Seattle has shut down for snow, again. Schools are closed, classes are canceled, bus routes are halved and North end shops are inundated with shoppers in 4-wheel drives loading up huge carts of food for Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, we were up at 7am and managed to stare out at the delicious sunny minus 8 degree (C or 18F) day for about 2 hours. By 9.30am we were heading up to Dahl Field for some sledding.
I am hoping to make a little movie of some our of snow moments and photos when Blogger lets me upload them.
Otherwise, all is well. We are enjoying the slow pace and having everyone home since Josh didn't go in to work either after his horrendous Monday evening commute which took almost 2 hours to get home.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Snow!
Snow brings a strange luminescence to the landscape, a grey and diffuse light brighter than the usual winter morning. After being woken too early by an automated message from the Seattle Public Schools to tell me that conferences will run as usual but middle schools will start late due to snow, Wren and I sat and looked out the window.
It was already snowing hard. Here are the pictures from the window around 7.30am and an hour and a half later. The snow has now changed to a smaller flake but its still accumulating.
We have been enjoying feeding the birds on the deck by the kitchen. They are probably finding it hard to find food elsewhere and the juncos and little wagtails have visited a few times.
Frost and Alex are out in the snow at his house at Greenlake. As usual with the first snow, Wren has outgrown his snowsuit, lost his snow gloves and complained he was unable to bend over or move his legs in it. We shall have to buy a new one.
We have Frost's parent-teacher conference this morning and I am not sure whether its ok to drive the van to capital hill or whether I should do a few trips and drop Josh at work in the Subaru.
It was already snowing hard. Here are the pictures from the window around 7.30am and an hour and a half later. The snow has now changed to a smaller flake but its still accumulating.
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| 7.30am |
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| 8.55am |
Frost and Alex are out in the snow at his house at Greenlake. As usual with the first snow, Wren has outgrown his snowsuit, lost his snow gloves and complained he was unable to bend over or move his legs in it. We shall have to buy a new one.
We have Frost's parent-teacher conference this morning and I am not sure whether its ok to drive the van to capital hill or whether I should do a few trips and drop Josh at work in the Subaru.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Cold come calling
This morning our breakfast was accompanied by a loud rhythmic thudding from our next-door neighbor who was splitting huge logs of timber for firewood.
Its getting cold. The morning paper said "Its Fall but this weekend its going to be Winter." Temperatures, which have been around 50F ( 10 C) have suddenly fallen and today was around 40F (5C) and dropping to freezing. According to local experts, icy air is coming down through the Fraser Valley from the arctic. It sure feels like it.
The freezes of winter typically mark the end of mushroom season so I thought today was a last chance to explore some local forests and see what remained. We were in luck and caught a few late chanterelles, a big bag of clitocybe nuda (Blewitts) and a large flush of chlorophyllum rachodes (Shaggy parasols).
Chris and Pascal came with me and we might still be in the woods but for the kids who were either silently resigned (their kids) or loudly anxious and WANTING TO GO HOME (Wren).
After lunch, Frost's soccer team met for the last game of the season. It was a social between parents and kids followed by pizza at Pagliacci. We were very luck with our soccer team this season. It was well run and coached and supported by organized experienced parents.
They presented the coach with a gift and each player received a trophy with a photograph of themselves in action.
Here is Frost receiving his trophy. The announcement read: To Frost who was never gloomy and always enthusiastic.
Wren hopes to have a trophy too one day. He asked Frost if the trophy could be in his room but it is now on the mantlepiece.
Its getting cold. The morning paper said "Its Fall but this weekend its going to be Winter." Temperatures, which have been around 50F ( 10 C) have suddenly fallen and today was around 40F (5C) and dropping to freezing. According to local experts, icy air is coming down through the Fraser Valley from the arctic. It sure feels like it.
The freezes of winter typically mark the end of mushroom season so I thought today was a last chance to explore some local forests and see what remained. We were in luck and caught a few late chanterelles, a big bag of clitocybe nuda (Blewitts) and a large flush of chlorophyllum rachodes (Shaggy parasols).
