The Next Normal

 

Not the new normal but the next normal. That's what I've started thinking will come. At least, for me that's going to be the way I look at life after risks are as low as they're bound to be for some years to come. The effects of this pandemic and whatever may come afterwards will be going on past my few more decades of living, I'm sure. I hope that the next generations will determine safe and sane ways to live in the world that has become increasingly strange and scary. This generation surely doesn't seem to have found those yet.

But--moving on to welcoming springtime once again here in my place in the Northern Hemisphere. I've been filling up my photos with images of the wonderful newness of the world around me. Here are a few of the hundreds I've made so far:

Bloodroot with Toad Shade Trillium behind

Cherry blossoms

View into the creek--lots of silt covering the stones from the flooding a couple of weeks ago.

Creek view. The water is running clear now but lots of silt and debris were washed downstream.

Dogwoods are almost totally full all up and down our street.

Fiddleheads unfurling into the fern fronds.

Other fiddleheads just beginning to un-spiral themselves.

Jack in the Pulpit--before jack comes out!

Mayapples are in full leaf.

I'm not sure what pine this is but the teeny cones to come were so fascinating.

Red maple leaves are so dramatic at any time of the year. A bit of sunlight coming through the leaves make them even more stunning.

The tiny Star of Bethlehem seems more like a larger lily.

Toad shade trillium--the bloodroot blossoming has now ended but the leaves will grow larger throughout the summer.

A small sketch from a woods violet photo.

And blackberries bushes sport their young spring leaves.

I've been working on a design for the next large tapestry for about a month and a half now. I'm still not quite there with it but here are some stages. I'm hoping to finalize the design for the cartoon today and have it enlarged. The warp has been waiting on the loom for months. And I'm so ready to weave! This one will keep me occupied for the rest of the year, I think. Once I begin!

I made changes to this...that's what's next.

 

Some of the sketches and photos I'm working from. The leaves are white because I painted over as I began to make corrections

 

 

 

 

Tracing paper over a portion of the design to try a cropped version.

Most of the time developing a cartoon for a tapestry takes awhile. This one is taking more time than usual, though! And I am itching to get to the weaving stage. Soon! Soon! Soon!

As the next normal looms. So does this tapestry.