this explains everything -- really!

an earwig whose life
led it into my kitchen
and onto my counter
lay dead in some honey
left in a small glass
overnight on the counter
from soothing my throat
that was sore from my coughing
to dislodge the cheerio
drunk from my tea.
the cheerio was on
the spoonful of milk 
from my cereal i add 
to my tea every morning
but this time a cheerio
got in and choked me
and made my throat sore
and the honey that soothed it
has killed this small earwig
and there you have karma
in case you had wondered

.

washing machines

one of my friends has to get a new washing machine, so i've been surveying other friends to see what they have and how they like it. of all the choices, it seems my Second Life washer is the best!

it's attractive, easy to operate, never breaks, 
plus it does your clothes, your hair, you, even your shoes

it uses very little water, and is LOADS OF FUN WHIRLING YOU AROUND
until it spits you out along with some bubbles

all clean and refreshed.

the brand seems to be Surprising Laundry, and on top of all that, it was FREE!
 

no no no not the crickets!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

heard the first one yesterday. you know what it means...summer is coming to an end. my heart always sinks when i hear the first cricket, just when i am getting warmed up finally!
i can't help but remember Charlotte's Web:

The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer's ending, a sad, monotonous song. "Summer is over and gone," they sang. "Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying."
The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year--the days when summer is changing into fall--the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.

postcard from the vacationing blog

i am like a god! a carelessly destructive one, as most seem to be, whose purposes are unfathomable to the creatures whose lives i disturb.
six cords of firewood for the winter were delivered and dumped in our driveway a month ago.
most years i would be stacking it in the garage, whenever so moved, not rushing, enjoying the process, but not this year.
john has promised the job to the kid (the one who mows our lawn) and arranged to pay him by the job. is it my bit of scottish DNA playing up that keeps me therefore from moving so much as one piece? perhaps i could divide the number of pieces into the quoted price and subtract each one i move?
today i had to relocate a few pieces to weigh down the tarp over the lawn mower. (i've learned not to say tarpaulin, as i have gone into stores to ask for this and been told they never heard of such an item).
as i said, the wood has been there a month now. i picked up the first piece, at the edge of the pile, and there, curled under it, was a red eft, surely one of nature's most sweetly innocent and vulnerable looking creatures. i carefully replaced the wood feeling like i had done something bad.
as i went on choosing and removing pieces, i caused monstrous upheavals in critter land. entire nations of earwigs... mothers, fathers, babies... were sent screaming in panic in every direction!
ants of course live and store their eggs everywhere, and can hardly be avoided being disturbed with every step. it doesn't help to know that ants will die if lost from their family of sisters, and that earwig mothers actually watch over their young until they grow big enough to fend for themselves.
the slugs...well i'm not sure if they were male, female, both, child or adult, and i'm not even sure they noticed that the log was moved. i have read that slime mold is quite intelligent, but i don't know of any research involving slugs.

avatars?

for his children to play with, he carved 3,500 individual pieces from scrap wood and hand painted them in his spare time over 40 years. that's the Kirk Bros Circus by Edward Kirk. this includes the animals, the aerialists, the pop-corn vendors, wagons, tent poles, and the audience, and more, each individual...and the arms are attached, not clothes-pin style! the Shelburne Museum has this on display - it's huge!

 the museum also has the most amazing collection of over 500 old circus posters, too!

and if that's not enough, it has Roy Arnold's miniature carved circus parade, scaled 1' = 1 foot, and it is 525 feet in length. Shelburne Museum has a special building dedicated to it so that you walk through a curved narrow building unable to see ahead too far, as if the circus were coming along past you. there are 400 horses, each individually carved. and very ornate wagons for each performer or animal! one wagon, based on a real one, has 40 horses pulling it. the real one had reins that weighed 72 lbs!
 
i wish i could find an online in-color picture of a particularly ornate colorful poster with a great deal of captions using all the literary devices known to circus, (hyperbole, aliteration, testimonials) to entice the customer -- it's Minting the Marvel who rode his unicycle up and down a steep high spiral in the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Bros circus...the MOST HAZARDOUS JOURNEY EVER TAKEN BY MAN! hah...he wasn't even knitting!