Chris and Pascal came with me and we might still be in the woods but for the kids who were either silently resigned (their kids) or loudly anxious and WANTING TO GO HOME (Wren).
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| Blewitts (from last week) |
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| Chlorophyllum Rachodes (shaggy parasols) - the red stain has faded. |
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| My last chanterelles for 2010? |
After lunch, Frost's soccer team met for the last game of the season. It was a social between parents and kids followed by pizza at Pagliacci. We were very luck with our soccer team this season. It was well run and coached and supported by organized experienced parents.
They presented the coach with a gift and each player received a trophy with a photograph of themselves in action.
Here is Frost receiving his trophy. The announcement read: To Frost who was never gloomy and always enthusiastic.
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| Frost being enthusiastic about his Engraved Trophy |
Monday, November 15, 2010
Mushroom playground
Frost had a big group playdate at our house yesterday and its hard for Wren to join in when the friends are 10 and 11 year olds. He is really out of his demographic but utterly misreads the situation and takes it personally.
I offered to take him for a walk in the stroller. Before we left Wren said "We are not going looking for mushrooms today!"
I agreed. "We are not going to look for mushrooms but I might pick one if I see one."
Wren: BUT YOU SAID we are not looking for mushrooms.
Me: No, we are going for a walk but if there was a mushroom...
Wren: We are not picking mushrooms. DAD!
Josh: I think Mummy means that If there is a mushroom by the path she might pick it.
There was a mushroom by the path. Wren became a bit exasperated. He said "THIS IS BORING". However, he liked picking the Blewitts because they were in a half circle and easy to get to.
Wren enjoyed playing at the playground but was concerned that the swings had been taken away to replace the safety surface. The swingset frame is now bare - not swings hanging there - and looks skeletal which fit the cold, dark weather.
This morning Wren asked when the sun was going to come up. It was 10am and I told him the sun probably wouldn't come out today.
I offered to take him for a walk in the stroller. Before we left Wren said "We are not going looking for mushrooms today!"
I agreed. "We are not going to look for mushrooms but I might pick one if I see one."
Wren: BUT YOU SAID we are not looking for mushrooms.
Me: No, we are going for a walk but if there was a mushroom...
Wren: We are not picking mushrooms. DAD!
Josh: I think Mummy means that If there is a mushroom by the path she might pick it.
There was a mushroom by the path. Wren became a bit exasperated. He said "THIS IS BORING". However, he liked picking the Blewitts because they were in a half circle and easy to get to.
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| Mushrooms being ID'ed. They include Suillus Albivilatus Leratiomyces Ceres and a mystery Tricholoma which resembles Odora. |
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| The ones that made it to the pot. I made a highly reduced "Mushroom essence" a la Cafe Flora to use on the Portabello Wellington next week. |
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| Found another flush of Blewitts on our walk as well as a lovely crop of young chlorrophylum rachodes near Teacher Andrea's house. |
This morning Wren asked when the sun was going to come up. It was 10am and I told him the sun probably wouldn't come out today.
Lantern Walk
On Friday, Wren joined his preschool for the winter Lantern Walk. We met at Greenlake and shared some hot bread and muffins with apple cider before singing some songs and making a short walk through the trees. The line snaked a great distance as the lanterns bobbed and snatches of song floated past on the cool but clear night.
Afterwards, we got together with Tara for sushi and she took the boys to see a movie at Thornton Place. Everyone had a great time and I didn't have to wash up plates after dinner.
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| Frost's Lantern |
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| The lanterns were lit at nightfall |
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| I have lost Wren's hats so he wore my soft pink cashmere one from Sarah. |
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| Wren took his job of carrying the lantern very seriously. He was also a serious eater of hot muffins. |
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Are Werewolves Imaginary?
The to do list is done:
FLU SHOTBUY FLOOD LIGHT TO REPLACE BLOWN ON IN KITCHENBUY HENNA FOR HAIRDROP THINGS AT VALUE VILLAGEBUY THINGS AT VALUE VILLAGEEXCHANGE LIBRARY BOOKS
When we returned home I wanted to sit down with some fake coffee and Child-play-by-himself time but Wren stuck to me like glue, talking constantly about playing a game with him now, fighting etc etc. I suggested he play at the table and tried to check my email but he followed and tried to set up a D&D army beneath my feet, I suggested he not sit right next to me. He retorted:
Wren: But I have to. I am scared of Werewolves jumping out.
