Virginia A. Spiegel

Wild at the Edges:  Inspiration from a Creative Life evolved by keeping in mind the kind of book I like to take to bed with me (maybe with a glass of wine or a mug of hot chocolate) and peruse as the spirit moves me.

You will find encouraging thoughts about life and art, hidden treasures of poems, close-up photos of art and nature and, last, but not least, a very personal view of the driving forces behind my creative life.

Preview Wild at the Edges here.

25% of all profits from this book will be donated to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.  Fiberart For A Cause has donated more than $190,000 to the American Cancer Society.

Photo by Nancy J. Spiegel Rosman

When I am in the Boundary Waters I try to keep my mind blank, but open.  A terrifically hard thing for me personally.  But art will out.  We were having “rock time” and I started pushing “stuff” around with a little stick.  The time floated by as the little stick worked its magic in finding and arranging things found on the rock.  I wonder what the next person who arrives on these campsite rocks will think of this found-object collage.

I’m always looking, looking, looking from the canoe, on the portage, and in camp.  Here are some of the themes I am, once again, contemplating with these new images as inspiration:

The juxtaposition of hard and soft; the timelessness of nature, the ephemeral nature of humans.

The beauty of decay, the cycling of all things in life from life to death.

The abundance of everything in nature, even spawn upon the shore.

The power of water; the mystery of reflection.

The Beginning of Pink

June’s Trip #13 to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness was pretty much a disaster, but it was compensated 1000 times over by this delightful journey.  We had an adventure-packed ten days of portaging, paddling, and appreciating nature.  Every other day we would “gear up” and paddle forth.  We portaged over 13.5 miles total, but were always done fairly early in the day.  The weather was phenomenal.  Our only disappointment was seeing only one moose (rut hadn’t started yet – very late), but he had only one antler!

Highlights included a concert from a pack of wolves camped out in our neighborhood and four beavers doing a ritual of some sort involving an all-nighter of tail slapping.  Of course, stunning as always were the eagles, the stars, the tall pines, and the strong teamwork of the Sister System required by the Boundary Waters.

That Sinking Feeling
Photo by Nancy J. Spiegel Rosma

One of our great adventures was beaver dams!  (I am not even going to start on impassable rapids with no portages and very little water – another whole story.) We would run the boat up as close as possible and I would jump out.  Sounds easy.  But you are climbing up/standing on a shifting mass of sticks – - some dried and easily broken, some loose, some firmly wedged in mud.  The water rushes between and over your feet and in the back of your mind in this little false alert going off, “I’m sinking, I’m sinking.”

Sister Nancy would jump out, we would take out one pack and lay it on the dam and then heave Beauty, our 17.5 foot Kevlar canoe, with the other two 50 lb. packs over the mass of sticks. Nancy would fling the pack back in and then take the fully-loaded boat out, swing it around and I would jump in.  Off to the next one.  Of course, coming back with the current was a different story (and actually easier).  The photo is the from the first and smallest dam (we did 3 out and 3 back) which compensated by being built on boot-sucking mud.

More later this week on things that inspired me on this journey, but here is one of the huge variety of mushrooms we photographed :

Pedestal

White

I’m off to the Boundary Waters again next month and so my life and house are full of drying veggies.  These are leeks from the Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Square in Madison, WI.  It’s worth leaving home at 5:30 a.m on Saturday to have such a variety of great produce all in one spot.

It’s a little early for leeks, but I needed to buy some, small or not.  Last year we had snow in September, so I’m thinking leek and potato soup will be perfect on a crisp (or cold) day.

Mystery

I’m hoping one of you can help identify this moth.  It was perched on the edge of the garage door a couple of days ago.  Is this normal or is the big gap in its wings to due an injury or malformation?  I have noticed that although the milkweed is in full bloom that the number of butterflies is as depressingly low as last year.

I always appreciate your comments.  Do read the comments for last week’s inspiration photo if you are thinking about buying loosestrife.  There is a plant that is sometimes called loosestrife that is a very invasive species.  Readers were on the job and pointed this out.  I also should have mentioned in the main post that I love plants that are “thugs” since I garden on clay.

Nature notes:  Saw a baby bluejay in the grass when I took out the compost yesterday.  It couldn’t fly at all, but hopped into the long grass.  The most beautiful fledgling I have ever seen. Blooming in the garden now:  monarda, Asiatic lilies, alliums, hemerocallis, sea holly, catmint (should be cut back, but the bees are still working it), hydrangea, roses (of course!), hostas (just starting).