Years ago I bought a wonderful little book by Marcia Bonta called Appalachian Spring. She is a naturalist and writer who lives in the Pennsylvania woods and is a very keen observer of the natural world. While the calendar and the weather might still say "winter" right now, animals respond to the increasing light and engage in what she calls "spring preliminaries". Gray squirrels are starting their mating behaviour, and I can watch them from my back door. In between raids on my bird feeder, they are chasing each other amorously and with great enthusiasm through the trees.
I collect vintage textiles of all types, but I have a soft spot in my heart for type of embroideries every good housewife used to do on table runners and pillowcases. They were usually done from kits, or patterns found in women's magazines, and the skill of the stitchers and the colors and patterns they chosen reveals a bit about them. I'm not sure why the two courting squirrels in this example are floating on lily pads, but then again, why not? And doesn't it look a bit like the girl squirrel is a brazen hussy, rowing out there to entice her man?
2 comments:
hey Sue, just dropped by to say hello and take a look at your new blog and your current work. You can check out my blog at englishroseinkuwait.blogspot.com but I need to bring it up to date, as I have been too busy for ages it seems.
congratulations with this, you seem really good to go. sara
There's definitely a subtext here!
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