DNR

a perfect day for the company summer outing! we spent the afternoon at the lake with burgers and hotdogs and potluck salads and desserts. a bright warm sun, the sky blue with those fluffy decorative clouds, and the breeze was cool and steady. we had horseshoes and vollyeball, and some of us went out in the park's pedal boats. willie's wife didn't want to pedal, so i went with him. after a tour around the lake looking at some of the houses, we pedaled out to the middle and sat in the sun for awhile. something reminded me...willie has a pacemaker and a heart condition.

"Willie" i said "should you be doing this? you could have a heart attack."

"i could!!" he said brightly.

"well what should i do if you have one?" i said.

"nothing." he replied.

"do you have a DNR?"

"yep."

"well, ok then."

best movie ever? could be!

still the greatest movie ever made...EVERYONE is in it! and great music too!
who better to watch with than a drive-in full of tinies!


and Makepeace!
it's
THE MUPPET MOVIE!!!

madeleine sighting!

"i saw madeleine!" said john.
i was amazed and very happy!
last year our new next door neighbor was clearly pregnant, and sometime in the winter, when neighbors don't get much of a look at each other, she became coat-won't-button size and then apparently had her baby.
we didn't see baby, but john talked briefly with mr. neighbor one day and asked what they named their baby.
"madeleine" was the reply. they aren't the talkative sort.
usually people walk up and down the street with their offspring on their back in the winter, but they didn't.
then spring came and we listened for baby sounds from next door, but heard none. we saw them in their back yard, chatted with them across the poison ivy patch that makes good neighbors, but never saw a baby. and they never mentioned one!
we began to wonder if perhaps ... something bad... had happened?
they'd had a baby and given her a name, but didn't seem to have one? not something you can ask about after 6 months!
then finally today summer came, and after about 8 months, there was madeleine being strollered up the street for all the world to see, and cute as could be!
whew. we are sooo happy!

Raglan Shire vs Elf Clan

a few snaps on the Tiny World Cup match referred to on my previous blog
it turns out Osprey was a ref! sorry i mean she was a goalie!

here's a detailed description by Elf Clan's Erin Padar
http://elfclan.ning.com/profiles/blogs/da-greatest-soccer-game-ever

it's a tie!

i did it!  i went to a second life event and remembered to take pictures! it wasn't hard because whenever i am at events with tinies, i just reach for my camera cause they are SOOOO CUTE!  today after the Tiny World Cup game with the Elf Clan (it was a tie) the celebration was mostly tinies, who love any reason to celebrate!  here are some snaps. i forgot to get names, altho the debonair warthog in the tux and top hat is my friend Monty. oh and i am the gerbil in the pith helmet with goldfish swimming round me.

Eshqua Bog June 15

1700 miles from my everglades walk, another kind of orchid is in full bloom.
the Showy Lady's Slipper, threatened or endangered in most states, is alive and well in Vermont's 2 acre fen called Eshqua Bog.               my pictures don't do it justice!

just a few miles from my office, on a dirt road off a dirt road off a back road. the show goes on for one rainy week each year. you walk on muddy trails or some boardwalks with orchids on every side, in amongst the ferns and cattails and all manner of bog plants.

there are some informational signs near the ground. at one spot if you push away a pretty 3-some of green leaves, you can read a sign that says "poison ivy" and gives its latin name.

and best of all -- there are no alligators.

bumper cars!

when i get involved in something fun in Second Life, i forget to take pictures! what kind of blogger is that! on Sunday at Show & Tell, Lorin showed the cutest funniest little bumper car that you wear as an avatar, with the funniest sound effects and crazy physics. 
he blamed it on Madcow, altho Lorin did the sounds of course. then he gave them out free to the audience and we started changing into bumper cars and it was a free-for-all! so much fun, but i never took a single snapshot! 
oh and then Blood showed a tiny flying pirate ship he's made, that you wear and you become the captain behind the wheel as you fly around...he wasn't giving them away, but they will surely be available in Raglan.  again...no picture to paste here! i vow to do better by my blog in the future.
here's a picture of me as a bumper car, taken later

 

singing!

what's that?
some kids.
oh it sounded like music.
it is -- they are singing.
outside?
yes two girls going down back street.

my mouth and eyes open round in astonishment
i thought that went out with hula hoops!
my friends and i used to sing all the time
walking all over town
even in college walking to get our mail we'd sing.

we did too -- even guys did
we sang top 40's songs
walking around, boys and girls,
or in the gym.

we sang on the playground too
do kids still do that?

