The Stumpwork, Goldwork and Surface Embroidery Beetle Collection by Jane Nicholas My rating: 5 of 5 stars A fantastic book for the advanced beetle-loving embroiderer. This may be a small audience, but it’s a wonderful book–from the research on the inspiration insects, through to the instructions and projects using stumpwork, goldwork, crewel, beading, and appliqueContinue reading “Review: The Stumpwork, Goldwork and Surface Embroidery Beetle Collection”
Tag Archives: look small
Nature Photography Day
So did you get out to take pictures? (I know at least one of you did. How about the rest? I may not be getting a lot of traffic here but I do have more than one reader for a fact. So.) The Ebony Jewelwing damselfly picture in the background on the front page isContinue reading “Nature Photography Day”
Nature Photography Day is Tomorrow
I write a lot–when I have time to write, which lately happens to be more often, hurray!–about how nature is everywhere and everything, and you don’t need to go far (or anywhere) to find something beautiful. Tomorrow, on Nature Photography Day, I would like to challenge myself and you to get out there with whateverContinue reading “Nature Photography Day is Tomorrow”
“Left to itself the literate intellect, adrift in the play of signs, comes to view nature as a sign, or a complex of signs. It forgets that the land is not first and foremost an arcane text to be read, but a community of living, speaking beings to whom we are beholden.” David Abram
may apples
The may apples are finally blooming–now that it’s almost June, thanks I’m guessing to the chilly spring. I wouldn’t blame you for not noticing, though … …since when they bloom, they look like this. Go ahead. Find them! A large field of flat-topped five-lobbed leaves, and underneath every plant with two leaves, growing from theContinue reading “may apples”
Anthropomorphism FTW
I am taking it as a propitious sign that, my first spring in my first house, there are not one but two robin’s nests on our outside lighting fixtures: one in the carport, and one by the front door. We have watched since April as the nests were built, the eggs were laid then hatched,Continue reading “Anthropomorphism FTW”
For a Limited Time Only
The jack-in-the-pulpits are out, but not for much longer. Look for these small green flowers near old, fallen logs–but sometime in the next week or you’ll be out for another year.
Ecology, Economy, and Ego
When spotted owls were threatened with extinction, we cried and passed laws. When whales were threatened with extinction, we screamed and wrote international treaties. Now, when polar bears are going extinct, we rage.* But when bumblebees threaten extinction on us we panic. Why? Because what’s big, ultimately, is expendable. It’s what’s very very small thatContinue reading “Ecology, Economy, and Ego”
Mother’s Day Skull Walk
Ah, Mother’s Day. A leisurely sleep-in, to be woken at a civilized hour by an adorable jammie-clad child bearing a pancake breakfast on a tray, with Dad clearing up heroically in the kitchen. Then, flowers! A much-cherished homemade gift from the adorable, small child, mis-spellings intact. According to the television commercials, a meal later onContinue reading “Mother’s Day Skull Walk”
Look Small: Buds to Leaves
Have you ever noticed the way buds open, almost erupting as if in force of a slow-motion explosion? They don’t just open. They spill. Like milk spreading across a kitchen floor, or water boiling over a pot. Like a snake shedding a too-small skin. Most of the leaves around here are open, but a fewContinue reading “Look Small: Buds to Leaves”
Zoopolis 