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For many years my dad worked at The Institute for Textile Technology just outside of Charlottesville Virginia. This was a research institution jointly funded by several major American textile companies back in the days before textile manufacture almost completely moved overseas. ITT was a cool place for a kid. They had a bamboo forest that wasn't quite big enough to get lost in, but at least big enough to convincingly pretend to be lost in. My dad worked in the library, which provided some cachet, but much cooler than that, I talked an elementary school teacher into taking my class out there. We saw the machine that made knitted hats, which many people call toboggans. After watching a row of hats being made almost by magic, each of us kids got one. Years later, after puberty, I went with my father to the machine shop there. Somewhat stereotypically one entire wall was covered with girly pictures, showing a lot of girl. This was something of a revelation to me, partly because I learned that some guys fantasized about women with breasts larger than their heads. It was hard to wrap my head around that, no pun intended.

One time, dad dug up a couple of bamboo roots for me. He let me plant them across the road from our property, on a lot that had not yet been sold and was still entirely forested. I also wonder whether the small patch of bamboo was a disincentive for the sale of that lot in future years.