*shrugs*

why did they stop?

uncanny cat

i was sitting in my gypsy wagon home in second life. i'd stopped in after a few days absence to check messages and clear up notices. some commotion was going on under the wagon...oh it was fussby, my cat, banging around disturbed and frantic.
i know very well he is just a computer program, a very clever one that behaves like a cat! and yet i felt his disturbed state. he wanted to be with me, but has never figured out to go up the stairs and enter the wagon.
i went outside and he ran to me right away. a creepy feeling came over me. he missed me. he was lonely. omg. too creepy.
i sat on the ground and he came over to my lap. i petted him. he purred.
i'd been about to click off, but decided to put a pillow down by the river and lie down. he came over and lay near me, calm now. 

i left my computer on so my avatar would remain with him until i went to bed in real life and left second life.
this morning i checked on him and he was sleeping peacefully in his basket, even as i did a few chores around the wagon.

 
it's the uncanny valley created by my own projections...or is it?

-

bats gone

evenings we sat out late with friends at the picnic table and at dusk the bats appeared.
startling and a little frightening, they'd fly right towards you and then
suddenly
without slowing down
fly up
over
or around you.
we learned not to freak out
they ate the mosquitos, and
they were our bats after all.
sometimes the children danced around as the bats swooped.
bats sleep more than any other mammal, so soon it was dark and they were gone to roost. we never knew where ours lived, never saw them come out of some hole or tree.
we assumed they lived in the old barn two houses up, or maybe even in our garage, altho we never saw one there.
one summer a single lone bat lived in the eaves of our back porch and we had to sweep bat shit off the chairs every day.
probably a male, as we read that they live alone, but we called it Nora Batty after the tv character.
each year we had fewer bats it seemed, until we hit six.
in spring we watch for them and count.
they held steady for a few years
against white nose fungus and upgrading of houses,
but this year
there are none.
the empty dusk feels lonely.

strange doings in town

the phoebe, guarding his nest, is making the cat-alert sound.
eventually an orange stripey one materializes from under the car
and saunters off past our garage leaving momentary silence.
which is when i notice the background noise, actually quite loud,
but so familiar to me from my childhood as to be of no interest - construction/destruction noises. the beep beep beep and crashing and wrenching.
something is being torn down.
oh yes, Jason's house. one block over
right by the brook, the river, the rushing tumbling frenzy
of rocks and ice-cold water cascading down the hills over rocks and ledges,
making waterfalls and swimming holes where generations have bruised their
numb blue feet and learned to swim.
a rich man, a very very very rich man,
has decided this ugly house should not rest beside and in fact own all this natural beauty.
Jason was raised in the house, and now raises his family there,
his parents have moved a few towns over.
he has site preparation experience and the contacts
and equipment needed to destroy his own house.
first he is demolishing the garage ... which was his father's livelihood years ago,
but burned to the ground, and we the neighbors all pitched in so he could rebuild.
sure it was ugly, but the river and falls were beautiful despite it, and they are good people.
happily, Jason and his family will still be in town. 
they're buying 70 acres of woods and meadow
and building themselves a log home.

new hairs in second life

tried to email pics of my new hair -- it moves so well when dancing, doesn't stab me  -- but got nowhere, so i'll just put them here to share! (click to see larger)

porn for candy lovers

a few years ago for a winter project john and i decided to try to rate all the dark chocolate bars we could get our hands on. we wrote up the ratings and emailed it to everyone we knew. it was fun!

now i've found a site that takes it even further with sort of pinup centerfolds for candy lovers!

"Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world."

you can search by country, ingredients, ratings, maker, everything but maybe color!

to sleep....why bother!

the sun pressed down on the fields like bleach.
the temperature rose into the 90s, and people who laughed boldly in the face of 30 below cower in whatever air conditioning they can find.
by 8 pm it was still daylight despite the drop of the sun into the western hills, as
the ginormous moon in the east continued to broadcast the sun's rays.
upstairs under slanted ceilings of the cape, built to stay warm not cool, it was stifling.
the bedroom was bright with light from the windows, wide open to catch any stray coolness rising off the rivers,
by 9 pm non-stop violent flashes crack the crazed sky to the north.
no sound of thunder.
falling asleep despite all this, until quiet thunder wakes me and then -- tock --tock -- clunk ...clunk the rain and hail begin.
soon the cracking thunder rolls truly thunderously, and the hiss clunk tock and rattle accelerate on the metal roof.
no sleep now, until things slow down and ... actual cool air comes in the room!
at last.
but then suddenly come the fire engines, fast as lightning thru the silent village, sirens blaring, outrunning even doppler!  at least the fire is not nearby, or they would not be speeding thru.
i fall asleep and dream of florida.

