Hm-kIxj9a075c8_3w3FHpCjmCgSvKPXRY/s1600/DSCN8141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ7FOWB3IBpCIzg07KiA4ZAm-hthzIm4prKo4_BvRLbLcCcH2gA8tmqPVVsQ2VqMnyNPec7H7RtofgfzCOkRhP9zXUdyxxQBvV0kzZ5Zk10Hm-kIxj9a075c8_3w3FHpCjmCgSvKPXRY/s1600/DSCN8141.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juana at work at the other end</td></tr>
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Then some discussion ensued about how to set up the warp, the sequence and number of warp threads needed and .... the balls began to roll back and forth. I was pleased to participate only with my camera - although the walk this morning had only been about an hour or so I was exhausted. It was lovely to watch and listen and my ears were quite enjoying the whole experience not to mention my eyes which were full to the brim of new impressions and yet another warping technique. <br />
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And this is a favorite photo of mine - two hands meeting in the middle to make sure that they had the cross as organized as they wanted it, checking out to see that ... it would all work out.<br />
Talking hands at work!</div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-65851036791749527532012-12-16T12:35:00.001-08:002012-12-16T12:35:07.272-08:00Walking to Cancha Cancha - just past 4200 and something meters!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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This is where I am going somewhere up there in the 'V' between the two
mountains on the left side of the photo - up at a little over 4200 meters elevation. We had walked for about 45
mins or perhaps a bit more already and .... this is where we were going -
somewhere off in the distance - still quite unimaginable for me but I
had made a promise to myself that if I really couldn't do it it would
not be a defeat to turn around and come back down - that is....if I
decided that it wouldn't work while there was still daylight enough to
make it back down the path safely.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5xfE-1xseAottT4obOOK9qwgAHDP_KGtkyql7WWLQJ3l64_b4Gz-QJ0IrVd-LDs-xduQjANdolo7xXjPdMOUcMhojuo4sn4Hpq2uVSA8NWQkkgubuVphkWzCNB-pk4NM83iFhfD2FfA/s1600/DSCN8123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5xfE-1xseAottT4obOOK9qwgAHDP_KGtkyql7WWLQJ3l64_b4Gz-QJ0IrVd-LDs-xduQjANdolo7xXjPdMOUcMhojuo4sn4Hpq2uVSA8NWQkkgubuVphkWzCNB-pk4NM83iFhfD2FfA/s1600/DSCN8123.jpg" /></a><br />
A horse can be the best of friends - this is Alejandro's horse - the father in the family I was going to stay with up there on top of the world - he had come down to Huaran to see if he could bring anything up to the village for us. Since I had said right from the start that I was in no condition to both walk and carry it was arranged that the horse would take my load. For a while Emerita had carried my back pack, this had made me a little upset, since I didn't want anybody to have to walk and carry on my behalf. I had tried very hard to pack as sensibly as possible knowing that I was not going to be the one to carry it but it still had some weight to it - after all I wasn't sure if I would be staying for two nights or 6 nights - it would all be figured out when I could tell how my body would react to the altitude, the 'lack' of oxygen and all that jazz. <br />
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We walked and walked and about three hours into the walk we happened upon this beautiful trunk, the texture of which was delicious - the peeling bark and the interesting plants which had decided to put down root in the cracks of the bark and thus extract their nourishment from a decaying and very nutritious beauty.<br />
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We hit the lunch time spot and I would be fibbing if I said that my body was not welcoming this rest. There were juicy sandwiches in Valerio's backpack, I had water in my flask, there was soft dry moss to sit and rest the weary bones on .... and ... the six year old Anais went exploring by the creek, climbed and jumped, over and right next to the rushing water - helping my heart race a little extra at times but.... she never fell in, she is a nature child used to moving about outside and with full control of all her body parts - (unlike someone else who might not have fared so well on the trunk balancing over the creek part had there not been a sturdy bridge already)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WYm4sybfE7sHZuJpeeZ3rM4qgb8xbn0oTK6g1r6H6LBiD0aadyTUce8gUvmbHI4xcfezsmJwzAiOh9SnPh-zOczh5zfI-chi10Z8BotGoEPebwhADVNCu-4iWejDeZ7GwXyDP-qJqbg/s1600/P1120805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WYm4sybfE7sHZuJpeeZ3rM4qgb8xbn0oTK6g1r6H6LBiD0aadyTUce8gUvmbHI4xcfezsmJwzAiOh9SnPh-zOczh5zfI-chi10Z8BotGoEPebwhADVNCu-4iWejDeZ7GwXyDP-qJqbg/s1600/P1120805.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Valerio</a></td></tr>
