Woolly Bear Caterpillar

There is a certain county road near my hometown that every year gets overrun with woolly bear caterpillars in the late summer/early fall. A few here and there is normal, but for some reason in that area, the road is full of woolly bears scurrying (as fast as a caterpillar can scurry) from one side of the road to the other. One of my earliest memories is of the whole family packed into the old woody station wagon, driving down these county roads to see if the woolly bears were out.

Fifteen or so years ago, this area/road happened to be the way to get from my sister's place to my brother's place. (Now it's my nephew's place.) My sister, Mom, and I were driving in this area to get to my brother's house, and the woolly bears were out in full force. My BIL and nephews were following in a separate vehicle. We were driving along this deserted county road, weaving in and out to avoid hitting the woolly bears. Every time one of us would spot one, we'd let out a little scream and yell watch out! We were laughing the whole way. When we got to my brother's, my BIL asked why the hell we were driving that way, and of course we all just laughed even harder.

A few weeks after that, I got this in the mail.

Mom drew this little cartoon and sent one to each of us. I promptly hung it on my refrigerator, and there it remained. It even survived the move down to the farm, and got put on my new refrigerator here. I took it down, along with some other photos, etc for safekeeping when Mom started messing with everything. I thought about it a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't find it among everything else I had taken down. I was heartsick, thinking I had put it in the recycling bin by mistake or something. Today, I was moving some stuff, and there it was! I was so happy I cried! This post is getting the Pre-Alzheimer's Art label.

Life imitates art?

My recent spinning.

My recent dyeing.

I usually take the inspiration photo first, and try to recreate the colors in the fiber. This time, it was reversed. I noticed the colors of this grass on my walk down the driveway to get the mail. It reminded me of the colors I've been dyeing and spinning.

Unless my eye saw it first, and my subconscious made me dye those colors?

Thanksgiving 1986

I was living in Bonn, Germany at the time, doing my junior year abroad. In 1986, Bonn was the federal capital city for Germany, so there was an American embassy. The American church there, set up for embassy etc employees, invited the American students studying at the Uni to come to the church the Sunday before Thanksgiving, for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Each embassy family sponsored a student. So that was lovely, sitting down to a nice Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, with a family.

The university in Bonn had several student cafeterias set up around the city, usually located near a University building or student housing. The main one had three levels, set up on three floors, three different lines. Soup only was on the top floor, lighter entree on the middle, and bigger/full meal entree on the lowest floor.

Thanksgiving Day found me at the cafeteria, judging my options. Soup was always the lowest cost option, so I headed up the stairs for my bowl of soup, feeling rather sorry for myself. Thanksgiving Day, and here I was going to have a measly bowl of soup. Can you hear the sound of tiny violins?

Can I tell you? That bowl of soup was the best soup I've ever had. As a matter of fact, that meal ranks right up there on my top 5 meals ever.(In no particular order, chicken curry in a little restaurant in Pacific Grove, CA, veg curry in a vegetarian restaurant in Mendocino, CA, the whole meal with tomato/pumpkin chutney at Taj restaurant in Ventura, CA, and tortellini carbonara at a dive restaurant somewhere in Italy. Whatever town where the Eurail pass ferry to Greece leaves from. ETA: Brindisi! I remembered just after I hit publish.) Yes, 23 years later, and I still remember that bowl of potato/sausage/green bean soup.

Latest peg loom creation

A shawl for a friend.

The shawl stick is just a maple twig that I scraped the bark off of and sanded smooth.

Winner!

Drum roll please. The winner is...Leslie. Leslie, contact me at annie at maplecorners daht cahm to choose your color!

The outside braids were created after I dyed the inside one. I noticed there was a lot of dye in the water after I created the color I wanted for the inside one, so I just threw more roving on top of the one that was done. It soaked up the excess dye just fine, and I ended up with another colorway and clear water for the next dye adventure.

Reminder

Last night, the dog was rearranging herself on the couch, circling as dogs do. I heard paper crinkling. There was no paper there that I could see. ??? Investigating further, I discovered that my couch has a feature I never knew about. There is a flap at the back, attached to the bottom by hook & loop tape. Patting the back of the couch, I could feel something in there. When I released the flap at the bottom, an amazing amount of stuff cascaded down. In addition to the items pictured above, there were several envelopes and papers, and a rather alarming amount of dog hair and other ickies.

I have been looking for that wood weaving tool for over a year. I suspected that Mom had gotten a hold of it, and despaired of ever finding it again. I'm happy to have it back, like a little gift from Mom, reminding me of her.

Giveaway

I am thrilled to hear that at least one person went to a Memory Screening as the result of the last post. I am even happier that the result was good.

In honor of Alzheimer's Awareness Month, I've been dyeing purples. Purple with blue, purple with pink, purple with gray, you get the idea.

Now to the good stuff. Giveaway details. The winner will choose one of the braids above. I am willing to spin it, and weave it on the peg loom into a scarf/shawl. A spinner might just want the fiber, a knitter or weaver might want just the yarn. Again, winner's choice.

To enter, just leave a comment, that's it. If you want to, make a donation to the Alzheimer's Association. It's not a requirement, just an idea. Or, write your Congressperson. Help spread the word about Alzheimer's and post about the giveaway, (leave a link in the comments), and I'll enter you twice.

I'll do the random number generator Saturday night, so be sure to get your comment in by then!