Details of a Life

Today is my last day in Marcola, in the Mohawk River Valley east of Eugene. Ayala took off last Monday to sit with her mother in final transition. Richard is out repairing someone's floor. As I pack up, I am noticing the small things about their magic cottage. The creativity of my friends astonishes me, and, judging by the emails I receive, others are similarly moved. Here is another tour:

Woodblock print in the outbuilding where I have been sleeping

Candleabra, also in the guest room, on a handcrafted shelf
in front of homemade curtains.

Handcarved garden sculpture by Richard Nosiglia

Hand carved plaque on the front door

Antique wood heater with handset tile pedestal
in the bath room

In Ayala's fabric room and closet,
Siberian banner from her sojourn there for a
meeting of Inuit tribes, herbal sachet above

Door chime in Ayala's sewing room.
The beads strike the metal strings when
the door is opened or closed.

Skeins of handspun, hand-dyed yarn

Floral felt seat cover for a kitchen chair

Beautifully detailed window in the bathroom

Watermelon step stool

Spinning corn husk doll

I also had to bid adieu to Pinky, a cantankerous purebred Angora rabbit with whom I had become friends over the past two weeks, principally by pushing lovage and comfrey leaves into her cage whenever I passed, which was often, since she lived right outside the room where I slept. The other rabbits seem contented with their lot, but Pinky wants more. I had to admire her spirit. On the last day, she let me pet her forehead, which is a place rabbits love to be touched.