phoebe disguises self as clothespin

here is the little sneak who built a nest on my porch light fixture (see previous post)

and below is a special SCRATCH AND SNIFF of my lilacs!! click picture for full effect

Bay City parade with Ducks On Bikes!

anyway, the ducks had a blast in the Bay City 2nd Anniversary parade, and even more fun at the after party, which Osprey captured so well -- so much energy and fun, i just wish you could hear the quacking and the blutophones.

some of the ducks got into line-dancing and had a real talent for it!

back porch mystery!

another mystery. something on the floor of my back porch got my attention. here's what i saw. can you guess?

tiny broken eggs! awwwww.
i knew phoebes had been scouting the porch, but i thought they had rejected it...no place to build!
i checked the rafters and saw no nest. uh-oh!

there, on top of the light...those idiots!
but still...why are the eggs on the ground? is this couple new to it all and built a bad nest? did we leave the light on and cook the eggs? did one of those bad cowbirds throw out the eggs and leave their own to be raised as phoebes?

time will tell, now we have to leave the light off and tiptoe around on the porch for a few weeks, chase local cats away, until our babies fly!

more strangeness

i wish i had actually made an entropy detector, i could have tested it yesterday.
how many people actually sit down and write a letter to someone by snail mail? i sure don't get many...a card now and then with a note on it ...that's about it.
yesterday, sunday, a beautiful spring day at last, although there was another hard frost last night, friends called in the morning and then drove over to our house. they brought a letter they had gotten (hand-written!) in the mail. they wanted john's opinion.
that done, we spent half the day digging up perennials to share with them.
after they'd gone, and after i had been a duck-on-a-bike in a second life parade, another friend called. he then came by with a letter (hand-written) he had gotten and wanted john's opinion.
low entropy? i think so!
i should have bought a lottery ticket!

spring birds and snow birds

yes, my poppet, the birds are back!

remember when we watched flocks of geese flying overhead? now the pretty warblers are back too, and the snowbirds.

what's that? you want to be a bird? 
in this life, someday you can be a snowbird.

oh yes, my dear, the snowbirds can fly.
they love the sun and follow the long days. in the spring they flock together to fly north and spend summer where days are long; but not so far north that they will be very cold!

in winter when days grow short, they fly back south, but not so far south that they will be in strange and dangerous lands.

do we see them fly overhead?
sometimes we do, but mostly they are above the clouds, and in an airplane.

not long ago, i had the great good luck, i will show you a picture dear, to witness a large flock in florida just getting ready to board their plane -- heading north to connecticut!
more than 15 of them had gathered in one flock, in their spring colors, all in a line, ready to fly!

stolen from the Valley News

from today's Valley News

Troublesome Beavers Win the Day in Thetford
By Kerry Trotter
Valley News Staff Writer

