Earth, my dearest, I will. Oh believe me, you no longer need your springtimes to win me over – one of them, ah, even one, is already too much for my blood. Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the first.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
The Earth doesn’t care about age or wrinkles. What’s a decade or two when you’re a billion years old and a few cracks when you’re scarred regularly by earthquakes?
And what does the Earth care about how often the floor is swept? It considers last autumn’s litter simply next year’s humus.
And so what does the Earth value? Could the persistence of grass be a clue?
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
~ Kahlil Gibran
New life amid the forest debris
Where man finds dissatisfaction, the Earth finds promise and the potential for renewal. Fallen trees and fallen leaves are all cherished for what they can offer now, not just the strength and beauty they possessed in days gone by.
Male woodpecker clinging to the underside of a fallen birch tree
Spring is in the air and it’s Earth Day. Get outdoors and let yourself fall in love.
To commemorate Earth Day 2009, I thought I’d design a couple of quilts using earth colors. Real earth colors. I created a palette using photographs I’ve taken in my yard over the past six months, made squares and then arranged the squares into a quilt pattern. I decided on a Double Irish Chain pattern, as the Irish were among the first Europeans to settle in Cow Bay.
For my second quilt I made use of colors found in photos of trees and leaves: Inner Birch Bark, Spruce Green, Balsam Green, Ivy Red and Sapling Bark. The white is an authentic ‘Snow White.’
Flandrum Hill 