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And after a chew of sandwich or perhaps it was before - Emerita and I posed while Valerio clicked to make yet another piece of proof that ... Pia really is doing this - and at this point I can say - Pia actually did do it! she did not turn around.<br />
At the depicted moment in time the air was fresh, not too warm, the water was rushing over the rocks, very cold water indeed, it is glacier water coming down the mountain. Soon the rain season will begin - as it is I was lucky that I had a day as beautiful as this to walk to Cancha Cancha - The temp was just right, not too warm and not too cold.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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The bugs weren't too bad either - only in one area were there lots of giant black flies - and that was another layer to the walk, as you ascend a mountain there are so many micro climates to pass through, every once in a while vegetation changes completely - until finally it is very clear that ... we are up by or above the tree line - I was .... in awe and pushing every thought of my own 'limitations' aside.<br />
For I would like to stress that I am not really an avid mountain climber, a runner, or a very active sports person. I am passionate about weaving of all sorts and about international folk dancing and love to learn new dances and rythms and then I can go on and on for something like hours but.... walking up hill - ha - the 5km I walk several times a week down our road to the stop-sign is a piece of pie now - As the hours passed by and we were still on the way up the mountain I started moving slower and slower. I also started to not have quite as much energy for admiring my surroundings or even getting astounded by them. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0kpbCIw3d2eZtH2QCpqOZatghG7AqhQVbi1DA1Q28-UFcFApF0NSO6ziFXIbrwsu7OwZKmRst2Rg3FDYM02TQbrEf1PEX9cIskU4HFf47gbun5wrTApR7_eacI_Rn83srHyuXySYT5U/s1600/P1120830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0kpbCIw3d2eZtH2QCpqOZatghG7AqhQVbi1DA1Q28-UFcFApF0NSO6ziFXIbrwsu7OwZKmRst2Rg3FDYM02TQbrEf1PEX9cIskU4HFf47gbun5wrTApR7_eacI_Rn83srHyuXySYT5U/s1600/P1120830.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Emerita and Valerio had taken Anais along on this long walk. Anais had never been to Cancha Cancha before and she is 'only' 6 years old! For me the wonderful thing about this was that when Anais was not quite 'cooperative' - you know those moments .... are we there soon? I want to be there now! The three of them would make little stops - and I .... I kept going, one foot at a time in front of the other, right, left, right, left for I was beginning to fear that if I stopped even for a moment I might not be able to get my butt in gear again. I couldn't really see where we had started out from when I looked back and .... Cancha Cancha was not yet visible, although I was assured that it was ... just up there behind the nose on the left side of the mountain that is just past....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Down there, where there is a clear green little splotch, that is where we started out - we left home at 7.30am and started the actual hike up the mountain about an hour later.<br />
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Cancha Cancha where we were headed is one of many small high altitude communities found in the Andes Mountains - no electricity (but they do have outhouses) thatched roofs, house walls built of bricks made of mud and straw - there is a school with service from grade 1-3 - although on the day we went up apparently the teacher went down, he didn't like it up there! and so... the kids were once again without a teacher - well, without a school teacher - their greatest teachers showing them what they need more perhaps are their parents, aunts and uncles and grand parents. Without their knowledge of how to live on and in the mountains the kids would be quite lost - this is a hard and challenging life. I am not sure how long it would take me to get used to it - if I ever could. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1ZJCzveU9iVFUgScuCzAqeiXyDCvVRcjhlek-dPKMw7Lq807E_HP7pgq7SkGyib_9dAUFM1dSyDxyvCj6RhPxauVl-4r9sqPUQf-QMSYTaJPwIcEfqVlsGTXFFINKrKrrFYh0E3V_hU/s1600/P1120840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1ZJCzveU9iVFUgScuCzAqeiXyDCvVRcjhlek-dPKMw7Lq807E_HP7pgq7SkGyib_9dAUFM1dSyDxyvCj6RhPxauVl-4r9sqPUQf-QMSYTaJPwIcEfqVlsGTXFFINKrKrrFYh0E3V_hU/s1600/P1120840.