saturday brain pickings

It's porchtime with the doggies this morning. Earl grey tea and orange slices. Silly boxers and their indefinite enthusiasm; it never ceases to amuse, opening the door towormy wiggles and happy barks. Barney and Zeek are my two friends from the animal kingdom. The other species includes Clementine; my child, and Cheetah and Oscar Wild. I spend my waking moments loving these furry friends.

So it's tea and orange slices for me, in a zoological garden with animals today. The backyard is tangled with green vegetation. It never stops growing. Kudzu, or perhaps it's ivy, drapes the trees and we are treated to a wall of green, keeping us hidden from our neighbors below. I love the new backyard we have. It is a fairytale from the mind of the great Dr. Suess. If you've ever seen Kudzu, you will know there is a completely accurate comparison between the Lorax Trees and this mysteriously foreign plant. Tides of green place my mind at peace here and I could imagine happily trekking through a jungle of this stuff.

Along with the furry critters, I coesxist with Insects. I keep my window open nightly, and I have no screen. Therefore, I am treated to the sound of tiny flapping wings at midnight; moths who visit for a brief period and give my room the appearance of either a Thumbellina tale or that of one who is insane. I have mosquito bites covering the soles of my feet. They itch but they remind me of my place in this world. I love the bugs and I love the open window. It is one last veil between me and what is real.

 

Humans try to pretend that they are better than the Earth, better than the planet on which they cohabit. We are so removed from it that we forget that there was once life before us, there is other life around us, and there will be life after us as it constantly tries to take back its rightful place. Plants growing through cement is significant, if not amazing. I see Earth as we manicure her, trim her to our liking. She allows us to believe that we are in charge; the great Don Quixotes. We discover what already exists, and she smiles at our sweet ignorance. This is why the kudzu and the mosquito bites: I welcome them as a symbol of my insignificence to this amazing, jungle-world. I am reminded that I am a visitor, only here briefly to experience something rare. She will, after all, take back what is hers. Stars will continue to explode and die and new ones will be created; new worlds with new kudzu and new types of mosquitos that leave bites on the beings there, who may also find a way to express the artform of their own non-human expression. So is life, and I am at peace with it.