That Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar

I sure hope you can all see this caterpillar because it is amazing. Jay and I went blueberry picking this morning up at Moore's Orchard in Pomfret, Vermont and Jay found this critter munching away on blueberry leaves.

Neither one of us has ever seen anything like this. It has these sticking-up things that resemble thorny lightbulbs all over its body. They're this wonderful blue underneath, yellow along the top and red on the front of what we guess is the head.

All I could think about was Alice in Wonderland and that line from the Jefferson Airplane song Go Ask Alice: "And that hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call. Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall."

I have got to design an appliqué pattern based on this creature and can't wait to see what it turns into. We brought it home where it's sitting in a plastic jar now filled with fresh blueberry leaves taken from a moribund bush in our yard.

Maybe it's an alien. Or Rita Skeeter from the Harry Potter books.

Cool, huh?