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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We are now at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, perhaps a little later - as you can see it isn't dark - yet - in the very background behind the mountains is another mountain with glaciers and the little green splotch by my elbow is Anais, still hopping along, the walls and shapes to my left are .....our destination. Valerio has just said ... welcome to Cancha Cancha Pia, you made it and I, I began to cry - for I do not remember having been this tired - for a while I had been going only because I knew ... it was too late to turn back and so there was only one way and that was up and towards where we had planned to go.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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In Dorothea's kitchen Anais immediately picked up the fire tube to blow on the embers in the wood/cook stove. Dorothea had warm sweet tea for us and a plate of newly boiled potatoes on a communal plate which was placed on the floor in front of our feet and then... we peeled potatoes with our fingers, put the peels back on the side of the plate and popped the potatoes into our hungry mouths and washed them down with the wonderfully warm and delicious tea.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by<a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank"> Emerita</a></td></tr>
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It was magnificent to sit down after all that walking. Around us life continued - the guinea pigs were talking and scurrying across the floor into their secret corners (there weren't all that many left for there had been a birthday party in the family the previous week), a hen kept coming to the door to check out the potato-peel situation, there was a kitten that was all cuteness and very willing to warm a lap or an arm if one started to feel a little chilled. Jose, Dorothea's husband was braiding a llama rope, that is a rope made of llama fibres. It got braided good and hard, it was for tying loads for transportation onto the horses or llamas. See the first photo with the horse being loaded at the top of the post. <br />
I had arrived and .... I slept indescribably well and deep - that is .... in between the thunderclaps and the loud sounds of the rain pouring down outside. </div>
wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-7559774113239088132012-12-11T06:01:00.001-08:002012-12-11T06:01:52.359-08:00Condors in Ollantaytambo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As it was we had one extra magnificent, beautiful and surprising experience whilst visiting the back paths of Ollantaytambo - we had gone past the beautiful old wall, and followed a mountain path for close to 45 mins at an upwards angle of course. There was a more secluded spot for what seemed like more meditative pursuits -<br />
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The holes along the edge of these ... shallow resting places might suggest that something - humans - alive or mummies might at times have been tied up here for meditation or observance of the mountains around - I am not thinking about a forceful tie up as much as perhaps a helpful support if you are doing a vision quest of some sort, standing all night, waiting for the sun to come up -<br />
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For staring right ahead of us was another magnificently beautiful set of mountain peaks, one in particular which could have had great interest were it so that the sun would at some particular day rise right between those two fingers protruding from the Apu's top. Once again, I don't know for sure, but...... Emerita talked and I listened and the possibilities were many - and ....I keep forgetting...... we always talk about day time rituals with the sun coming up and going down, but how about that moon, those stars, they are not exactly permanent fixtures in the sky either, the universe is an ever revolving entity. How does it all relate to the Apus around us and the buildings which were so carefully place in order to honour specific sacred times of the year. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Pia and <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Eventually we were done thinking and talking, and the decision was made to make our way down the path again.<br />
