It's pure coincidence that I was buying lima beans at the farm stand on Monday, at the same time I was tying fringes on the spooled silk shawl, but the parallel between the colors was hard to miss.
The shawl has been washed and steam pressed. It has a delightfully crinkly hand, probably because of the silk noil weft, and a good drape. There's more than enough warp left for another shawl, but I have to pause a bit and meditate on the color of the next weft. I do have some orange bamboo of the right weight. Hm-m-m.
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In the book department, I've just finished reading River Town by Peter Hessler, a memoir of the author's Peace Corps assignment in rural China. It's a moving account of cross-cultural attempts at communication and a portrait of a country poised on the brink of enormous change. Hessler was assigned to teach English at a teachers' college in Wuhan, a town at the juncture of the Yangtze and Wu rivers. His students came mostly from rural backgrounds, and he witnessed their reactions to momentous events such as the death of Deng Xiaoping, the return of Hong Kong to China, and the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The narrative is moving and at times hilariously funny. I couldn't put this book down. Highly recommended.