NEW TREND: TATTOOS ON BUTTERFLY WINGS!

This page from Mrs. Trowbridge's journal takes me back to those summer days in the high meadows of the Olympic Mountains, where Mrs. Trowbridge once lived. It brings back memories of a summer skinny-dip swim in Sundown Lake with our son, Brad. Or strolling through the high meadows among the lupine flowers swaying in the summer breeze, while rare endemic butterflies fluttered around us. This page makes me long for summer. It doesn't come to the high meadows until mid or late summer.

You may recall from a previous episode that Madam Lucy opened a tattoo parlor so that ladybugs could get their shells tattooed. Now she's tattooing butterfly wings...

MRS. T and the DRAGON

Some have asked how the Trowbridge shrews passed their time during the long cold winters in the rain forest. Mrs. Trowbridge would be quick to point out that the winters were as busy as the summers, with numerous wintertime tasks to keep them occupied.

This is the time that Mrs. T reserved for darning and mending well-worn items of clothing for her family...a sweater or socks for the children, an overcoat for Woodrow. She used thistledown, spun into thread, for all her sewing and mending tasks. A scarf made with thistledown was soft, warm and cozy.

Today's page is among my favorites from Mrs. T's easel. In this painting she records her first encounter with a dragon while on a trip to the high meadows with family and friends.

FAMILY GATHERING

Most of the Trowbridge family reunions were held at Violet's brother's cottage in Huckleberry Hollow. His name was Thaddeus. She often spoke fondly of him in her writings. Thaddeus' nest went deep underground, allowing plenty of room for fun and revelry, and making his nest ideal for large family gatherings.

The flowers in the window box of Mrs. Trowbridge's painting (above) are the Western Bog-laurel (Kalmia microphylla). The yellow flower in the clay pot is the Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa), a member of the rose family. Finally, the Nootka Rose (Rosa Nutkana), pictured above. We've encountered this lovely flower often in open areas of the forest on our way to the high meadows.

The hips or seed pods of the Nootka Rose are edible but a little bitter. They are said to be delicious after being frozen and thawed, which seems to destroy most of the bitterness. Many of you may have enjoyed rose hip tea. Mrs. T was immovable in her fondness for rose hip tea...it was her favorite drink on cold winter mornings.

ROLLIN' ALONG

Here's page two from Mrs. Trowbridge's story about a little shrew who found an egg beside the trail. The story will unfold in the coming weeks. Then, who knows, I might offer it as a book.

Click here for information on our upcoming Painting in Paradise workshop. We leave for Rarotonga on January 10, 2009.

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