Happily enjoying the spring weather now, the distractions come in all forms…I am doing my best to turn the distractions into helpful moments. For example, one distraction that became ritual was a beckoning to hike in the woods down the street from my house. Every possible morning, I lace up my hiking boots, leash my dog and set out through the brush that leads to the trail head. We spend 30 minutes to an hour walking the trails and letting our minds wander completely. This time is perfect for gearing up for the day, problem solving a book idea that won’t untangle, or just to start the morning with some peace.

With the spring also comes a time when I need to get back to the bench and create new work. I have been occupied with some volunteer duties during March and April: the Guild of Book Workers Midwest Chapter Annual Meeting and the Bloomington Open Studios Tour, both of which I will post about in more detail soon. There is a lot of fun in store for me this year but in order to get to them all, I need to be especially on top of things.

A thought from the trail…

I found this branch full of tent caterpillars. They are exploding right now – not literally, they are just all hatching at the same time everywhere. I pretty literally stumbled upon them and my first glance at this fistful of squirming hairy creatures was, “Ugh!”. Then I took another two seconds to remember that I wasn’t that grossed out. After thinking about it a little longer, I realized that it is just shocking to see small things in large numbers. It calls to mind a pile of ants I discovered under one of my beloved potted plants tending to their pile of rice (this is a less nasty thought for me than a pile of ant eggs). It is an interesting idea though. Outside of bugs, what else has the appearance of being off putting in large numbers but not as single items or creatures? Could be an interesting book idea…