Thetford -- If beavers could party, there might be a few near Godfrey Road wearing lampshades about now. Town officials announced yesterday that the family of beavers once sentenced to death would be spared, as funding has been secured for a steel plate to reinforce Godfrey Road, where an aging culvert and beaver dams have combined to undermine the road surface. “I feel really good about it because there were so many citizens who worked so hard on this issue,” said resident Laura Shepard. “Everybody had a part to play and everybody played it for a good resolution.” At Monday's Selectboard meeting, it was Shepard who alerted the board that the grant awarded to the town for a new box culvert at the trouble spot could be amended to include money for a plate. Selectboard Chairman Tig Tillinghast, in contact with the same state official as Shepard, received confirmation and was given the go-ahead to buy a plate. While many logistical odds and ends remain, planning is under way and the plate should be installed soon. Monday's Selectboard meeting yielded a 3-2 vote in favor of allowing three days to explore the possibility of acquiring an inch-thick, 8-by-20-foot steel plate that would ensure safe passage over the culvert.
Many in attendance complained that three days was too little time to scrape together the money-- $2,500 to rent a plate, $3,500 to buy. Tillinghast said that within 18 hours of Monday's meeting he'd received enough pledges from townspeople to fund a rental of the plate, and now those folks can hold on to their money.“We knew we were going to pursue an increase in the grant,” Tillinghast said. “We didn't want to put it on the taxpayers.”The steel plate suggestion came courtesy of Fran Haugen, whose fix has been dubbed “The Fran Plate” around Town Hall. "I'm pleased the idea was acted on,” Haugen said. “That was very gratifying.”Godfrey Road spans Class II wetlands, where a handful of beavers live and dam. A vessel of choice had long been the old culvert near Quail John Road. Initial jury-rigged attempts at blocking off beavers' access were unsuccessful, and a sizable clog developed.
About three weeks ago, foreman Doug Stone arrived with a backhoe and a large log to ram through the debris, and the washed out road beneath Stone's wheel buckled. The Selectboard, fearing worse could happen, acted swiftly and voted to trap and kill the beavers. The decision prompted vociferous opposition among many townspeople, special meetings, several delays, some creative thinking, and now, the final beaver repriever. The dilapidated culvert, which some say posed a safety risk even without the beavers, now has a plastic culvert around it. The opening has since been effectively fenced to keep the beavers out, and Stone's daily visits amount to removing a little mud and some grass. The Selectboard has been paying midnight visits to keep an eye on water levels. Since the washout, all's been quiet on the Godfrey Road front. The plate installation will require continued monitoring of the area, and Tillinghast said the grant money would include a flow control device that would act as a beaver deterrent. The new, bigger culvert, which may arrive as soon as June, is expected to be more beaver-friendly. As for the plate, the chairman is pleased with the outcome. “We are preserving this long-term ethic Thetford has that we live among wildlife,” Tillinghast said, adding that respectful discourse fueled a favorable outcome. “We really didn't want to kill the beavers.” The hefty number of the wetland-dwellers in the area and beyond surely means more human-beaver conflict down the line, but officials and residents have done their homework and now know what to expect. “It's not a fait accompli,” Haugen said, “but it's certainly looking good.”

some snow early sunday and some more late last night

and this isn't really a poem, i just write this way

at 6 pm saturday night
out back i saw the small rain,
the pale light spring rain
a curtain of fine rain

the sun had slipped below clouds
and shining through the drops,
lit them like some rain of gold.

i ran to the front
looked to the east
to the field and hills
and there it was... a rainbow!

entranced, absorbing its magic
i...but where's my new camera!
ran back
and the rainbow was gone.
------
at 6 am sunday morning
out front i saw white blossoms
of may...no no
what's falling is ...snow.

a surprise gift for sunday's early risers
the meditators and turkey hunters
later in the morning we meet at the store
buying coffee we smile at each other

did you get your turkey?
did you get enlightened?
did you see the snow?

we smile like people who share a secret
the secret that the world is wonderful
sacred
unpredictable
and we are part of it


clouds at play today 
click to enter picture :-)

maybe i can teach it to recite my cell phone # which i keep forgetting

my tinnitus has learned

the tune of my cell phone alarm
that wakes me each morning

friday after work

friday, after work
something softens
unclenches
relief from some tightness
some holding together
you breathe

like when school ends for summer
your last cancer treatment
or you wake with no fever
or leave your abuser
your project completed
you ace the performance
drive home thru the blizzard

now unclench,
let your guard down,
and open your heart,
take your time,
smile

and why not live there?

why not live at Friday after work?
why not live at breathe deep,
school's out, fever's gone?
why not leave the guard down,
heart open,
time pliable?

oh no
i couldn't possibly
or could i?

strange happenings in second life

recently, in early april, a major dramatic erasure occurred in Rodeo. As part of the loss, the Eleanor Theatre, home of The Show Must Go On, was destroyed, and objects there returned to the inventory of whoever owned them. as Salazar Jack reported "The officers of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust have begun deliberations on how to proceed following the dramatic erasure that occurred in Rodeo recently. As of this morning Linden Lab has stated that, “...we cannot complete your rollback request. Region [Rodeo] is a mainland island and rollbacks are only able to be performed on private islands." The Trust continues its' own investigation into the incident and will be providing its' data and findings to the Trust group as soon as possible."