Me: But you know Werewolves are imaginary, right?
Wren: Werewolves are imaginary but [he pauses, for drama] they have scary faces.
Me: No, you know what I mean? They are not in this world. They are things you think about but they are no real Werewolves.
Wren: They are not real but they are imaginary!
I pondered that one for a bit. I don't think real and imaginary are a dichotomy for Wren. Perhaps imaginary is a sub-category of real, you know, there are REAL things which may be imaginary, manifest, visible, invisible, in this world [Seattle] or Granny's World [Adelaide] or Grandad's World [South Africa] or Warhammer World [on the internet or in a book.]
I tried another approach.
Me: Just as long as you know that there are none in our house.
Wren: BUT WELL, MUUUUM [long pause as he looks at me with exasperation]... They are imaginary but when one hits our glass window it will break at the top and go into slow motion and break through ggghhhaaaa...!
He returns to working on his setup, happy to be underfoot.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
Veterans' Day
It was Veterans' Day today and a school holiday so Frost enjoyed a long playdate with Isaac while Wren and I visited a Memorial to the Fallen.
Seriously.
It wasn't really the Plan, but Wren wanted to see the cannons at Cannon Park so we stopped off in the cold and smattering rain to visit them. He was very impressed with them and tried to "fire them off" like Drummer Hoff in a favorite book.
Afterwards, Wren noticed the memorial and wanted me to read the words on the side. They read:
TO THE MEMORY OF THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND MARINES
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF OUR FLAG IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN,
THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION AND THE CHINA RELIEF EXPEDITION.
My knowledge of history is slight but I was sure it was a memorial.
Wren was sure it was a TOMB and there was a DEAD SOLDIER in it. He found this sobering and wanted to climb up it to make sure. Fortunately the sides were smooth and sheer and so his ascent for knowledge was hampered.
Later, we went to the zoo and stopped at some woodland for a quick mushroom poke. In the duff nearby I found a large flush of lepista nuda (Blewitts) which had been disturbed and partly driven over by a leaf blower and tractor. I saved them and ate half for dinner and did not feel badly about harvesting them. I also found a chanterelle-like mushroom with different "true" gills and different features. I think it was a lepista inversa so it was the day of the lepista (or clitocybe or Tricholoma depending on which is the trulio correct term).
Seriously.
It wasn't really the Plan, but Wren wanted to see the cannons at Cannon Park so we stopped off in the cold and smattering rain to visit them. He was very impressed with them and tried to "fire them off" like Drummer Hoff in a favorite book.
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| Trying to turn the cannon |
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| We had to look in the barrel to see what had been stuffed there. |
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| "I love cannons" |
TO THE MEMORY OF THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND MARINES
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF OUR FLAG IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN,
THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION AND THE CHINA RELIEF EXPEDITION.
My knowledge of history is slight but I was sure it was a memorial.
Wren was sure it was a TOMB and there was a DEAD SOLDIER in it. He found this sobering and wanted to climb up it to make sure. Fortunately the sides were smooth and sheer and so his ascent for knowledge was hampered.
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| Wren attempts to climb the memorial in which "there is a dead soldier." |
Later, we went to the zoo and stopped at some woodland for a quick mushroom poke. In the duff nearby I found a large flush of lepista nuda (Blewitts) which had been disturbed and partly driven over by a leaf blower and tractor. I saved them and ate half for dinner and did not feel badly about harvesting them. I also found a chanterelle-like mushroom with different "true" gills and different features. I think it was a lepista inversa so it was the day of the lepista (or clitocybe or Tricholoma depending on which is the trulio correct term).
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| Delicious Blewitts - supposed to be called Clitocybe Nuda |
Thursday, November 11, 2010
M is for Mushroom
Last night I dreamt about mushrooms. It wasn't a narrative dream but I recall observing the curve of an umbonate cap and the buff mauve-brown of the Blewitts I collected yesterday. Dreaming about mushrooms is probably inevitable, at least until the frosts. I collect them, ID them, sketch them and read about them. I drag Wren out in the rain in the hopes of finding an interesting bolete. I am getting more fresh air than ever because of the joy of the hunt.
