Packing Up for Going Away

Today, I pack my yurt camping gear into my Ford Escape SUV.

Remember: 16 hours of night time, 8 hours of daylight.

Tomorrow, I will drive up Oregon 30 from
Vancouver, Portland, Scappoose,
St. Helens, Ranier-Longview Bridge,
Clatskanie, Cathlamet Ferry, to Astoria.
Sightseeing and lunch in Astoria.
Over the 4 mile Astoria-Megler Bridge on Highway 101.
Arrive at Cape Disappointment State Park, near Ilwaco.
Check into my yurt at 4 pm, unload, relax, take a nap.
Remember: 16 hours of night time, 8 hours of daylight.

Reading, research, and study,
Monday evening to Thursday morning.
What paperback books will I bring?

Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State
The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within
message from the vessel in a dream
Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry

Each typical early January day,
at Cape Disappointment State Park,
Ilwaco, WA: Cool, Windy, Rain.
However, the current weather reports
predict dry cool weather until Friday
this week. Horray!

Remember: 16 hours of night time, 8 hours of daylight.

Indoors: Reading, Writing, Harmonica, String, Qigong

Bring:
Writing tablet, pencils
Books
Cellphone, Tablet, MP3
Photography gear
Kites
Fireplace Tools
Firewood, starters
Fishing gear bag, license
Electronic, lights bag
Medicine and cleaning bag
Food supplies
Eating cooking utensils box
Sleeping bag 6lb
Blankets, throws, towels
Clothing bag
Shoes bag
Wet and cold weather gear
Trash bags
Toiletries
Eyeglasses
Backpack and hiking gear
Water bottles, thermos, canteen
Wallet and credit cards
Gas in Ford, cleaned, oiled, ready to drive
Maps as needed
Cane, walking stick
String Figures Kit, Caroline Jayne
Harmonicas (C Low, A Low) + Book

String Figures from Native Americans

 Repost from 2013:

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.”

In the winter season, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako,
Thought-Woman, the Spider
named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debt to all the people who have helped me learn to make string figures, everyone past and present are here symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  

The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51).    

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

2024 Update

I recently found a brand of string that works fairly well when making string figures. It is called Cora's Cotton Craft Cord Dyeable Fiber 2 mm/.08 in in diameter.  

The best string I've used for make string figures with my hands was a string used by carpenters or masons or gardeners to mark out a straight line during construction.  I'm still looking for the correct brand of string, softness, strength, thickness, flexibility, etc.

String Figures Bibliography

 

Strings on Your Fingers

String Figures, String Tricks, String Catches, Rope and Twine Knots
String and Rope Designs, Knotting, Cat's Cradle Games with String
Northwest American Indian String Figures Research
String Figures and Storytelling Performances by Michael P. Garofalo
Version 3, 2021

 

Fred's Magic Strings

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 20

Fred’s Magic Strings

Fred lived along the Umatilla River at the eastern edge of the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon.  He had been a truck driver for decades between the Walla Walla, Tri-Cities, Hermiston, Boardman, Portland, and Pendleton areas.  He was retired now, and living in Pendleton.  He enjoyed the small town cowboy culture of Pendleton, the forests of the Blue Mountains, the vast wheat fields, the hardy local whiskeys, and the Indian powwow events. 

Years ago, Fred had taken up the hobby of using cotton string to create figures and shapes.  This activity of using the hands and fingers to manipulate a string can produce many interesting string figures.  Playing string figure games in the Winter months was popular among American Indian Tribes in the Northwest. It was a relaxing leisure time activity for old Fred.  

He had purchased a string figures book from the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute and Museum on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, practiced, and learned many string figures.  He shared his skills and art with others at various gatherings. 

Fred felt like he was creating something out of nothing.  The circle of string was pure potential, pure Yin.  The hands and fingers begin to move the string: twisting, turning, interchanging, grabbing, releasing, turning, looping, exchanging, dropping … Yang emerging. Then, suddenly, a figure appears: Four Stars, a Rabbit, a Butterfly, a Blanket, a Fly, a Lizard, Sunrise, Fisherman's Net, Fireplace Burning, ….

