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| A fat-'n-happy monarch caterpillar |
Magic lives here at Tumbledown 24/7, and it greets me every morning, as if it's danced the night away impatiently waiting for me to wake.
Yesterday morning when I threw the upstairs window open to the cool moist air and pressed my face to the screen to breathe in the scent of rain, I was greeted by a red-headed woodpecker family squabbling noisily over the suet feeder and the sight of a succulent fairy ring circling a rather proud (and slightly obscene!) stinkhorn mushroom. The ring had sprung up overnight and seemed very Solstice/Midsommer appropriate, and I could only imagine what the fairies got up to while I slept....
As I enjoyed my morning coffee, I did some online research -- how to raise Monarch caterpillars in the classroom, how to control earwig infestations and eradicate weevils on stands of milkweed, how to use an organic pesticide called Safer's Endall -- all interesting stuff that threatened to suck my time away, but then the doorbell rang to startle me out of my reverie: just the mailman with a brown paper package for James (what could it be??, fan mail from some flounder?, oh the suspense!). I signed for it, then practiced playing 'Molly Hare' on the banjo a bit before finally getting my act completely together. (About my progress: I still totally suck, even after months of trying to get that dang frailing right, but I'm liking the activity nonetheless. It's just so... frog-voiced and countrified, if that makes sense.)
I filled my day with magickal little things and spent the minutes puttering happily. I fed the caterpillars I'd collected, found two more in the front gardens, and noticed that four had gone into their pre-chrysalis "J" formations sometime in the night. I kept a wary eye on Miss Lily, who'd found a dark perch and was hunkered on it oddly, feathers all a-fluff (I needn't have worried; today she greeted me with an egg the size of a nickle). And in the midst of it all I got a big idea, tore the studio apart looking for the ingredients, curled wire and beat it flat, arranged star-shaped glitter bits with stamp tongs, and hammered words on metal fragments with teeny tiny letterstamps so oily and fragrant they gave me visions of shadowy machine sheds filled with tools and sleeping motors.... And halfway through my creation I got so... what?... excited by it?... intimidated by it??... that I had to step away for a bit and read a book just to create some distance, it was that unnerving.
Yesterday morning when I threw the upstairs window open to the cool moist air and pressed my face to the screen to breathe in the scent of rain, I was greeted by a red-headed woodpecker family squabbling noisily over the suet feeder and the sight of a succulent fairy ring circling a rather proud (and slightly obscene!) stinkhorn mushroom. The ring had sprung up overnight and seemed very Solstice/Midsommer appropriate, and I could only imagine what the fairies got up to while I slept....
As I enjoyed my morning coffee, I did some online research -- how to raise Monarch caterpillars in the classroom, how to control earwig infestations and eradicate weevils on stands of milkweed, how to use an organic pesticide called Safer's Endall -- all interesting stuff that threatened to suck my time away, but then the doorbell rang to startle me out of my reverie: just the mailman with a brown paper package for James (what could it be??, fan mail from some flounder?, oh the suspense!). I signed for it, then practiced playing 'Molly Hare' on the banjo a bit before finally getting my act completely together. (About my progress: I still totally suck, even after months of trying to get that dang frailing right, but I'm liking the activity nonetheless. It's just so... frog-voiced and countrified, if that makes sense.)
I filled my day with magickal little things and spent the minutes puttering happily. I fed the caterpillars I'd collected, found two more in the front gardens, and noticed that four had gone into their pre-chrysalis "J" formations sometime in the night. I kept a wary eye on Miss Lily, who'd found a dark perch and was hunkered on it oddly, feathers all a-fluff (I needn't have worried; today she greeted me with an egg the size of a nickle). And in the midst of it all I got a big idea, tore the studio apart looking for the ingredients, curled wire and beat it flat, arranged star-shaped glitter bits with stamp tongs, and hammered words on metal fragments with teeny tiny letterstamps so oily and fragrant they gave me visions of shadowy machine sheds filled with tools and sleeping motors.... And halfway through my creation I got so... what?... excited by it?... intimidated by it??... that I had to step away for a bit and read a book just to create some distance, it was that unnerving.
In any event, it was an amazing day. And now I'm ready to pick up again where I left off, so here I go. But before I do, I want to wish you a happy Weekend Eve, my friend. May your day be filled with magic, too! And may you take the time to share it with me here.
~delayne.
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