it's a wrap, folks.

my four days in Los Angeles have sped by.

Claudia and her family have been so very kind

made me welcome, fed and watered me,

given me a comfy bed

& taken me to gaze at extraordinary flowers in the dark of the night.

today was the last day of our class

there was much last minute bundling

a good deal of stitching

considerable trepidation when faced with cutting

 

and at the very end

the New Orleans tradition of lagniappe 

[something extra]

introduced in San Francisco by Nikki

made its way into our class as well

during our preparation day for the class

Claudia had taken me to Runyon Canyon

to gather windfalls

i happened to notice a large infestation of Dactylopius coccus*

on an Opuntia cactus

we scraped a small amount off with a stick

[about a half teaspoon's worth]

and i put it in my backpack

today it became the last bundle

not a bad wrap at all.

* for those wondering what a Dactylopius is
it's cochineal
meaning the red stuff is beetlejuice. literally.