Wild and Woolly

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While heading to the Greenbelt for a walk along the Boise River, Len, Willa, and I passed this wild and woolly, unbelievably curly plant growing in someone’s front yard.

Its corkscrew curls brought to mind that as a child, I had a wild and woolly imagination and a head of hair to match!

Remember the “Little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead?” That was true for me. So was the rest of the ditty: “When she was good, she was very good indeed, but when she was bad she was horrid!” But that’s a story for another time…

Today I still have a wild and woolly imagination, but my hair (though silver now) has toned down a bit. Unless it’s humid outside, then I could be a poster child for Brillo pad.

What attribute have you retained from childhood?

© lauriebuchanan.com

58 thoughts on “Wild and Woolly”

  1. My aunt had lovely curly hair and she hated it, I had poker straight hair and wished mine was curly! For years I permed my hair but now wear it straight. I also kept my wild imagination, gift of the gab and determination from my childhood.

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  2. What a cute little girl! My hair is dead straight and I’ve always longed for some curls, so much so that I had a perm in the early 80s during my 18th year of age, but it turned out awful and had to have it cut. Never again! And I learned to love my straight hair, which happens to be in fashion now.
    What have I retained from my childhood? My energy and hypereactivity! 👍

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  3. Ah, what a little sweetie-pie, Laurie! 🙂 I think one of the most salient attributes that I have retained from childhood is my insatiable need to do things very quickly, almost rushing. I still haven’t learned the art of patience! *grin* Cher xo

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      • LOL That’s me alright! I seem to recall looking at report cards from ‘back in the day’ whereby the comments usually read something like, ‘She needs to take her time when completing her work.’ *biggest grin* Ah, thank you, Laurie! Cher xo

  4. Love, love your photos … I see your unique spirit shinning through.
    I had blond hair, thick and straight. My mom did curl it (rag curls) into locks for special occasions.
    Perhaps because I was the first born of a family that grew to 12 children, I was fiercely independent with an urge to explore. I was also very vocal, asking questions and expressing my opinion (whether or not it was requested).

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  5. Hmmm…what an interesting question! I have – blessedly – grown out of my awful temper, skinny legs and uni-brow. I have held on to my timidness and my love of being alone.

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  8. Is it sad to say I really don’t remember my childhood attributes? Although I do remember that I was very independent at times, and I am still very independent. Perhaps even stubborn.

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  11. Your photos are SPEC-tacular and capture the spunkiness and enthusiasm I have always associated with you, Laurie. I will share this post. 🙂

    As to the question you pose, I have been verbal from an early age: as a child vocal, speaking my mind sometimes to my own detriment, but at this stage, expressing myself more with the written word. Quieter in volume but I hope not in influence.

    The curly plant you posted at the top would be a good visual for “monkey-mind.” Ha!

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    • Marian — You’re an excellent communicator, so I’m not in the least bit surprised that you started at an early age. As for me, I’m delighted to be in your sphere of influence 🙂

      By jove, you’re right. That curly plant WOULD make a great visual for “monkey mind!” 🐒

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  12. I love stories and reading. I read Dr Zhavago at age 5 with my mom helping me with all the names and nicknames. I was hooked on the power of story. Books were my best friends and they still are. I still love to read.
    Laurie you were a cute kid I have one daughter with hair that is like a Brillo pad but it is not curly. She pulls it tight to her head and keeps it long. I was a towhead and it slowly changed to almost black. Wispy thin hair, I can not do anything fun with it – not even a pony tail. I have been thinking about a wig actually lately.

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  13. Hi Laurie,

    There isn’t much in me that I am conscious of that hasn’t been altered in some significant fashion by the experience and contemplation and choices of the last 60 years.

    If anything survives basically unscathed, it is perhaps an insatiable curiosity about how the world works, and how one might optimize it to support life and liberty – and that might just be a fancy way of justifying being a lazy and ill disciplined individual 😉 . I guess it is all about how one looks at such things……

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  14. I loved to write from an early age–in this case the adolescent years 11-14. Earlier, my mother always says “I was such a good baby, good child.” Somehow that mantra helped guide me through the sometimes rocky and meandering young adult years. Less you think it is all good, a tendency to be judgmental also survived. I keep working on that. And my very straight, fine hair gets curly when I sweat a lot, as in when mowing the yard!

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  16. I always envied the little girl with the curly hair. Mine was so straight. Sometime after I grew up, I got waves. Took Mom’s genes a long time to develop, I guess. She had curly hair.

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  18. My childhood hairstyle was a palm tree-like ponytail on the right side top of my head. Appropriate because I’m was born in California. Ha! I loved my dance lessons and still take tap.

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    • Sassy — You’re one of the most well read people I know, and your website screams creativity, so I’m not surprised to learn that these wonderful attributes began for you at a young age 🙂

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  21. Laurie, I’m just guessing here…did they call you Miss Giggles? It certainly would have suited you to T. Curly Q would have worked too. For my own carried over traits, It would be a love of quiet times and places where one can curl up with a good book and read the daylight from the sky. As for the fascinating photo, you have captured a Harry Louder’s Walking Stick, also known a Filbert Contorta. This is very plant I want for the Japanese garden.

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    • Sandi — I know you adore nothing more than peace, quiet, and a good book. And I love your turn of phrase: “…read the daylight from the sky.” Thank you for letting me know what the plant is 🙂

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  22. Ahhhhh so sweet , I love curly hair . 😊
    I guess I was a bit like the girl with the curl , I still am .
    I had kinky hair as a child , like you Laurie , it turned to curls with humid weather . At about 16 it went straight so I adorned it with perms or was it frizz . Then , as if by Magic, my curls returned when I was fiftyish …along with my stubbornness and bad temper …only sometimes. The rest of the time I’m a joy to behold…my husband said something I couldn’t quite hear, so we’ ll ignore him shall we ? What was I saying? Ah yes a joy to behold 🤫
    Cherryx

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  23. What a great question! I was told I was a wild child from 1 to 4, then I learned what the rules were, and I followed them religiously. I became a “good girl.” I think once I approached middle age, and raised my children, I began to let that wild side out again. Not in a rude or disrespectful manner (I was known to sneak out of my room during my mother’s bridge nights, and crawl under the card table and not budge for anything), but in a way that is curious, exploratory, and adventurous. xo

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  24. You were a cute kid, Laurie. From my childhood I keep the attribute (or maybe habit) of being a voracious reader of mystery books. I also like to reconnect with old friends from my childhood and childhood memories (even the bad ones for the memories) but maybe those last two are a sign of age.

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