Emerita in the front, me close behind feeling the tiredness in my feet and knees at this point, but ...we were on the way back down to sit somewhere and enjoy a cup of tea perhaps. Emerita came to a sudden stop though, she pointed and 'gasped' oh, look, where's your camera, the camera, and between staring towards the direction of her pointing hand and finding the camera I realized that we were staring at not one but TWO soaring condors, big beautiful males, they came around the mountain - and they were below us. We were up high enough that they were soaring below us. I am aware that I am repeating myself, but ...... it was a grand moment in both our lives. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Pia and <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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Condors are not found on every street corner, they never were, sacred birds that they are, but there are even less of them these days. Their life cycles only let them breed every three years and like the bald eagles here in Canada, they are 5-6 years old before they are mature enough to multiply. They also prefer solitude, at high, high altitude, close to glaciers and as little human activity as possible. Emerita and I were transfixed, staring at these two gliding giants, and off they went towards the glaciers - they may not look so big in the photos, I know in the second one there is one bird that looks like a mere dot, but it is there - we saw them, we jumped for joy and then I shed a tear for truly .... it was a gift, something I hadn't even thought to put on a 'wishlist', for it seemed so remote to me that not even in my dreams could I imagine it. But they were there.<br />
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Afterwards we have joked about ... those two birds, now were they chickens or ... condors and with glee we have come to the conclusion that while visiting the ruins at Ollantaytambo the two women, Emerita Bucher and Pia Skaarer Nielsen watched two magnificent condors glide by - from above at that!</div>
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Thank you Apus for sharing your beauty.</div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-67489736129561441842012-12-11T05:58:00.000-08:002012-12-11T05:58:42.117-08:00Ollantaytambo <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Onwards and upwards - the motto of the day. As we had entered the gate at the ruins in Ollantaytambo we were stopped by a woman with a big camera, she had just been up and about some parts of the ruin, but since she was traveling alone she asked if one of us would be kind enough to take a photo of her with this beautiful back drop. Emerita took care of this and then.... the woman used my camera and took a series of E&P photos so we would have something to show for our trip to the same place. <br />
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As always Emerita had many exciting stories and theories about the constructions and the bumps and interesting surfaces of said constructions. This seem to be some sort of a sundial - we do of course not know what exact time this sundial was meant to capture, but ... for that moment in time, it actually was very close to lunch time and so ... the knobs showed us a straight up and down shadow. I have no doubt that at different times of the year if knowledgeable about the different corresponding knobs one would be able to precisely pinpoint this or that particular moment in time. <br />
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Here is proof that these little building blocks were not just carved on the spot they were found. Take note of all the smaller, flatter rocks used as a wedge to aid this carved boulder into position. It looks as if it never got to its final destination, it might have just been about another foot or two ahead, but this is where it came to a halt and has stayed for a goodly amount of time now. <br />
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Just to make sure that everyone's perspective stays close to accurate. these are not minute boulders, these are large, gigantic several tons each, boulders - and once again I have to marvel at how they did it. The boulders I have sat down in front of are separated by narrow strips of carved granite, which all fits into the slits between each mega boulder. Wonder what it would feel like to have just two minutes of looking back in time to see how it all happened. Would we all be horrified or would we slap a hand to our heads and say 'ah, of course, why didn't we think of that' or...... was it with the aid of the aliens? <br />
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The buildings and the views from everywhere we turned gave ample opportunity to stop and marvel, or stop and meditate, at way off in the distance sights or .... <br />
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right there in front of our very eyes, something small yellow, the size of a thumb nail - a very yellow/green little lichen clinging to an ages old rock - someone had been around here making some sort of an offering. There were withered flowers left on a flat part of this rock - and signs of something having been burned. <br />
