Double Wedding Ring

Day 352: The Double Wedding Ring quilt top is done, and now it moves to a new spot in the queue, to wait until I am done hand-quilting the Kittygons which are currently on the frame. This is how the process goes: a rotation consisting of one on the frame, one in waiting (possibly backed and batted), one being pieced, pieces for another being cut. Currently, the cycle has two empty slots (piecing and cutting) because I need a break, folks. I need to shift onto a new activity for a while. I think I may set up a project on the floor loom. It's been empty since I finished the overshot coverlet. I measured out some warp yesterday, intending to devote today to dressing the loom. We'll see how this goes. I am still nursing a painful shoulder, so I'm not making any promises.

Baker's Dozen

Day 351: Up until the moment this happened, I thought the Goldfinch Gang only had six members. There are at least thirteen in this photo, and I'm not sure there isn't a wee wink of a fourteenth head showing just to the left of the third bird from the left. These are mostly youngsters, some of which are still being fed by the parents. Their antics are hilarious, little wings trembling as they beg for food, vying with one another for space, learning to keep their balance, and of course coming to the shepherd's-hooks outside my window to remind me to refill the feeders. I'd been trying to capture at least five in one image and had the lens trained on the wire hoping that I was actually seeing six when a sudden flurry of yellow-grey swept in like thick mist. When it resolved into bird-shaped "droplets," there was my baker's dozen in perfect frame.

Dear Friends Stopped By

Day 350: Today, three dear friends unexpectedly stopped by for brunch, much to my delight. I seldom see Canada Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) at this elevation. They are common to the higher backcountry of the Park, and all backpackers know them well as pleading, irresistible beggars. I am almost certain that these three are the same birds who have come to visit my feeders in prior years, and I suspect they are a family unit. They never stay long, a week or two at most, but their presence for even a day or two gives me  great joy, as if they have come to tell me that they are looking after my beloved high country. I see them as bearing acknowledgements from the individual rocks and trees who are my spiritual kin and who know that I am no longer physically able to go to them instead. They bring with them memories of broad meadows, star-studded nights, pure stream waters, rocky peaks, and the better, best days of my life when I could find the precious commodity of solitude for only the expense of a few tired muscles. Would that I could follow them when they leave, for there is nothing so ingrained in my soul as backcountry. But they seem to know that, these visitors from the uplands, and they come to me with their tidings. If their stay is but brief, they carry back with them my love and gratitude for those peace-filled days.

A Fair Showing

Day 349: The results are in. I am pleased to announce that I took a second-place ribbon in "Weaving - Shawl, Stole or Shrug" and a FIRST PLACE in "Lace Openwork - Crochet Garments, Thread" in the Washington State Fair (Puyallup Fair). I had my doubts about the McLeod shawl taking a ribbon, knowing that I had not beaten the weft to be perfectly square in the yellow sections and, in fact, that was where I lost points although I still scored high enough to earn the second place in the category. The first place for the apron was a pleasant surprise, and when I went in to pick it up, two of the Fair officials came up to me to offer their compliments. A comment on the judges' score card said, "This is very eye-catching!" These were my only two submissions this year, and I'd say I put up a pretty Fair showing!

The Devil's Due

Day 348: "Are you sure you want to plant this in your yard?" Oh, if only I had picked up on the implied warning in that question, but I had seen Crocosmia "Lucifer" filling up waste space in other peoples' landscaping, and I couldn't resist the bright red panicles. I suspected the hummingbirds would share my enthusiasm for the flowers (in fact, they do), so I was deaf to the cautionary query, hearing only Lucifer's persuasive enticements. Devil that he is, he soon established himself in the flower bed, and it was only after I had spent diligent hours down on my prayer-bones that I was able to exorcise the evil I had brought to dwell amongst the gentle peonies and columbines. But again, I gave way to temptation (encouraged by those sinful little hummingbirds) and in a fit of backsliding, merely shifted the fiend to a new location where he was free to wreak any amount of havoc he so chose. The hummers are happy, and in that, I feel I have done sufficient penance for the transgression of inviting Lucifer into my garden.

Scrappy Stars Done!

Day 347: The Scrappy Stars quilt is done and ready to be delivered to a friend who doesn't have the faintest inkling that they are on the short list of people who need a quilt to remember me by. I love gifting special people with surprise quilts! I finished the hand-quilting this morning, attached my "made by Crow with love" label to the back, and threw it in the wash to remove the stitching guide lines for the geometric design I'd drawn with a washable graphite pencil, the final step in its creation. Admittedly, I've worked on other quilts in between and even completed several, but when Scrappy Stars went on the quilting frame to be hand-stitched roughly two months ago, it took the place of honour in the living room. A quilting frame occupies a substantial bit of space, and it only went back in the box for a few months after I finished a hexagon quilt for my botany partners. It's not likely to return to storage any time soon, either. I mounted the Kittygons on it even before Scrappy Stars went in the laundry. When they're done, Double Wedding Ring will move to center stage. There's a good reason I don't have TV. I have too much else to do to waste my time in front of a box.

Dehiscence

Day 346: Here's a good word for you to drop into the conversation at the next party you attend: dehiscence. Of course, if your party companions are the same kind of people I enjoy being around, no one will bat an eye, but that's another subject. The term comes directly to us from the Latin verb "dehiscere," "to split open or gape," which is exactly what certain seed pods do when ripe. Legumes are notorious for their ability to dehisc violently when fully dry, often throwing seed 25 feet or more from the parent plant. Others such as the slender siliques of Fireweed simply split and peel backwards to release their fluff into the breeze. On the other hand, indehiscent fruits such as sunflower seeds and acorns open only when the germinating seed begins to exert pressure from inside, or when the hard outer shell is weakened by some external factor (freezing, fire, moisture, etc.). In the case of Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium, shown here), the teensy-tiny seed attached to the silky pappus is so hard that it still requires scarification by fire before it can sprout. It is often the first plant to emerge in clear-cut timber plots which have been burned over to remove debris. But do not assume that fluff and dehiscence equate. They do not. Although Fireweed siliques dehisc to release their seeds, the common dandelion is indehiscent, its fruit an achene, albeit attached to a silken parachute.