Happy Samhain

I love autumn!

Mists are on the moors like a thick wool blanket.

 Pumpkins sit atop fence posts along the drive.

Their toothy smiles on rakish tilt.

 

Heaps of leaves below the trees.

Perfect for foot dragging and scuffling.

 

I have been making paper with cedar bark, cattail stems,

and repurposed sumi-e practice sheets in the company of good friends.

 

With the winds threatening to scatter the leaves

it was a scurry to eco-print.

Soft tones for some,

Good color on others.

Time to play with collage and sumi-e too.

Yes, this is how the days were recently spent.

Retirement is lovely.

 

 

 

Maybe there's still time today to put a dye bath on the stove

and cook up some mushrooms?

Boil and bubble,

spoon and cudgel.

Maybe the dye would finally stick

to paper and cloth

like it does under my fingernails?

 

Maybe if I add this little spell:

 

"Within this happy circle

may no evil come,

but love and peace and happiness

make up our daily sum."