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Back down from one of those high points we went to look at the Water Temple - water is a connector between the upper and the lower world - looking out through the 'window opening' were more layers of mountains and some points which are points to take note of at solstice time, summer or winter - I am not sure, but along side the mountain walls opposite these points were several carved niches and points witnessing the fact that something special would have gone on here or there at specific times of the year, when the points and the sun coming up or going down connected and allowed the humans to know which day and what time of year it was. <br />
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Textures and colours, my favorite thing, so many purple rocks, not to mention the yellow ones and ... the reddish brown ones, these carved relatively smooth - sigh - it was a pleasure to stroke and slide a hand over these surfaces. <br />
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More parts to this area still to be uncovered. There is so much to be found still under the surface of sand and rocks - when the Incas realized what was happening when the European intruders came along they started to cover up their treasures, their mummies and the evidence of their richness and magnificent culture. Hoping this was a way to preserve some of it - not for the future but for their dead ancestors to be left in peace the way they had always been left in respectful peace before - unless they were taken out to view their lands and grounds - they were no longer living, but they still had ownership and knowledge to share. <br />
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From high up into the layers and layers of beauty, down there in the bottom of this winding valley runs the road upon which the taxi brought us to Ollantaytambo. Sitting here in Nova Scotia, between my two local mountains, the North and the South mountain, well, I have lots of blue/grey/cold horizon but no layer upon layer. This Peruvian view was so fascinating to me, fading away into the distance. </center>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-41469400180741655702012-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:002012-12-10T09:00:56.064-08:00Extra wash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQ7QPt8jsfFppQl21P2QpQxVcZCLM6KW9NQqJVVYqkJVYLglWiL6FnDoMam-uYSsQrGeqAxtehBIsbiVKdh1OgDFmmLqdqmYKE6PIKOS8KlfLl9LZpCik4KjmjGeL-VvPLM1jEDiifE8/s1600/DSCN8209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQ7QPt8jsfFppQl21P2QpQxVcZCLM6KW9NQqJVVYqkJVYLglWiL6FnDoMam-uYSsQrGeqAxtehBIsbiVKdh1OgDFmmLqdqmYKE6PIKOS8KlfLl9LZpCik4KjmjGeL-VvPLM1jEDiifE8/s1600/DSCN8209.jpg" /></a></div>
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Weeks later when the skin on my hands and my face had ceased being bumpy, red and irritated I got the now dried yarn out and started to wind it into balls. The aim was to do what the Andean weavers do, which is make sure that there was a tight enough twist in the yarn for it to easily weave up into bands and show sharply the beautiful patterns they put in their woven bands and large woven pieces. The next day I discovered that perhaps my allergy was not only to the sun, for the skin on my hands were again beginning to show signs of irritation and I must have touched my face whilst winding balls for my chin and cheeks were showing a slight red irritation as well as giving me an urge to rub and scratch. So I went to the market, bought a pair of rubber gloves, borrowed a baby tub from my landlord and washed and rinsed all of my skeins of yarn with laundry soap and copious amounts of cold water. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Lc7MfiCDJgEv0aQbOO6P7yfqQdM0GmwAUIS3ugjOTBN1pQcKFYuG26hc9yutW6sg9PyldSfa7kFdnAXCSVq_JKoHm9bFA9p7_0g1ZbzdUi_y-9dovRhp5v5hIKH93TmXCUvTGkQXE9M/s1600/DSCN8213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Lc7MfiCDJgEv0aQbOO6P7yfqQdM0GmwAUIS3ugjOTBN1pQcKFYuG26hc9yutW6sg9PyldSfa7kFdnAXCSVq_JKoHm9bFA9p7_0g1ZbzdUi_y-9dovRhp5v5hIKH93TmXCUvTGkQXE9M/s1600/DSCN8213.jpg" /></a></div>
