Redwood fibers

San Francisco, April 15, 1906

Dear Diary,
Daddy talks so much lot about redwood lumber and steamships, McPherson and Wetherbee, and Pacific Lumber.
Daddy is so proud of redwood, its insulating properties, its long-lived nature, fire and moisture resistance. He says it’s distasteful to vermin and insects. But what about redwood cones, fibers, fire and steam? Sometimes I think Daddy should get back to the basics.
The bark can be ten inches thick, and Daddy says it is a waste.
In a dream last night I was the bell of the Easter parade, with a gown woven from the fibers of redwood bark. In my dream I was hot and steaming, and under my gown I was hatching Easter eggs. My Easter bonnet was a redwood burl. Little yellow chicks were scurrying underfoot, chirping and pecking all around me...even as the vermin appeared to dance.
Daddy says you can do so many things with redwoods, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in using the fibers to weave a fabric like the one in my dream, an Easter suite, that could be used to insulate me and so many other chicks. Maybe he doesn’t think it gets cold enough around here, or hot enough for that matter, or that we need to worry about varmits and insects, but I do. I think it would be a strong fabric, useful in hats, blankets and so much more, if you mixed it with natural sheep wool. Just a dream. What do I know?

Your,
Polly (with a future)