Molly Bee's Attic

Always on the lookout for new experiences (and ways with potential for getting lost, hurt, looking foolish, ending up on 'Cops' or any combination of those things) I saw an ad on Facebook for 'Monarch Butterfly Taggers'. The Madison Audubon group was asking for volunteers to go to the Goose Pond Sanctuary in Arlington to capture, tag and release Monarchs for the folks at Monarchwatch.org who track their migration to Mexico each year. Goose Pond is gorgeous and the fields were blooming with goldenrod and fall asters. It was a little breezy, but warmed up quickly. Couldn't have picked a better day for capturing the Wee Beasties. After a short how-to on how to capture, tag and release we were off! That's 'Capture' (see the net??)... 'Tag' (that little sticker on the wing) And 'Release' You'd think for sure they would just fly in circles with that sticker on their wings but they don't. Experiment co...

I saw the same ads you all did a while back; the ones for the baked donut pans and accompanying paraphernalia for making a 'healthy' alternative to the fat-laden breakfast treats. I thought it looked cool but wasn't willing to pay $19.99 for them because nothing EVER works like it does in those infomercials. My Momma's so proud she din't raise up no fool!  But then I found the whole kit and caboodle, still in the box, a couple of summers ago for $1 at a yard sale. Well now. I won't ruin $20 worth of ingredients on a $19.99 pan but for a $1..... Maybe my Momma should reconsider, They've just been sitting in my pan cupboard since then. I KNEW they would be awful so why bother! (I know, don't try to figure out the wonky thought process. I've long since given up.) But then I poked around Pinterest. Dog help me, but some of my greatest successes AND failures have started with the phrase 'I saw this thing on Pinterest'; a phrase that's t...

While out and about last Friday, I saw this peeking out of the tall grass under a big tree over by Farm and  Fleet. I suspected it was a giant puffball.  I had seen several from afar and lots on-line, but never gotten up and personal with one, so of course I trudged across the field and picked it.  Here it is in the trunk of the car. As I approached it in the field, I thought I had been mistaken. This is the top and it looked like a giant blog of that liquid insulation stuff...we were by Farm and Fleet, a giant hardware and farming equipment store,after all. But the minute I touched it (and smelled it) I knew it was the real deal.  It grows on the ground so it took me a few minutes to evict the myriad of creepy-crawlies that lived on the mushroom's underside.  I brought it home and set it on our patio table, It was significantly larger than a basketball, and a solid, fleshy 5.7#!  I knew that the scuttlebutt on my Nature group on-line has...

This week's Diva Challenge was to just draw stripes across the tile as a string. Never one to follow directions, mine are curvy instead of straight but there you go. This was definitely a therapeutic tangle for me! Thanks for the challenge, Laura!

I got my safe, secure, little world rocked to its core this week. I stopped at a local gas station to get an iced tea and a bag of peanuts on my way to work. I had been working at home all morning while a handyman installed our new storm door and had rushed out afterward forgetting lunch. As I entered the store, I heard a loud gentleman, with a pronounced Southern accent, talking to some people on the other side of the store. The only reason I noticed was because of the strong accent, not that they were yelling or fighting or anything. I got my iced tea and nuts and proceeded to the front of the store. The man with the accent was now alone. He grabbed my arm and asked me if there were any restaurants around here within walking distance. I pointed out a few, while trying to gently extricate my arm. He tightened his grip and said that they were too far away for him to walk, and that he wasn't from around here, and that I would be driving him. Still trying to be reasonable and half ...

I took an Intro to Meditation class at the local library tonight. I've meditated a bit in the past but wanted to get an overview of some of the different methods available. The class started at 7PM.  The room was so heavy with patcholi incense that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay.  My nose plugged up and my eyes watered, but I finally lost my sense of smell and then it was somewhat OK. But by 7:15 I had failed the course completely. My mellow was so thoroughly harshed that it's lucky I didn't hurt someone. In what universe do you sign up for a 7PM MEDITATION course, show up 10-15 late and then enter the room, gabbing loudly on your cell phone,  asking people to move so you and your equally tardy and talkative friend can sit together, and asking what you missed?  And it wasn't just one or two people. It was about ten, one or two at a time, spaced in intervals that exactly matched when we'd just got calmed down from the last idiots that crash...

After talking about it for two years, I finally purchased a wee kayak earlier this summer. I looked on line for a way to load it onto the top of my car to carry it. I found a good solution which involved pool noodles and ratchet straps so I went out and purchased everything I would need, then waited for a good day to go out. When I was available, it rained....or was windy. When I was at work, it was gorgeous...all....summer....long. Finally I decided this weekend was the weekend. The weather was supposed to be good and I had a couple of friends lined up to go with me. I went out Friday night to load the kayak. I put the noodles on the car. I lifted the kayak up...and...the pool noodles fell off. I tried it again, same thing. I finally masking taped the ^&* noodles to the car and got the 30# kayak up over my head for the third time and got it settled on the foam. Now for the ratchet straps. I'd never used them before but they were pretty straight forward and I got them ov...

I've been setting aside tangles that I've created in a special file in my cabinet. When I put one in last night, I realized that I had quite a stockpile and that I hadn't put only of them out there for others to try...so here they all are. I'm not good at stepouts or at naming. Most of them are named after placed in Maine...just because. I'd love to see any tangles that you've done that use any of these patterns! Have fun and tangle on!

It was the weekend of museums!  Actually the long weekend of museums.  On Monday, friends Scott and Michael and I, hit the open road to Oshkosh to see the Downtown Abbey costume exhibit at the Payne  Museum. What a magnificent venue to have it in! The Payne House is a Tudor mansion and they had each of the rooms decked out a la Downton. Pictures weren't allowed; a fact I didn't know until I got busted about 3/4 of the way through.  Ooops! Oh well, my life of crime is your gain. The Dowager's Tea Dress Lady Edith Shirley McLaine wore this! Yum! Loves me a sharp dressed man!  I think men should still dress like this! Biking outfit They didn't have any costumes from my darling Mr. Bates, but it's probably for the best. I'm sure I would have caused quite a ruckus and more of a security breach than I already did. I took a lot more photos if anyone is interested, let me know and I'd love to share. After the exhibit, w...

This morning I headed to Dubuque, Iowa to the Upper Mississippi Museum.  I started up under where it says 'You are here' in Madison. I went to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibit and it was AMAZING.  They wouldn't let you take any pictures though.  When you get to the entryway, they give you a boarding pass with a name and bio of a passenger on the ship. There are costumed folks that introduce themselves along the way as passengers of the ship.  There are posters, photos, artifacts all the way through and even a real iceburg that you could touch. Then at the end there's a big board of names and you find the name on your boarding pass and see if you survived the sinking. My name was Edith Evans and I was a first class passenger so I knew I probably made it. I smuggly joshed with folks along the way who said that they were third class passengers; saying that it was 'nice to know them'. When I got to the end, I found that I WENT DOWN WITH THE SHIP. I was one ...