This of course put a slight stop to my eagerness to make a warp of my own and weaving with my own handdyed and then tighter spun yarn from Chinchero. The consolation was that... the view out of the window in the laundry room lead my eyes straight to a most beautiful and large cactus and you know..... then it is hard to be cranky, everything was beautiful and right around me and so....... it was my job to focus on making sure that my yarn was free of whatever it was that along with too much sun added to the my skin irritations. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWEkkfOe4SpMI_iXyaFOmAPPbM2rjISKWwi94yDSrX-1plVS3sIBWwVlv2Dc68kliJ0q7erN19X4XRxwS7lh0YS5iB3EgStxwmLTbtv5wbSe_X0h4cGIxS94ZqScoPsgJA-hB-ml8Rvg/s1600/DSCN8226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWEkkfOe4SpMI_iXyaFOmAPPbM2rjISKWwi94yDSrX-1plVS3sIBWwVlv2Dc68kliJ0q7erN19X4XRxwS7lh0YS5iB3EgStxwmLTbtv5wbSe_X0h4cGIxS94ZqScoPsgJA-hB-ml8Rvg/s1600/DSCN8226.jpg" /></a></div>
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And here they are, once again on the line, the skeins sporting a rainbow of chilca, cochineal, old man's beard, a dried yellow flower and a mix of same + left over cochineal - made my eyes smile and laugh at the same time.<br />
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Wonder what the passing hummingbirds thought of this display - did they come over for a closer look - in case that cochineal should be a giant juicy reddish flower - or .... did they pass the intruding brilliant rainbow by to head to their ever present favorite bushes showing off their spring flowers?<br />
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4442341555211846922.post-22675224259983320262012-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:002012-12-10T08:36:48.911-08:00After the dye workshop<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Braulia and Emerita having a sit down talk instead of a stirring talk. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I found a few more photos from that beautiful dye day in Chinchero, Peru, where Braulia patiently entertained and worked with me - for many more hours that first decided and was it ever a treat that I was not 'limited' to a few hours but could use and did use up the whole day - we did not leave the premises of her back yard/dye studio until after 4 pm. A long warm sunny day and ... we had had loads of fun and in the bags I carried to the bus was the proof, heavy wet skeins of beautiful yarn. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWnSECs_FAeHed-XWSrdRKSVOC_7XBMG-mM5nzW_a7wDnbJR-tfZbJNLeAavMWl8TB61fI59kC0trQ2T0pZuTgwJ3XVMMZGKrGzreCYBepzkgNLBxz8inCqfROKT735WOeNJ4Qwt0rsQ/s1600/DSCN7407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWnSECs_FAeHed-XWSrdRKSVOC_7XBMG-mM5nzW_a7wDnbJR-tfZbJNLeAavMWl8TB61fI59kC0trQ2T0pZuTgwJ3XVMMZGKrGzreCYBepzkgNLBxz8inCqfROKT735WOeNJ4Qwt0rsQ/s1600/DSCN7407.jpg" /></a></div>
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Emerita, stirring the pot of cochineal - Emerita is a stone carver and a painter and a history teacher, her stories of the events and timelines of the comings and goings of historical figures and buildings in Peru kept my ears flapping for the 9 weeks that I lived in Calca and went to 'school' Monday to Friday at <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Apulaya</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhk8es2MtdVtq7CLiiN3g2hwb3NnYZOIViBkwMMi9fxan5ZLT9coy_LLkP_uRHHww_HWLj68xRSLVl9CAzbdi1LjM9pom3St6xlpvWkQgrEduDcVr2BVS2vsyTTm0cpZFnYgkDIHxswCM/s1600/P1120646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhk8es2MtdVtq7CLiiN3g2hwb3NnYZOIViBkwMMi9fxan5ZLT9coy_LLkP_uRHHww_HWLj68xRSLVl9CAzbdi1LjM9pom3St6xlpvWkQgrEduDcVr2BVS2vsyTTm0cpZFnYgkDIHxswCM/s1600/P1120646.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by<a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank"> Emerita</a></td></tr>
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I found this in another album, busy grinding cochineal for the dye pot - as I mentioned in the previous post, I was slow and meticulous - moving the round rock from the right to the left hand at regular intervals - my muscles are not ..... really used to this kind of hard work - it is ... perhaps not the hardest job in the world I know that.... but then again, just like breathing at high altitude which was a job in itself if I tried to pretend that I needed to hurry from A to B - grinding by hand requires its own set of toned muscles. But I got it done. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZFFmMU4aPufhmvb3f6G44AuIfq5F6vc_OvWRlSoDOKHZ7QwvWpsPbWP-umtqJGwqdZMO33hLRkEioWK8U_IclxMd_ddfvp31uDTVuNkIAH45egRHZ_IxVu3FFLFkNxKOv3QTcLfgApfA/s1600/P1120656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZFFmMU4aPufhmvb3f6G44AuIfq5F6vc_OvWRlSoDOKHZ7QwvWpsPbWP-umtqJGwqdZMO33hLRkEioWK8U_IclxMd_ddfvp31uDTVuNkIAH45egRHZ_IxVu3FFLFkNxKOv3QTcLfgApfA/s1600/P1120656.