stored backstage in the theatre, before everything went boom, was an object that i was the nominal owner of  -- the large particle accelerator Osprey had made for her nearly nude dance number. this came hurtling back into my inventory. it's really hers, but she assigned it over to me so i could move it out on the stage while she stripped down to a few strings. (must be string theory).

 i was concerned about having such a dangerous object in my inventory, so to get rid of it, and allow others to admire its beauty, i set it up in a field belonging to a friend of mine. here's a picture of it, altho it looks much prettier if you can see it spinning. i had complained to osprey, but her reply was this:
"Oh, dear! Did I somehow make it so that you had to own that incredibly dangerous piece of machinery so you could move it for my act, then just now returned it to you so it now festers in your inventory instead of mine? SO SORRY! I'm not sure how that happened!
*covers smile with hand while pretending to be surprised*"

hmmph. well now it was on Karuna's land. where it spun prettily until sometime last saturday when apparently Karuna's land went BOOM too, and this hole in the ground, this is all that is left! (there was a lovely 3 story house there, hills, a field, a swimming pool...all gone!) a rollback may be possible here, as it is private land. here's how it looks now:

coincidence? you be the judge.

500 Linden 3rd prize (enough for great hair, shoes, or even a gown!)

some of mudpie's notes for haiku are already on this blog somewhere, but mudpie put together 4 and submitted to a Community Virtual Library (Second Life) poetry contest and won 3rd prize of 500 Lindens.  You've one third prize in the CVL Poetry Contest for "Notes For Haiku"  I'll be sending you $500 L in SL tomorrow or later tonight.

notes for haiku
by mudpie mornington

drum is cracked
still sounds
can't be repaired

gorilla mother carries dead baby
shakes it now and then
it has not decomposed

water stain on the ceiling
has no shape no message
that is the message

small snow trail track ends
in strange sweeps and ripples
blood and a feather

http://infoisland.org/2010/04/20/library-news-events-april-23-29/

"Gridlinked" by Neal Asher

Gridlinked
perfect vacation book!
intricate plot, well written, great vocabulary, lots of action, an array of characters human, semi- human, and other.
at least one from each group -- human, android, AI, and Maker -- is insane, and there's a mysterious all-knowing merlinish sort of guy thrown in for good measure!
way more fun than that girl with the tattoo, if you ask me, but you do have to pay attention!

Fakahatchee Strand swamp walk

11 of us stepped off the shell-white dirt road, one at a time single file, into the cool water. I felt my chinos clinging to my legs and my sneakers fill with the coolness as my foot settled into the muck under the dark water. Eeeeeeewwww I whispered involuntarily. We were nervous, feeling cautiously for footing among roots vines and fallen limbs we could not see. Each of us was required to carry a stick, for balance and for...other things, and had been told to wear well fitting shoes that laced tightly. 

With each step the muck tried to suck a shoe off my foot. This soon came to feel ok if not normal, and I could look around at the astonishing creepy-weird beauty, the silence, the watery jungle, closed in now all around me. We were lost in a wild maze, except for our naturalist/ranger/guide, John. Even our other guide, Bill, said at one point when we seemed to really be lost "you're the only one who knows the way out of here, John!" 

We got lost when John herded us away from a very large 'gator, who looked asleep at first but then started to move silently in our direction. When John said "everyone get behind me quick" we moved as fast as one could in thigh deep water, pants and shoes sodden, over hidden limbs and vines. No one fell! I wonder if I was the only one who thought of Avatar -- a primordial natural world, nothing here of humankind -- Avatar with water, which on Gaia would be blue instead of coffee and tea colored. 

Two people ahead of me discussed the book The Orchid Thief, for indeed we were in that world of orchids, the Florida Everglades, a part of it that is densely tropical due to a few centimeters drop in the land. Epiphytes and bromeliads were everywhere! Our guides were orchid experts and pointed out the occasional rare or hard to see of the orchid plants. 

We saw no blooms, but we did see plants of the famous ghost orchid, and another so rare John said there were only 4 known to exist. This was in April; their bloom time is November and December, not Spring. However, Spring is alligator mating season, another reason we had to be especially cautious. Unusually high water and hormones makes them a bit more troublesome. On the drive out we'd had to stop for a big one in the road. Eventually John got behind it and kicked its tail. "Don't lean out of the truck, they can really jump!" he yelled to us as it ran by the truck heading for the water.

