Feathers for Holly& Me

"Pretty!" Holly said, as soon as I pulled my new brown and orange marabou boa from the Walmart bag. That much we agreed on. I'd eyed the same strings of feathers a few times previously, thinking about the crawdad jigs they could become, and had finally decided to bring one home and put it to use.

Holly seemingly saw a different beauty in the feathers, though, because she immediately removed my new purchase from my hands, wrapped it around her neck and repeated, "Pretty!" Again, I could only agree.

I figure we can both enjoy the boa for now. I can trim feathers as needed to tie crawfish pattern Ugly Bugs, and she wants to throw the soft feathers over her shoulders and parade around in pretty colors, there will be plenty of feathers left to enjoy for quite some time.

Of course, when the boa does get sparse, I can always go search out another one. I wonder if Holly would think black or olive feathers were pretty?

Craft Store Gems

Officially, my wife and I were shopping for my daughter, picking up art supplies from Michael's and Hobby Lobby. The fur and feathers that caught my eye wouldn't go into Sarah's art. To me, they looked like bodies and tails for flies and jigs.

Actually, the packages looked a lot like the ones that hang from hooks in fly shops, with the main differences being that the packages were bigger and the price tags were smaller. I understand that not all marabou or craft hair is created equal. Given my unrefined tying skills, though, the craft store stuff should work just fine, and I'm eager to start tying.

Considering the fact that it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and spit a mix of rain and snow the next day, I might be trying out the new fur and feathers really soon. And then soon after, I hope to introduce some trout to a few buggy new creations.