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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This is one of the lovely photos that Emerita took whilst I was busy .... doing something else, who knows what - perhaps grinding more, perhaps trying to figure out whether to wear my sunhat or the sweater or not. It was a warm day - and there was semi shade by the stove - and so .... a lot of the time I was not wearing my hat, I got too hot, and I even chose to not wear my wool sweater - thinking I would be warm enough - results of the hat decision can be seen at the end of this blog post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcJCj0CQw1iFNOV12xsLO6MgByrqJwQkCTOM6EkKx-AbdGfT9kAAPFH1OTYVk5zfJBUCo0LrVWHGRMk0553FSipNVoFvk14imQyD-mSlOMT8oZmUoKdHfy8QEXBtJS8VjtxBWgrR6u6c/s1600/P1120663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcJCj0CQw1iFNOV12xsLO6MgByrqJwQkCTOM6EkKx-AbdGfT9kAAPFH1OTYVk5zfJBUCo0LrVWHGRMk0553FSipNVoFvk14imQyD-mSlOMT8oZmUoKdHfy8QEXBtJS8VjtxBWgrR6u6c/s1600/P1120663.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by<a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank"> Emerita</a></td></tr>
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200 grams of nice wool yarn taking the colour of the chilca leaves in the dyebath. A pretty pale yellow - the skein was hot and nicely saturated by the dyestuff. But since we were not looking for pretty pale yellow but rather for a deep pungent olive green the yarn was lifted out of the pot and then...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfuOY37VYMpTkF43Xoyxzcqh-1xr6kHNOI2rsmdZwuvDxIN9TQsuavj1G2uflvDmH5NzaVsfJksY4lau9czMTgqbAIJrZsa8Yb69kwiR_go8Uc9mTxmTuSdRsZGjxszDhZcNlZTEN4Xw/s1600/P1120667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfuOY37VYMpTkF43Xoyxzcqh-1xr6kHNOI2rsmdZwuvDxIN9TQsuavj1G2uflvDmH5NzaVsfJksY4lau9czMTgqbAIJrZsa8Yb69kwiR_go8Uc9mTxmTuSdRsZGjxszDhZcNlZTEN4Xw/s1600/P1120667.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.apulaya,com/" target="_blank">Emerita</a></td></tr>
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We added this sulphur to the dyewater, stirred it well and ..... threw the pretty yellow skein back into the clay dye pot. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8a2Ma-6Fm8ynE5Hhb4tg4t5kXIPEavMWV8hDGvfLXhm0OYjyr1SWFRXxmE1MOsFYBF2gl-Q470qZAgCQu9YQjIn2zbVEXtsvjAHIjk3Ge0TOK7esSRwbTY6g9LioIB364krpSHA-xrU/s1600/P1120691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8a2Ma-6Fm8ynE5Hhb4tg4t5kXIPEavMWV8hDGvfLXhm0OYjyr1SWFRXxmE1MOsFYBF2gl-Q470qZAgCQu9YQjIn2zbVEXtsvjAHIjk3Ge0TOK7esSRwbTY6g9LioIB364krpSHA-xrU/s1600/P1120691.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by<a href="http://www.apulaya.com/" target="_blank"> Emerita</a> <br />
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This is what came out after a few minutes - pungency and dark green instead of delicate yellow. Green is a challenge to me - in that I don't seem to be able to really get hot and excited about it - give me reds and oranges for that please! But.... this skein dried up really nicely, the colour lightened up a bit and really..... it is a lovely green which has the perfect hue to brighten up the reddish purples of the skeins dyed with the cochineal. <br />
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However the result of the on and offing of my sunhat was this - we were up high in the mountains, I knew that the air is different, I knew the sun's rays were stronger and yet ..... my brain and preoccupation was focused solely on the joy that I experienced lifting yarn in and out of pots, stirring, later rinsing and then hanging side by side with a chorus of drips and drops of clear water sliding off the skeins. And doing that I was not really taking any notice of the amount of sun I let touch my face. Also.... this stage of the swelling did not occur until about 48 hrs later - when I woke up Thursday morning my face felt funny .... I sat up, looked in the mirror across from my bed ... immediately laid down again, wondering if ..... I should clean my glasses ...... ended up rubbing icecubes on my face and a few hours later had a visit at the local clinic to take home cortisone pills, cream and another A+D cream for when the cortisone treatment was over.<br />
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So People, if you go to the Andes, or anywhere at high altitude ..... don't take off your hats - and do wear lots of sunscreen. And if you are shaking your head at my ignorance - remember, I grew up in Denmark, the flattest of flattest - the highest point is Himmelbjerget at 147 meters, where I live now in Nova Scotia the two bumps we call North and South mountain are not much higher than that - and so ... I have learned a lesson - I keep my hat on - at all times!</div>
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wonderous wooleriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110423883740072153noreply@blogger.com0