They're Back!

Each Spring I look forward to the salamander sightings:



Sierra Red Newt. I found a much better photo on the web here, and yes, they are that cute.

We live on a ridge, the nearest stream being far downslope, so we have no idea why these guys are up here. But they are, and they come back each year. I have no pets, so, being starved for animal companions, I actually go outside looking for these guys each morning. As I type this, there are two of them making their slow, steady way around the front of the house. One year, we bought bait worms, and I fed them! Yes, they slurped up the worms, and waddled back home (a drain pipe).

They have also made their way into my work:



This is a graph, and the woven newt, in handspun silk. Here's a (perhaps) better shot of the pile:



And another bag, this time in wool:



This bag has several of my other animal companions represented: one is the squirrel, in front of the red yurt. One year, this squirrel seemed to be living or foraging under the yurt. Several times, when I started down the stairs, he came screaming up them. What did I, fearless woman, do when faced with a screaming squirrel? I dropped everything and ran. From a squirrel. Thank the gods he wasn't a mountain lion.

There is also a reciprocating border of green and red *hooks* on the bag. This is a typical Middle Eastern border on carpets: it's called Running Dogs. I used it in honor of these characters:





These are the neighbor's Queensland Heelers. I don't know their names, but they come around often, and I pet them and we chat. They are thieves though, we've lost *a* shoe and *a* work glove, and who knows what else. One time, as I was hanging out laundry, they stole the portable phone. Hah! I chased them through the woods, but they were fast, and I didn't have my running shoes. We bought a new phone.

So they made their symbolic way into my work. I like developing a personal vocabulary of symbols, they may seem random, but they are a journal of my days.

The dogs came by last week. I heard quite the commotion on the back porch and went out to find this:


Kitty in the tree. She is quick, and has her eye on the dogs, as they make their merry way onward, visiting other dogs down the road. She came down eventually, and went into hiding to recover.

We have our independent little lives up here, and every now and then we cross paths, and occasionally my companions show up on in my work.