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VANILLA-LEAF WALK Today I walked in the forest to visit the new crop of Vanilla-Leaf plants. I pick them later in the season when they are sturdier and hang bunches in the house . When they are dry they have a delicate Vanilla scent and keep the bugs away......         |
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Skip-skip...skip to my lou.....skip skip skip to my lou....skip skip skip to my louuuuuuu........skip to my lou my darling........
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Flies in the buttermilk, shoo, shoo, shoo Flies in the buttermilk, shoo, shoo, shoo Flies in the buttermilk, shoo, shoo, shoo Skip to my lou, my darlin'
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Lost my partner, what shall I do? Lost my partner, what shall I do? Lost my partner, what shall I do? Skip to my lou, my darlin'! I sure couldn't do any skipping, but I'd love to hobble along on one of your walks.... a short one, that is. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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Lost my partner, what shall I do? Lost my partner, what shall I do? Lost my partner, what shall I do? Skip to my lou, my darlin'! I sure couldn't do any skipping, but I'd love to hobble along on one of your walks.... a short one, that is. I thought of you today when I saw a photo of a type of beautiful Northern lights in Findland called "The hem of His garment..".......
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Fantastic, I love the smell of vanilla. The leaves look so fresh and healthy too. I went out for a walk today for the first time on my own since this awful pandemic. For a while I felt really nervous and out of place. It was the first time for me to venture out on the main road. As I walked along I began to unwind and feel normal again . There wasn't too many people out and about so the social distancing wasn't a problem. I usually walk with my daughter or friend in the park which is a more more peaceful and pleasant experience , I just felt the need to test myself yesterday. I haven't heard that song skip to my lou in yonks. Catchy little number. I must give it a play on youtube later. The melody is going around and around in my head now lol. 
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It's ubiquitous around Vancouver too....semi-shade, openings in the forest.....The fibrous veins in the leaves are very tough and remain after the fleshy parts decompose....I find these delicate leaf skeletons in the late Fall and Winter and gather them up and press them. The leaves have 3 lobes and when you remove the central lobe and place the other 2 together, they look exactly like fairy-wings...I was familiar with the process of "mercerization" from working with flax and cotton......the fiber is boiled in water to which borax is added. This is done to strengthen the fiber. So I mercerized the leaf skeletons and it worked....they became quite a bit stronger and easy to work with. I then bleached some of them. My first projects, I selected dark papers that were intended for chalk-pastels....velvety almost. I made cards...I had a commission to design a birth announcement. I drew a baby in a onesey and gave it lace Vanillaleaf wings.....I did several of those....I made many winged children cards......I also figured out how to gild the lacy leaf skeletons and mount them on dark papers...... Before Corona I had been putting off going to town.....I was waiting for my dental cleaning appt...Besides, My favourite yarn-shop closed......and then Corona hit and left me without supplies......drained.....I know you can empathize with that.......I know I can order on-line, but it jut doesn't work for me for art and craft supplies.......I need to touch.....take it out on the sidewalk in daylight....I need 3 dimensions and all my senses to choose what I want to work with.....I'm whining now....very selfish of me,everyone's in the same boat.....sigh!
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