WhatSueSees

especially these freckles:

i also love comparing … as to this photo, taken in march 2008:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small–
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends ‘em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes–
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

- Rudyard Kipling

froggie thought our porch would be a great place to hang out. then the sun came out. and the temp shot up to 97F. froggie was parched. so olli and dada walked froggie down from the porch and put him out back in the wetlands. i hope froggie is happy now.

it was touch a / sit in a / pretend to drive a / sounds the siren in / climb a truck day here, and x-man and olli-bear had fun fun fun!

today’s photo was to be a really cool image of a really cool snake.

so … what?  that doesn’t look like a photograph of a snake to you?

lemme tell you a story.  my boys found a snake the other day.  a dead snake.  a creepy, eerie, dead snake that didn’t look dead at all at first glance.  until you saw that its head was but a skull, even though the rest of him looked fully dressed in skin and live-snake-stuff.  now, keep in mind, i’m not talking about any exotic or large snake.  he’s a harmless little garter snake – compared to the scary snakes, he’s really baby-like and kind of cute, in a baby-ish looking snake-like way.  z suggested i take photos of it, and frankly, it had already occurred to me that mr. snake might make for some pretty cool photos what with the part-live-snake, part-skeleton thing he has going on.  so i tried, yesterday, to take his photo.  i opened the lid of the plastic container in which the boys had saved him for me.  i got a quick shiver.  so i closed my eyes, and i imagined myself effortlessly picking up mr. snake and arranging him carefully  for his still-life session.  then i opened my eyes, looked at this snake, got a mad rush of nausea and heebie jeebies, slammed the lid down on the container, chucked the container out on the porch and put my head between my knees and breathed until i could focus my eyes again.

sigh.

i am not one to admit defeat so readily.  so after a night of psyching myself up again, i went in for a second try.  i re-imagined myself completely conquering my gut and gently lifting mr. snake out of his container, his dry skin and crazy skeleton head easily slipping onto its waiting pedestal for its close-up.  it all seemed do-able.  easy, even.  so out i marched, onto the porch, picked up the container, took a deep breath and removed the cover.  UGH and BLECH!  i was completely unprepared for the amount of moisture that had accumulated in the plastic container housing this snake.  which made the snake all slimy and wiggly-looking.  and there was a smell.  definitely was not prepared for a smell.  which turned my stomach and got my heart racing again.  faster even, this time, than the last.   so before i could hyperventilate, i quite firmly replaced the lid and left him on the porch.

breathe in.  breathe out.  repeat.

when it comes to snakes, i am not so brave.  flowers, yes.  snakes, not so much.  though, perhaps i will give this one more try.

story told.  hence today’s photo: “not a snake.”

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.
- John Wayne

baby bok choy namul.  korean food.  just like grandma used to make.  only she used spinach.  i think.  and maybe it was grandpa.  dad uses spinach.  anyway: baby bok choy namul.  served in a lovely little bowl i got in japan somewhere. on one of those longs walks. on one of those lovely long commitment-free days. wandering without destination.  wandering without time constraint.  somewhere in tokyo.

in japan, namul is called namuru.

The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.
-Michael Pollan