Under a patchwork sky of blue and grey we headed down the river and over the edge of the South West slopes. The floodplains stretched out before us as we made our way through fields of vineyards and paddocks of woolly sheep with new lambs. A wedgie perched atop last nights roadkill, feasting by the wayside, shaggy Yellow Box lining the snaking road as we passed through small town after small town. Zahra snuggling in the backseat and Kaya watching the passing landscape with the anticipation of a walk
As we crossed the river into the next state her crackly voice and loose directions flicked through my mind...past the old motel, 'round a sweeping bend, a couple of new houses on the lake's shore. It seemed a strange place to me to set down roots ... the innumerable skeletons of drowned trees dotting the lake's surface.
Joy met us at the door with her wheelie. She had everything neatly arranged in the hall. As the radio softly filled the space surrounding us she told of Basil, her late husband, how the country womenfolk would meet in the community hall, of the farm at Saversnake long since sold, of sons living overseas and grandchildren coming to visit. I dug in my bag for that mornings flicked Corriedale fleece and nervously wondered if my hands would remember the draw and twist, the rhythm of the treadle with my hands. It had been two years. The blackwood wheel slowly kicked to life as it took its first breath in years. Joy was happy to find a new home for her well loved wheel, a new family for it to clothe.
As I loaded my new baby, bobbins, lazy kate and chair into the car Joy chatted to Zahra through the window. She asked if I wouldn't mind sending her a photo of my first handspun knit. It was late afternoon as we headed around the lake and back across the river, my girl gazing sleepily out the window. Before she fell asleep she asked me ..." do you think she was lonely Mama?"
I have been quietly looking for the right wheel for the past two years. This little, upright, Lewis 'Alinga' has quickly found its place in a sunny corner of our home where I can sit and watch the world, dream and spin.
Cxo