I have been thinking that this obsession is going to limit my friendships every fall unless I drag a few more of you into my way of thinking so here is my little list of Why I Love Mushroom Hunting and Why You Should Too.
1. Own Your Urge to Forage.
Those of us who have it know it: that itch, that urge, that compelling drive to go out and look at Value Village one more time, or walk the tidal line for a seaswept shell, or find a penny with a metal detector. There are treasures out there in the woods, especially if you like to eat mushrooms and the joy of mushroom hunting is the splendid disguise that mushrooms have, their cleverness that means you could walk right by them and then find them on the way home.
You know all the hoopla about Geocaching? Well, mushroom foraging is like geocaching without technology, following the clues in the seasons, the hills, the sunny side of a valley, the rainshadow? If you read the clues and keep close to the ground you will find them, eventually, with luck.
2. They Taste Good
If you don't like mushrooms, I won't convince you. But many wild mushrooms are far tastier than the store buttons and I like tasty things. Enough said. I am not going to go all foodie on you now.
2b. And They Are Cheap(er) if You Find Them
If you've tried to buy chanterelles or matsutake or porcini (fresh or dried) you know that they are almost always pretty expensive. Most of us aren't going to buy a $30 a lb matsutake to grill on the BBQ. So, learn to hunt mushrooms and you can try one.
2c. And its Eating Local.
Which is pretty important and trendy these days.
3. Mushrooms are Sexy
The scientific names of mushrooms are very interesting sometimes to the point of being R-rated. As you know, all Seattle culture finds its way to the coffee shop at some point. This morning, I was in a coffee shop with Wren (3) and the woman in the couch next to us looked up sharply when I asked him whether he could see the mushrooms volva. She gave me a piercing glance and returned a rigid gaze her book as if to prove she was not listening so I said it again "You see, amanitas have a nice big volva".
Then there are the clitocybes - including the aforementioned Blewitt (or clitocybe nuda). I mean, how often can you use big words like that with a preschooler?
2. They Inspire Creativity
Mushrooms are beautiful to draw and photograph and if you are a stitch and bitch type, they dye textiles rich organic shades. If you prefer the fiber arts you can always make little felt mushrooms and sell them to Waldorf families via Etsy. Could it be that Steiner's Europeon roots made him a big fan of the little mushroom?
Wren has become my best student as shown by this very realistic drawing of an amanita which he did after we had looked at the Easy Key to Common Gilled Mushrooms. He calls it his Mushroom Drawing.
My illustrations tend towards the botanical and my main purpose is to practice looking intently and record the mushrooms I collect and identify (and sometimes eat) over the season. I started off doing very quick and dirty sketches to record the main features but have now started doing some water-colouring of the sketches which will be satisfying when I have a bit more practice. I hope to do some more finished illustrations to put on the wall.
Warnings and Disclaimers
If you are careless you can die.
This is said too much in the US but its true, there are poisonous mushrooms out there and, particularly in countries where millions of people forage for mushrooms, people die from eating them by mistake.
Lethal ones are in the vast minority but I know that won't make you feel much better if you haven't a clue what a safe and tasty one looks like. For me, I figure its like someone said to you before an international trip: "There are problems with violence in [insert description of foreign place]." If you are the type of person who, on the basis of this information, decides never to leave US shores, you should probably not collect and eat wild mushrooms. However, if you could keep alert and change plans to avoid said location, you should be fine. Join a mushroom club, gather with experts, use a few guides and don't eat it because it might be alright. Be sure.
Succeeding at Foraging Leads You into Food Preservation Issues
If you succeed in finding mushrooms, be prepared to get into dessication, bagging cups of sauteed mushrooms for freezing and perhaps pickling and bottling. This is not always the same skill set as the avid mushroom hunter, so if you feel that this is not your scene you can bring your mushrooms to me and I will help you eat them.