After we parked and got out of the troop transport truck (a story in itself) he and Bill gave us our instructions for gators. Don't get to their side, stay behind or directly in front. If the tail is curled and one shoulder hunched, get out of there fast. If one swims a bee-line toward you, get out fast, don't zig-zag or go to the side. Then they told us some stories of their encounters with alligators, as they encouraged another big guy to leave the road near our water entry point. This world is John's daily workplace, and Bill's home, where they try to monitor and preserve the health and well being of this vast shallow river, which flows about a mile a day. The gators are just a part of it. As for the cobras, pythons, cotton mouths, just keep your eyes open they said. And we did!

Meanwhile, back in the water, we waited among some cyprus trees for the all-clear on the big swimming gator. Still thigh deep in water, we sat on some sodden squishy fallen trees and ate our sandwiches and granola bars. Everyone broke out some lunch, and cookies and chocolate were shared. Eventually we started off again, but we were a bit off the trail. John scouted ahead for trail markers, and perhaps other things. The vegetation became denser, and suddenly, after 5 hours in the swamp, we climbed up into the glare of the sun and the white road again! There were times on the hike when I asked myself why why why I ever thought this would be a good idea, but I think I would do it again, especially in orchid blooming time!

I didn't take my camera, didn't want to risk dropping it or falling in with it! But lots of folks have gone on this walk and here's a glimpse from Youtube by someone who went a bloom time!

the sea was wet as wet could be

there's still a bit of the old beach left in the town where i grew up.  now there is a broadwalk you can bike or skate all the way to the port everglades entrance! north of the entrance you can watch the world's biggest cruise ships go in and out. (this one is the oasis of the seas, i think it is the world's largest - click picture to enlarge)

sand in my shoes

sleeping in florida, window open, takes my mind back to my mother's old house. there, nights were restless, palms clacking, trees whisper, water lapping, an animal sound, bird or frog?, sounds just once.
the sounds bring you halfway out of slumber and the tropical air lulls you back under. then finally in the blackest time, all is still -- until the quiet sound of a motor, low wake hitting the seawall, diesel, the smell of coffee and maybe a cigarette and the soft murmur of voices as the first fishing folk head out.
my dreaming mind can follow their path to the end of the canal, out into new river, and then the intracoastal waterway. just one bridge then, which probably won't need to open for them. and into port everglades, tiny as a flea beside the world's largest cruise ships, and on out thru the chop -- watch the coffee! -- thru the churning passage into the atlantic!
then where? to find the turqouise gulfstream? out of sight of land? but now it is a hot dawn and the parrots have shouted me out of bed.

WTF? (where's the food?)

  a muster of game wardens cops and firefighters were standing round a pickup truck. this can't be good.

just outside of my village. they looked at ease, at times glancing up into the woods.

  usually they don't cluster like this. had to be something big. more than a rabid racoon in the village, or a moose with brain worm wandering through people's gardens.

maybe those damn beavers again, needing relocation to someone who wants their trees cut down and their property flooded.

  this time the mission is a happy one! a bear has been wandering around near the road, it's head stuck in a milk can. oh goody! a chance to use tranquilizers, bolt cutters, all kinds of ingenuity, and do what people really really deep down inside love to do...be helpful and kind and use tools.

  the sleepy bear awoke in the woods, thinking what bears always think in such circumstances. (maybe something like WTF?)

    "It took a state biologist, firefighters and police about 45 minutes to free the bear"

fang to plunger combat

last weekend Osprey asked me if i had a minute to help her with an instructional video, to teach the awesome game Combat Cards to tinies. she just needed some demo-combat scenes to finish it off. i changed to a hamster and put on my most powerful armor and went to the waffle arena.

yikes! she was a terrifying creature!  don't worry she said, it's just mock combat for illustration.

she knows i stink at Combat Cards, so she was very gentle and only knocked me ass over teakettle a few times LOL.

see her entire video here on youtube

nature's first green

now comes pale green time

so dreamlike so delicate

promising so much

(click to enlarge and step into picture)

lucy's shelter

i have an elegant sign for lucy's shelter in the steampunk slums of shanghai in steelhead. (based on portland oregon in the victorian era). she is giving up show biz for now to devote herself to nursing and the poor. thanks to osprey for her sign with a wonderful bell attached, which can be grasped in the teeth and rung even by children on all fours (in case they were raised by wolves). i hope to find more patrons, as many things are needed, a washtub, bedding, and woodstove would be good for starters.

