Wild Muse Notes ♣ Aria Nadii’s Weblog

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A lovely way to start the first morning of May is with a reminder of Lord Whimsy’s post about David Brenner’s moss garden. I love moss and don’t care much for water hogging cultivated lawns or obsessively hedge trimmed blandscapes. There is a small cottage up the road with a moss path to the door with a big stone at the end in front of the door. It’s like an anti-welcome mat. I love that. We’ve turned up every stone with moss attached and tucked them under shaded places. I dream of a bed of soft green moss like the one I napped on in an old growth forest in Oregon or a mossy stone path.

Lack of mossiness aside, the rest of our garden is thriving and the micro-climate we created has held up well to the elements. We are still working on the dry laid stone wall that will go all the way around the garden and up the hill. Last night we had an unexpected frost. It’s an ironic May Eve gift for gardeners, a sort of literal “May Day” for the seedlings and bulbs just beginning to bloom. I put tomatoes, peppers, and basil in the potting shed and lit all of the votive candles I could find.

After the mad dash to rescue my future pesto and salsa, I finished up my first solo recording experiment just in time to be included on Webbed Hand’s strings compilation. The track is called “Beltaine Frost”. Can you tell I came up with the title at the eleventh hour?. The piece is acoustic and abstract, composed using samples of the same 3 note melody played on an autoharp, ukulele, and my vintage Stella banjolele. I’ve also used my voice to repeat the notes and layered it to create a drone. Nemo sneezed while I was recording. This is how I discovered that cat sneezes sound like maracas when looped. There is also a Djinnestan track called “C plus A”. I’ve had two full weeks of bright sunshine. The brain fog is lifting. Here are more garden pictures because I am obsessed as you may have guessed.

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I’m still floating in the mist. I think it’s called a brain fog. The signs of life I refer to are (unfortunately) not mine. Not yet. They are outside, here on the coastal homestead among the flora and fauna and wildlife. Spring flowers, mint, oregano, garlic, purslane, parsley, dandelions, sage, spring onions, rhubarb, and asparagus are all peeking up now. My fig tree and wisteria survived the winter and have new buds. There are signs and indications that I will join them soon. Last week began the long slow tease of a spring which never quite arrives. Then it will be summer. We’ll sneak in gardening days whenever the sun miraculously appears (usually mid morning to early afternoon) and try to have as much done as possible before the “inexplicable” 10-15 degree temperature drop and whiting out of the sky (usually around mid afternoon) or the whip winds of a sudden storm off the Atlantic. I love it though, living and gardening on a cliff by the sea, challenges and all.

This is our first season of a completely self sufficient system of growing, with enough of our own organic compost, leaf mold, and saved seeds not to have to purchase anything. I was tempted by spring chicks but we are not ready for them yet. The compost came out better than I had hoped and there is plenty of it. Rich and black. I’ve been working in the studio all along but there is that floating thing. Nitty gritty down and dirty with the earth is what really wakes me up and gets me going. Solar power also helps. My cozy by the fire evenings and lazy daze of winter woolgathering are over though…until December. This year’s projects are to finish developing the other side of the garden, build our new improved greenhouse, and possibly construct an outdoor studio for me.

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I made a small contribution to this Saluki Regicide track, which is why I have posted it here. Saluki is one of C.P. McDill’s most popular recording projects, sometimes described as soundtracks for weird dreams. This is a sneak preview from an upcoming release. Left click to play. Right click to download. It’s 3 minutes and 20 seconds long. I don’t happen to have 55 monstrous pictures to illustrate with so the photograph of a boy with his accordion, reminiscent of C.P. will have to do.

Download free mp3 : Saluki Regicide - 55 Monstrous Pictures

Two recent works on paper have been donated to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts December Exhibition & Sale that runs from the 5th through the 9th of December. Proceeds from the sale benefit the SMFA student scholarships. These are different than anything else I’ve done, subtle abstract landscapes made of hand stitched composted paper and embellished with embroidery. The titles are “Os Sacrum” (to the left) and “Heiresis”.

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Where have I been and what have I been doing? Reinventing myself physically, artistically, and spiritually. Again. I seem to have to do this every five to seven years, especially if I am getting too comfortable or when I finally get into a flow with something creative. I just have to shake it up. Denny Crane claims that the secret to life and success is to pull a rabbit out of your hat. I’ve decided that since everything in this current life seems to be reversed (as in upside down and backwards) that the secret to health and happiness is to follow the rabbit down the hole and through the looking glass. You don’t necessarily have to take the rabbit out of the hat first. I usually forget that part and it always works out just fine.

C.P. McDill and I just finished completely gutting my workspace and the creative process along with it. The “crow’s nest” that we use for a studio is the attic of our tiny cottage. It has a low ceiling of only 6′ at the highest point. The previous owner had installed a hideous drop ceiling and glued down wall to wall carpet which made it seem even more cramped and office like. We ripped out the drop ceiling, liberated the wooden rafters, exposed and sanded down the lovely hidden wood floorboards. C.P. installed all new full spectrum lighting, and then we painted the walls and ceiling a warm brilliant white. The difference is amazing. It’s so bright and warm as well as feeling much larger than it actually is. Then we created a more open floor plan with two work tables and switched over materials from oil paint to textiles and paper. We plan to build a space in the garden for wet materials.

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