Actually, this whole "I will help you eat them..." thing is a bit of a dark joke in mycology circles because it goes to the heart of mushroom hunting ---> most people want most delicious mushrooms for their pot or they want to be the ones who can exhibit largesse and share them. Both are rather selfish pleasures and if you've crawled around in the woods all day with a scant haul in edibles you don't feel that there is enough to go around... so:
Mushroomers Are Possessive and Sneaky
In the first few years of mushroom learning my feelings were hurt a few times when I asked someone "Where did you find that?" and they sniggered and made some joke or gave a location about as specific as "on earth somewhere."
It is not a joke.
People do not share their mushroom spots because (property rights aside) its like having a perennial vegetable garden growing in the woods. If you find a mushroom somewhere, its worth checking again in a few weeks to see if more have grown. Its definitely worth checking it next season. This is particularly the case with the most prized edibles like some boletes and chanterelles which return with their bounty each fall. Still, I think that mushroom foragers should make this more clear to novices otherwise it sounds mean. Face it. You are being mean. Lets role play this:
Jane emerges into the campground from the forest with a collecting basket full of boletus edulis. I am a novice who is on her first foray.
Me: Wow! What are those? Can you eat them?
Jane [rotating around to make me forget the direction from which she came]. They're boletus edulis. They're delicious.
Me: Where did you find them?
Jane: In the area... [she laughs and bobs her head in a vague way]
Me: Oh?
Jane covers them up and quickly puts them away into her car. One specimen is seen on the ID table at the end of the day.
I would much prefer this:
Jane: Its a SECRET. Its MY PRESSSHISSS SECRET. I own this mycelium because I FOUND IT and it took me many years and my SECRET relationship with boletes to know where it was and even then I have to travel out here a few times every fall to check on it so DON'T LOOK AT ME or my boletes. Don't TOUCH them. Don't look at them possessively or I will have to shoot you with antifungals FROM MY EYES.
You know, that way we know how we stand and can develop a suitable sneakiness ourselves. Instead, the novice shares all his wisdom. At the last PSMS meeting a new member came in with a huge box of boletus edulis and said where he had found them, exactly. Jaws were dropping, but they should not have been.
Generosity is really a lot more fun in a community so we have to practice to guard our tongues, speak in generalities and walk North to travel East.
Conclusion
Lets get together and hunt mushrooms next year!
I have been thinking that this obsession is going to limit my friendships every fall unless I drag a few more of you into my way of thinking so here is my little list of Why I Love Mushroom Hunting and Why You Should Too.
1. Own Your Urge to Forage.
Those of us who have it know it: that itch, that urge, that compelling drive to go out and look at Value Village one more time, or walk the tidal line for a seaswept shell, or find a penny with a metal detector. There are treasures out there in the woods, especially if you like to eat mushrooms and the joy of mushroom hunting is the splendid disguise that mushrooms have, their cleverness that means you could walk right by them and then find them on the way home.
You know all the hoopla about Geocaching? Well, mushroom foraging is like geocaching without technology, following the clues in the seasons, the hills, the sunny side of a valley, the rainshadow? If you read the clues and keep close to the ground you will find them, eventually, with luck.
2. They Taste Good
If you don't like mushrooms, I won't convince you. But many wild mushrooms are far tastier than the store buttons and I like tasty things. Enough said. I am not going to go all foodie on you now.
2b. And They Are Cheap(er) if You Find Them
If you've tried to buy chanterelles or matsutake or porcini (fresh or dried) you know that they are almost always pretty expensive. Most of us aren't going to buy a $30 a lb matsutake to grill on the BBQ. So, learn to hunt mushrooms and you can try one.
2c. And its Eating Local.
Which is pretty important and trendy these days.
3. Mushrooms are Sexy
The scientific names of mushrooms are very interesting sometimes to the point of being R-rated. As you know, all Seattle culture finds its way to the coffee shop at some point. This morning, I was in a coffee shop with Wren (3) and the woman in the couch next to us looked up sharply when I asked him whether he could see the mushrooms volva. She gave me a piercing glance and returned a rigid gaze her book as if to prove she was not listening so I said it again "You see, amanitas have a nice big volva".