Yes, it is something from something, and also something from nothing.  Profane/Sacred, Ordinary/Holy, Skills/Art. 

Artists or writers facing a blank canvas or blank paper sense this moment: the state of the empty canvas before them, nothing done, a blank, the beginning.  Then, emerging from the Fingers Moving and the Mind/Ideas/Intentions Moving and the String, Paint Brush or Pen Moving … Something New Appears, or we just imagine that it appears.  For the Artist: Just Doing It, Making It, Creating It, Showing It, is the Great Challenge!

Young and old enjoyed watching Fred’s string figures skills and listening to his storytelling.

A hot summer's day in Pendleton

A Student’s Considerations:

What hobbies should one choose in their life?
Simple arts may bring great creative pleasures.
A Confucian gentleman cultivates and treasures the Arts.
Sharing the Magic: performing, entertaining, creating, doing.
Aesthetes, literati, scholars, artists, and writers are found amongst
    some Taoists, Buddhists, and Confucians.
How do pre-literate cultures differ from cultures with libraries?
What “Arts” are necessary in the Fireplace Nexus?

 

Related Links, Resources, References

String On Your Fingers  By Michael P. Garofalo. 
String figures, tricks, and knots from many lands. 
https://www.gardendigest.com/string/index.htm

Pendleton, Oregon and Umatilla Indian Reservation

Koans:

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Koan Database Project

Brief Spiritual Lessons Database Project: Subject Indexes

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories

Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

I am Telling You the Story She Is Thinking

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.”

In the winter season, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako,
Thought-Woman, the Spider
named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debt to all the people who have helped me learn to make string figures, everyone past and present are here symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  

The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51).    

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo

I'm Telling You the Story that She is Thinking

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.  All of those "Sorcorer" words.”
-  Spider Woman Speaks, 2004

In the colder and darker season of the year, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako, Thought-Woman,
The Spider named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51), which I re-named "Spider Web" or "Spider Grandmother's Web" (Jayne SF51).       

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo.  String figures and tricks from many lands.  

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, (Caroline Jayne SF51)or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Grandmother's Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debts to all the people who have helped me learn in various ways.  The pattern is a reminder of our shared real world web of re-lationships and re-connecting with others, the productive Cosmic Web or Matrix symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo 

The first picture, taken around 1978, shows a small group of children learning and playing string figures, string games, and string tricks.  This was a crafts activity for children in a public library.  Physical education in improving manual dexterity and memory.  The teacher is Mike Garofalo.  

The second picture, taken in 1990, shows a brief demonstration and talk by me.  Afterwards, each child gets their own private string to take home to play with.  Then we do some manual dexterity and memory improvement practices together.  

 

I'm Telling You the Story She is Thinking

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.”

In the colder and darker season of the year, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako, Thought-Woman, the Spider named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debt to all the people who have helped me learn to make string figures, everyone past and present are here symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  
The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51).    

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo

Spider Web Speaks

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.”

In the winter season, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako,
Thought-Woman, the Spider
named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debt to all the people who have helped me learn to make string figures, everyone past and present are here symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  

The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51).    

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo

String Figures and String Games

Years ago, in 2003, I created a webpage called "Strings on Your Fingers" served at http://www.gardendigest.com/string/index.htm 

A Sitemeter report today says that, for this html file, total visits =47,684,  total page views = 81,708, average page view per day = 70, average visit length = 1:30. 

  

This webpage is about string figures, string catches, ropes and twine knots, string and rope art designs, knotting, Cat's Crade games with string, string figures from around the world.  

Games with string help strengthen the fingers and wrists, exercise memory and coordination, give us another way to play, help us learn about different cultures and string players from around the world, let us meet and succeed with a new challenge of learning to perform a new string figure.   

 

String Figure Art and Games

In the above photograph, I am teaching some some string figures to girls at the East Los Angeles Library in 1978. I was the Community Library Manager of this large Los Angeles County public library for six years.

Strings on Your Fingers: String Figures, String Tricks, String Games, Knots. I will completely update this webpage in March, 2010.