Bugs Meet Textiles

The Textile Center has a great exhibit going on right now - A Bug's Life.

Bees and Bowls

I took about a zillion photos in the garden while visiting my mother last Sunday, and got one good shot of a bee:

Tonight I went to my annual block party - last chance to be neighborly. One of my neighbors knits, so she took me into her house to show me her just finished "100 Bowl Project" of which she is very proud:

Why 100 bowls? Apparently she discovered that making them was quite addictive.

Her daughter thinks she's crazy. I wish Boy-child could have seen this project. He maybe would think of me as a little less crazy (everything is relative).

Treasures

I spotted this on my way out the door the other morning and managed to snap a shot. Hopefully she'll keep the moths from coming in my door at night.
I finished the last of the Avalon staff gifts - these are for Holly. When I told Holly I was going to knit something for her she reacted as though I had told her she'd won the lottery. I probably knit the equivalent of three pairs what with trying different patterns and needle sizes. The blue is actually a brilliant teal that I was unable to capture, even in natural light.
My mission, now that I'm home alone with the cat, is to clean out the junk in the basement. There's a lot of it what with the fact that we've been here over 20 years and all. I've found a lot of treasures in the junk, including the lovely memorial that Milton wrote about my dad the year after he died, a picture of me in Ladysbridge, Ireland in 1974 that my grandmother had up in her apartment and these lovely creatures - the mother ship was mine when I was a kid and the miniatures are from when Girl-child was little. I obviously couldn't help myself:
Girl-child and I went to a Fringe Festival show last night: Knit One, Purl the Other. There are a few shows left - if you have time I would recommend it.

Beetle Love

Worth the five minutes it takes to watch through to the end:

(Have you ever felt like that happened to you? I know I have.)

Fly Trap and Some Knitting

I believe I mentioned that I got a Venus Fly Trap last week at the annual plant sale on campus. I love the "Little Pot of Horrors" idea:
Can't wait to see the fruit flies get caught in the jaws of the plant this summer:

I've been knitting, too. I tried to get the colors right but I'm not so motivated today. This is a baby hat that I started yesterday:
And a cardigan that I started last week:
I'm doing some stealth knitting too, but I want to wait 'till it's further along before showing it for better effect.

So much yarn, so little time.

Royalty

I had the most delightful company at lunchtime today:

Storm Brewing

First of all, for those of you who wanted to find the Cultural Identity Test from the previous post, I've added the link (sorry). It's actually not quite as silly as the others - give it a whirl.

This morning there is a storm coming our way. Of course, I have a "retreat" for work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum so I have to drive to Chaska instead of hopping on my handy bus.

*sigh*

One of the things that we are going to try this time is, because the storm warning is for Hennepin but not Ramsey county and we live in Ramsey, a mere three blocks from the river which is the dividing line between the counties, we thought we'd head down to the river and watch the storm from our side ...

I found some interesting tidbits in the Audubon magazine yesterday at work. First of all, there's an octopus who loves to play with a Rubik's cube. Seriously. It's her favorite toy. Read about it here.

Second, there's a guy who does beetle art. We have some beetle art at the library, but this guy's art is for art's sake and not for didactic or illustrative purposes. Take a look at it here. Interesting story.

And finally, from WCCO, a bit of weird news ... there's a 79 year old woman in Fair Oaks, California who teaches adult tap dancing. I guess sometimes people don't read the sign/adverts quite right and they think it's for lap dancing. It's usualy men who are confused. Imagine their surprise when they find a 79 year old woman in charge. I like her response to the men when they call ... "Helen says when men call, she just tells them to bring their daughters over so she can teach them to tap dance. That usually ends the conversation."

Way to go, Helen.