Then there are the clitocybes - including the aforementioned Blewitt (or clitocybe nuda). I mean, how often can you use big words like that with a preschooler?
2. They Inspire Creativity
Mushrooms are beautiful to draw and photograph and if you are a stitch and bitch type, they dye textiles rich organic shades. If you prefer the fiber arts you can always make little felt mushrooms and sell them to Waldorf families via Etsy. Could it be that Steiner's Europeon roots made him a big fan of the little mushroom?
Wren has become my best student as shown by this very realistic drawing of an amanita which he did after we had looked at the Easy Key to Common Gilled Mushrooms. He calls it his Mushroom Drawing.
 | |
| Amanita Muscaria aka "Mushroom" BY WREN |
Warnings and Disclaimers
If you are careless you can die.
This is said too much in the US but its true, there are poisonous mushrooms out there and, particularly in countries where millions of people forage for mushrooms, people die from eating them by mistake.
Lethal ones are in the vast minority but I know that won't make you feel much better if you haven't a clue what a safe and tasty one looks like. For me, I figure its like someone said to you before an international trip: "There are problems with violence in [insert description of foreign place]." If you are the type of person who, on the basis of this information, decides never to leave US shores, you should probably not collect and eat wild mushrooms. However, if you could keep alert and change plans to avoid said location, you should be fine. Join a mushroom club, gather with experts, use a few guides and don't eat it because it might be alright. Be sure.
Succeeding at Foraging Leads You into Food Preservation Issues
If you succeed in finding mushrooms, be prepared to get into dessication, bagging cups of sauteed mushrooms for freezing and perhaps pickling and bottling. This is not always the same skill set as the avid mushroom hunter, so if you feel that this is not your scene you can bring your mushrooms to me and I will help you eat them.
Actually, this whole "I will help you eat them..." thing is a bit of a dark joke in mycology circles because it goes to the heart of mushroom hunting ---> most people want most delicious mushrooms for their pot or they want to be the ones who can exhibit largesse and share them. Both are rather selfish pleasures and if you've crawled around in the woods all day with a scant haul in edibles you don't feel that there is enough to go around... so:
Mushroomers Are Possessive and Sneaky
In the first few years of mushroom learning my feelings were hurt a few times when I asked someone "Where did you find that?" and they sniggered and made some joke or gave a location about as specific as "on earth somewhere."
It is not a joke.
People do not share their mushroom spots because (property rights aside) its like having a perennial vegetable garden growing in the woods. If you find a mushroom somewhere, its worth checking again in a few weeks to see if more have grown. Its definitely worth checking it next season. This is particularly the case with the most prized edibles like some boletes and chanterelles which return with their bounty each fall. Still, I think that mushroom foragers should make this more clear to novices otherwise it sounds mean. Face it. You are being mean. Lets role play this:
Jane emerges into the campground from the forest with a collecting basket full of boletus edulis. I am a novice who is on her first foray.
Me: Wow! What are those? Can you eat them?
Jane [rotating around to make me forget the direction from which she came]. They're boletus edulis. They're delicious.
Me: Where did you find them?
Jane: In the area... [she laughs and bobs her head in a vague way]
Me: Oh?
Jane covers them up and quickly puts them away into her car. One specimen is seen on the ID table at the end of the day.
I would much prefer this:
Jane: Its a SECRET. Its MY PRESSSHISSS SECRET. I own this mycelium because I FOUND IT and it took me many years and my SECRET relationship with boletes to know where it was and even then I have to travel out here a few times every fall to check on it so DON'T LOOK AT ME or my boletes. Don't TOUCH them. Don't look at them possessively or I will have to shoot you with antifungals FROM MY EYES.
You know, that way we know how we stand and can develop a suitable sneakiness ourselves. Instead, the novice shares all his wisdom. At the last PSMS meeting a new member came in with a huge box of boletus edulis and said where he had found them, exactly. Jaws were dropping, but they should not have been.
Generosity is really a lot more fun in a community so we have to practice to guard our tongues, speak in generalities and walk North to travel East.
Conclusion
Lets get together and hunt mushrooms next year!
