Adventures in Dyeing and Cello

This morning my Mom and I went playing in the graveyards. No it's not what y'all are thinking. We got to talking about natural dyes and decided to start with lichens. And since lichens grow on oak trees we figured that the best place to find fallen oak limbs covered in lichens would be in the graveyards. So that's where we went. We started off just trying to scrape the lichens off at the cemetary, but quickly decided to just throw the limbs in my trunk to be harvested later. Let's just say that my trunk now has a very oaky/licheny scent. We also gathered some wild growing mimosa flowers while we were out.

When we got home we soaked the mimosa flowers in some alcohol but that didn't work. Tomorrow I will be gathering more flowers and trying the different methods of extracting the dye. Plus I've spotted some interesting looking berries in my parents' backyard and some wild black eyes susans in the ditches around my house. I could be gaining a rather random reputation if this keeps up. I also think I'm going to talk to my next door neighbor about buying her goats' milk and attempting soap. This could get very interesting. I hope I don't blow something up. If I do I promise to post pictures of the destruction.

After my adventures this morning playing nature woman I came home, freshened up and changed into my all black ensemble. I arrived at the Church early and spent some time reading before we played. The concert went well and I was surprised to see that several prominent local violinists joined us for the first piece, a Tchaikovsky, that was dedicated to the memory of the conductor's wife. She had been a rather well known violinist in the Northeast and I'm sorry that I never had the opportunity to meet her or hear her play. The way the conductor spoke about her made her seem like a very special lady.

Tomorrow I look for more plants and start cleaning a fleece in the front yard. This will be my first time playing with a raw fleece so wish me luck.