Last April: Peter's farm auction

I thought I'd share with you a piece of my April 2011.

I went to a farm auction with my friend Louise. Her son, Peter, was auctioning off all manner of farm equipment. It was an ideal setting for what I love to photograph. There were scenes of decay, many great collections, one of them being the farmers' pants!!

First the setting. Peter's house was deliciously not modern.

This is Peter, tired but focused. He ran a great auction! 

Here are two other farmers of 300 others.

There was lots of talk & stories and goals. I spoke with one woman who was hoping to get some containers for her orchard's needs.

Here's some of the stuff for sale. I don't understand what this all is, but I think it's right up there visually.  

                                                            & other surfaces

 

On to the textile portion of this outing....

I was captivated by the play of style, stance, folds, & light.

 

  

It was a fabulous field trip!

That's it for today.

Ikea Rag Rug Deconstruction Play

I made a  decision to dismember the Ikea rag rugs. It started a bit of a progression on discovery and amusement. I've had to stop because I did too much cutting across the warping and my right hand started giving signs of carpal discomfort. Can't press that overuse too hard. Not worth it. Slow down.

I have been amazed to find our that the fabric scraps used for the weft seem to be from a men's shirting factory. I have found scraps identical shape & cloth that have all the earmarks of factory off-cuts. The warp was just heavy white cotton string.

What is also surprising, but not when you think deeply about India, is how small some of the scraps are or how thin. The too-thin ones get ganged up with other similar skinnies and then lain into the weaving shed. Some of the scraps used are no longer than 6 inches.

Much of the cloth is high grade fine pima cotton, and most woven plaid rather than printed cloth. I have a mental image of the weaving operation being right next door to some cutting room. It's a delicious thought.

These fabric strips have been folded into a position for so long that the fabric is essentially "permapressed". You can also make out the marks the warping threads made as well giving the cloth a bumpy look. Scroll back up to see all the long wrinkles.
No amount of pressing will irradicate that. It's part of my fascination with these cloth scraps.

The next rug was started. The colored strips are put to one side & the white ones to another. I chucked the white strips. There are limits to my "saving" stuff!

 New fabrics, different from the other rug.

I just love the sculptural feel of the white stuff. When I get to Vancouver I'll undo a rug we have there & I'll have another chance to work with these scraps. I find them so juicy!!

George asks, of course, "What are you going to DO with all this?" Good question. I really don't have an answer yet but I'm mulling. Clothing? Quilt? We'll see.

There was one other mini exploration that started on Kauia'i. I found a t-shirt on the road that had been run over many times.

Doesn't look like much. I washed it & it bled like hell. It came from Australia! This first photo is after the drying.

 But then I saw more.

Then... well, I threw it out, well, after I tried washing in our Maui washing machine and it shredded all over the place into the rest of the laundry. Lint crud everywhere! Yuck.

We are doing all the finishing clean-up of our place. Packing-city too.

                                                            That's it for today.

Trip Around the North End of Maui

Yesterday we drove the north loop, around the top, around the headland. I had done it only once before when I was really new to Maui. This time I understood a lot more of what I was seeing. There used to be much more volcano-formed land up there but it eroded & fell into the ocean leaving cliffs & steep hillsides.

   

 Ash fall layers!

Then there are some distinctly rural so-Maui things.... a close-up of the window...

Too bad, really, no banana bread for sale here.

This small church was in a community that had had many problems last week, during the Big Rain. Their creek rose 12 feet! We bought snacks from a man stopping cars going through this village. He was a great salesman. Too bad I didn't get a photo of him.

 How did THESE get formed? Shot from the volcano like splashy spewing forming rocks in the air? I'm trying to picture it. 

Sometimes you see these ash-rocks in layers of lava.

This ash: I took a chance of it home to test its disolvablity. The water became all milky! That was just like the water in the Toutle River with Mt. St. Helen's ash running  in it.

Here are some more examples of So Maui. We noticed the lack of feral chickens here compared to Kaua'i!

 Friday we leave for Vancouver. 

Wearing coats will be necessary. I anticipate a climate shock. Still, it'll be good to be in that home!

That's it for now.

.R.a.i.n.y.o.l.a.

Friday morning wee hours much heavy rain here west of the town of Hanelei.

36 inches of rain in 24 hours was suddenly comprehensible. It eased off last night after a couple of hours with thunderstorms & I eased off on my fretting & went back to sleep. The road out of here is closed because of a new landslide, so it's anyone's guess when we can drive out. Flash flood warnings in effect, and it is raining at 9:30, but for now not pouring.

It's a day for books, & indoor pleasures.

Yesterday we went to two nearby beaches.

Amazing foam....

& surf...

Then further west of here...

Many run-offs looking so amazingly spinal!

And fascinating ironwood tree roots.

The tsunami of last year didn't do much damage, but many of the houses are up on stilts! The trees are on stilts too.

That's it for now.