Barrier Crows
We dropped in at Whole Foods on the way home from preschool. Having spent the morning updating our finances on Quicken, I took the prudent course and left my purse in the car while we dashed in to get some coin sleeves and exchange the soy whip which wouldn't squirt (apparently Whole Foods received a defective batch which had coagulated so my fervent attempts to squirt it over the pumpkin pie were doomed to failure.) Wren was running barefoot (because he was hot) and with a bank-teller lollipop in his mouth.
He took it out the lollipop from time to time to taste "free food!" like grapes and later some goji berries. Tasting the sweet red berries he exclaimed:
"Oh my GOD, those are awesome. Like raisins!"
This amused other shoppers but must have made them consider eating raisins, since they are much cheaper.
As the ragamuffin rushed out of the store, veering round the Real Change desperados, he saw a crow and stopped.
"Its OK, you can chase the crow," I called out.
Wren rushed at the crow which flapped and hopped a short distance and then looked at him. He paused, then rushed back to me with a shriek.
"Was that a crow?" he asked.
I said it was a crow.
"No," he said, climbing into the car and grabbing Soft Shirt for reassurance, "that was not a crow. That was a barrier crow. That is a special kind of crow. It has sharp feathers by its beak and by its eye."
"Uh huh?" I said, buckling him in.
We drove for a block in silence.
"Barrier crows eat fruit and vegetables," Wren continued, as if without interruption to the conversation then added with an lowered tone, "they also eat meat."
"Is this real, or imaginary?" I wondered aloud
"This is real, in our world. Not right here but in our world. In Granny's world."
"Oh, ok. Cos they sound a bit scary."
We drove past the vegetable stand on the corner of 65th and 15th.
"See, that shop sells fruit. If they saw that the barrier crows just walk in and take the food."
We continued along 65th. Bump, over a plate left in the road from construction.
"They also dig holes. They dig holes and climb trees and this is a bit imaginary. They cut down plants with their claws and beaks! They cut the plants off like this.
I don't like barrier crows."
We saw a flock of crows (you can't really write murder without sounding overly melodramatic) rising out of the conifers near our house. Frankly, if Barrier Crows occurred in those numbers I don't think we'd stand a chance.
I told Wren I don't like the sound of them either.
He took it out the lollipop from time to time to taste "free food!" like grapes and later some goji berries. Tasting the sweet red berries he exclaimed:
"Oh my GOD, those are awesome. Like raisins!"
This amused other shoppers but must have made them consider eating raisins, since they are much cheaper.
As the ragamuffin rushed out of the store, veering round the Real Change desperados, he saw a crow and stopped.
"Its OK, you can chase the crow," I called out.
Wren rushed at the crow which flapped and hopped a short distance and then looked at him. He paused, then rushed back to me with a shriek.
"Was that a crow?" he asked.
I said it was a crow.
"No," he said, climbing into the car and grabbing Soft Shirt for reassurance, "that was not a crow. That was a barrier crow. That is a special kind of crow. It has sharp feathers by its beak and by its eye."
"Uh huh?" I said, buckling him in.
We drove for a block in silence.
"Barrier crows eat fruit and vegetables," Wren continued, as if without interruption to the conversation then added with an lowered tone, "they also eat meat."
"Is this real, or imaginary?" I wondered aloud
"This is real, in our world. Not right here but in our world. In Granny's world."
"Oh, ok. Cos they sound a bit scary."
We drove past the vegetable stand on the corner of 65th and 15th.
"See, that shop sells fruit. If they saw that the barrier crows just walk in and take the food."
We continued along 65th. Bump, over a plate left in the road from construction.
"They also dig holes. They dig holes and climb trees and this is a bit imaginary. They cut down plants with their claws and beaks! They cut the plants off like this.
I don't like barrier crows."
We saw a flock of crows (you can't really write murder without sounding overly melodramatic) rising out of the conifers near our house. Frankly, if Barrier Crows occurred in those numbers I don't think we'd stand a chance.
I told Wren I don't like the sound of them either.
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| Wren says "A man is coming to whack those Barrier Crows who are eating all her food." |
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