(click pic to enlarge)

tuesday's sky (click to enlarge)

n'avi blue men cause panic

last month i saw the blue man group perform.
they were bluer than the n'avi, and funnier too.
here is the part that stuck with me:
each of the three blue guys held a flip-chart as big as himself.
each chart had something different on it.
we were told "only read one. and each time we flip the page, only read one."
you could just quickly scan all 3 after each flip. but in the spirit of it, i tried to only read one.
OMG!
right away i got a familiar feeling in my stomach - PANIC!
i was good for awhile, then i gave in and tried to read them all!
it was soooo revealing!
i never realized how often i get that feeling.!
what am i missing? which movie to watch, which podcast to listen to, which movies to list on netflicks, which event to attend, which Second Life event to attend...which blogs have i not read yet that tell me what other events/gadgets/podcasts/tweets i might not know about!
it's impossible to keep up with all of it, and that underlying state of slight panic can come to feel normal.
thanks for the lesson, blue men!

i'd give it a B

ratings for animals

this funny story was on the NPR website. i started thinking about some of the animals around here and how i would rate them.
squirrels for example. very good at what they do with bird feeders! way too good in fact. you gasp and laugh, even as you contemplate buying a shotgun. still i wouldn't give them an A. not sure why!
rats are another smart funny well adapted animal! A for them? maybe A minus.
racoons - also clever and cute, but I hate the way they throw themselves under approaching cars at night. give them a C
skunks -- cute, but too arrogant. C
woodchucks - the Ferdinands of New England -- they just want to smell the flowers, and eat them. B minus for boring.
deer? moose? beavers?
beavers get an A. beavers cause no end of trouble, but they are awesome.
fisher cats? hmmmm
coyotes -- A for coyotes. If only for their singing.
spring peepers, spotted salamanders, snakes in the grass -- A, A, A
earwigs -- i can't rate earwigs. i cannot be at all objective about them, having shared living space with them for years and come to understand some of their strengths and weaknesses, hope and fears.
maybe I'll have to get the book. he is waaaaay funnier than I am!

early spring with daffs and snowflake

brown brown brown green brown

brown yellow brown brown brown green green

white brown brown green yellow

whaaaaa?

how startling to realize that the appropriate response to
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
is
awwwwwwwwwwwwww

florida air

saturday's air was florida air
right here in april new england!
it's like when you see someone walking far off
and you can tell who it is.
who knows how? you just know.

the breeze from the south
sparked flashbacks of luffing sails
i could hear them flap.
reflexively, i duck the boom

when i woke up i knew --
florida air wafting through the window
the morning light of florida between the curtains
the sound tires make when florida cars drive by
that bird...is it the grackle? or maybe the house finch?
sounds exactly the same in florida.
exactly!

all day my brain flashed holograms
of expected sights
only to be startled when they fit nowhere
my eyes saw only bare trees and crocuses.
suppose i were blind?
which reality would i accept?

CHARLIE

You ask what i believe in?
I believe -- and it's more than believe -- I know for sure!
My knowing is so powerful, it is unshakeable. I suppose I am special, because I always have known. I was born knowing the truth and feeling the importance of it. And I have spent my life training others in this truth.
You must throw this tennis ball.
Again and again.
This is the most important thing there is. Without this, the world as we know it would end and all the joy to come would vanish! This is the only way to bring about a perfect world!
I will bring it back to you over and over for as long as it takes!
Can you feel how true and important this is?
Some have said I believe this because of my upbringing, or my personality, or even, some say, my DNA! Implying that I have no free will and that this is some kind of delusion rather than the imperative true meaning of life, which apparently not everyone can comprehend.
I believe that if you practice long enough and hard enough, finally throwing this ball properly with grace and discipline, you will learn the truth for yourself. Please believe me!
I want nothing more than your total happiness and salvation!
For this, I am prepared to go on returning it to you again and again.
For as long as it takes.

frogs, birds, 5

it's easter!

bank street is broken out in crocuses*! 

the first few peepers peeped last night. the phoebe is back, and the robins are going wild when dawn is sighted!  

and here are some other amazing sounds from 5.

link one is a review of sorts, link two gives you a listen.

HEADHERITAGE Review

Album of the month

*ok YOU look it up