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Layla Delridge is the designer, seamstress and model for Ledthread. She came out from Brooklyn to shoot her new line of clothes in the desert with me. (And to sneak in a little rock climbing…)
The black thing in the background is Rosa Muerta, the “house” we stayed in for the weekend. It’s on a dirt road just outside the city of Joshua Tree. Layla and I had both dreamed of staying here after seeing an article about it in the New York Times last year.
There’ve been a ton of stories done about this place and its sister house down the road, Acido Dorado, so I’m not going to say much except that they are beautiful and amazing. Also that Rosa Muerta taught me something important about myself. I can’t do black on black when it comes to architecture and furniture. I bonked my head on beams and doors that were invisible to me—especially because I was wearing a hat and watching the ground for the cacti and mean plants that act as landscaping. Beams protrude unexpectedly from the sides of this structure, and they happened to be right at my forehead height. BONK. I had many near misses and two really bad goose-egg-crying-pounding-headache bonks. By the end of the weekend, I was very mad at this house.
A few years ago, when I broke my arm, (learning to walk like a gorilla in the green room at Club Fais Do-Do—thanks Derich) it was also a black on black accident. Black floor + black walls = black sofa invisible to Bonnie while walking backwards in heels and tutu.
The other thing of note about an all black house in Joshua Tree is that the little desert critters stand out really well. I camp a lot, and am not usually freaked out by creepy crawlies. But when their desert camouflage is blown, you realize just how many are around you. Eeeeesh.
There were two mice in the bedroom when we arrived Friday night. We named them Grungy and Bungy. Grungy was liberated early on, Bungy (below) in the morning. By nightfall Saturday, there were another two (or three) more mice in the bedroom.
The thing on the right was one of many that ran all over the floor at night, especially in the outdoor room, which is where I slept. Layla said they weren’t arachnids because they had ten legs. I thought they looked rather scorpion-y and therefore tried not to step on them in my bare feet. (UPDATE: a friend identified them as Wind Spiders or Wind Scorpions. They are neither spiders nor scorpions but Solifugids.)
In the morning, the spidery things were replaced by these caterpillar wormy things. They were everywhere! Luckily, Layla and I have complimentary critter wrangling strengths. I’m good at disposing of mice, she’s better with the wormy things.
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But by far, the coolest critter of all was this guy who wandered through our “set” and was all “WTF???” I wanted to pick him up, but Layla said it would not be polite. All in all a great weekend and lots of fun! Thanks, Ledthread!
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