18 October 2012

Purple Curlicues, Corvallis, Montana

With seven kids - plus several several siblings-in-law while I was still small - gift wrapping at our house tended to be fairly straight-forward - wrapping paper, tidy folds, a factory issue bow.  Every once in a while someone would use the comics for pizzazz. One Christmas, my oldest brother drew my youngest brother's name, and he wrapped a wristwatch in a microwave-size box inside a smaller box inside an even smaller box... you can imagine the evolution of excitement to laughter, ending back at excitement, since a multi-function wristwatch was coveted that year.
But the actual adornment was always minimal. So, whenever my grade-school self was allowed to tag along to a gifty event like a wedding or baby shower, the wrap jobs featuring curling ribbon entranced me - the sheer effusion, the circular shininess, the ringlet springiness. The first time I watched my aunt actually curl ribbon with a pair of scissors, I was amazed that such extravagance was created by her own hands! I felt a similar surprise upon noticing the whirlwind of curls emerging at this stage of these seed pods.
How could anyone ever be bored in a garden?


  1. At first I thought it was rhubarb. hahah
    Great photos in this series, but as always I can't decide if it is the photos or your writing that is the more engaging and descriptive.

  2. Rhubarb would have a story about sisters sitting on the front steps with little cups of sugar in which to dip fresh rhubarb. :-)


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