Something Knitty

I walked through clouds of dragonflies today.  They hover a few feet above the ground on all the grassy fields and yards in the neighborhood this morning.  From a distance they all look the same dark color. Just big black bugs swarming over the dry grass.  They did not seem to mind me, parting slightly to let me pass then falling back into their ordered randomness.  Their transparent wings propellered through each dodge and weave.  Up close they reveal bodies of gold, chocolate, bronze, copper.  The neighborhood is quiet, but there is just enough noise from (happy for dragonfly breakfast) frogs and distant cars to mask the sound of the dragonflies.  

I imagine their noise, not as a buzz, but as a light metallic shimmer, winding from their wings like invisible ribbons.  

We are about to pack ourselves and our children into the Eurovan and drive 900 miles through the desert.  I would not necessarily say it is the bleakest drive in the world (that stretch along the border through El Paso is pretty bleak, but we're not going that way this year), not is it the most monotonous (SharpSticks wins that one for her drive through the wheat fields of, hm, Alberta was it?), but it does have a certain featurelessness that is typical of much desert driving.  

Half a ripe mango, scored inside and then turned inside out

Sonar X4: "It looks like hair!"
Sonar X7: "Can I put it on my head?"
Sonar X3: "It's Mango Hair!"

Later, to facilitate the fair-sharing of a pint of Ben and Jerry's "Fossil Fuel", I cut the ice cream, carton and all, into four pieces with a big knife. That was also met with delight by all three Sonars.

Teaching them to scoop small bites, suck the ice cream off the fudge dinosaurs, and spit them into their hands for species identification: Probably not such a good idea.

Taking down the laundry this afternoon (all dry but a couple of towels!!), the kids were running around playing. I had tossed the slightly damp towels in the dryer while I took down the other clothes. The dryer vents right underneath the clothesline. When the boys noticed the air coming from the vent, indicating that the dryer was on, they disappeared around the back of the house, returning a moment later.

They had gone to check the electric meter, to see how fast the little wheel was spinning. Apparently, it wasn't spinning too fast, giving them hope that they'd have enough energy for the magic light that fought against the "rising darkness" and the "attack of the alien lasers."

Energy conservation as Imaginary Planetary Defense Support.