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  • Thursday- Hang in There–

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    To be one’s self,
    and unafraid whether right or wrong,
    is more admirable
    than the easy confidence
    of surrender to conformity.

    -Irving Wallace

     

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    It is better to be hated for what you are
    than loved for what you are not.

    -Andre Gide

     

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    Style is knowing who you are,
    what you want to say,
    and not giving a damn.

    -Gore Vidal

    I may have mentioned before, that the “Thursday Hang in There” is code for “bigass spiders (Kristin don’t look).” I’ve been taking a lot of flak lately about all the spider photos, but I’m taking my cue from Gore Vidal today.

    I like the spider photos. So there.

    What always amazes me about the spiders is that they don’t back down. Rather than scurry off or fly away at the slightest movement like most little buggers, spiders seem cognizant of my approach and will actually move towards me. I have to admire them, standing up to Goliath. Running towards an unknown enemy. Scrappy little guys.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of weird spider lover, I won’t be keeping them as pets, I get jumpy when they get too close, and I don’t touch them if I don’t have to.

    But I respect the role they play. Spiders keep the populations of mosquitos and fruit flies and other pests down, for which I am eternally grateful, and they in turn provide food for the birds that we so love. Without spiders, the balance of nature would be thrown into absolute chaos.

    We all have a role to play; we are all connected. Each of us is essential in some specific and vital way. What we need to do is search out what that one thing is, and pursue it with all our energy and ability.

    I feel like in this country we push the idea of being unique and yet reward conformity. And then we point fingers; this one is no different than that one, that one has no new ideas, everyone is like so many sheep.

    Conformity is the jailer of freedom
    and the enemy of growth.
    -JFK

    Whoso would be a man,
    must be a nonconformist.
    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

    This is something I think about often in terms of my children. Do I want them to stand out or fit in?

    And I think of it almost constantly now in terms of politics.

    Do we really want mavericks representing our interests? Is real change even possible with so many people in power who are so much the same, and representative of a homogenized society?

    Do we live in a country that celebrates individual thought, free speech, anymore? How does society move forward if it does not?

    Another day, another tangent. Really, I have to start planning these posts ahead of time. Any thoughts?

  • Honeybees!

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    “What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?”

    “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best-“
    and then he had to stop and think.

    Because although Eating Honey
    was a very good thing to do,
    there was a moment just before you began to eat it
    which was better than when you were,
    but he didn’t know what it was called.

    -A.A.Milne

    I signed up for a bee tracking program earlier this summer and I haven’t seen any honeybees, and I was beginning to despair a bit. After learning about Colony Collapse Disorder, I wanted some first-hand reassurance that we still had honeybees in the area.

    Hoorah, I think this is a honeybee! They are smaller than the bees I normally see, so it’s quite possible they’ve been around all summer and I hadn’t noticed them.

    And there are lots of them! I’m so happy to be able to contribute something meaningful to the bee research in spite of the deer eating all my sunflowers.

    (Lots of good bee information here if you are interested in learning more about the importance of honeybees and developments in CCD research.)

    Now. Turning my attention to the Pooh quote.

    I’m not a Winnie the Pooh fan, really; but I’ve never read any A.A. Milne, so perhaps it is unfair to say that. After all, the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland is nice, but nowhere in the league of Lewis Carroll’s wonderful story.

    What do you think? Should I read the story- stories? Is there more than one? I’m woefully uninformed on the whole culture of the Hundred Acre Woods, outside what I overhear on the Disney Channel.

    I do love the character of Eeyore.

    And I relish this quote, its portrayal of anticipation. Like those moments as a child when you wake and you realize it’s Christmas morning, but not quite time to wake your parents… and your heart races, and you tremble all over, and you can’t wait…can’t wait…

    You know, thinking on it, I don’t remember any of the actual opening of presents! I remember the agonizing excitement of waiting for it to be time, (I can feel it as I write about it, a sort of involuntary muscle memory), and I remember the sigh of satisfied relief, sitting back and looking over the chaos of opened presents and masses of wrapping paper.

    This makes me rethink a bit. Why do we as parents stress so much about the presents themselves? Evidently, to me at least, Christmas has never really been about the gifts at all.

    What is your most vivid memory of Christmas as a child?

    Do you mind terribly when I meander off topic like this?

    And- getting back to the quote-
    what do you like doing best in the world?

  • The Anticipation is Killing Me

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    Such is the state of life,
    that none are happy
    but by the anticipation of change:
    the change itself is nothing;
    when we have made it,
    the next wish is to change again.

    The world is not yet exhausted;
    let me see something tomorrow
    which I never saw before.

    -Samuel Johnson

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    These are two pictures of the same spot separated by a month’s time.

    Slowly, slowly the- what? flower? deepens into a royal purple.

    It looks for all the world like a present, a tiny jewel, and I can’t wait for it to open.

    What is it? A berry? A fruit?

    Will it blossom open, burst into flower?

    I’m really insanely curious. I can see the deer have been nibbling at it, and I hope and pray they don’t return and finish the job before I see the final result.

    Does anyone know what it is? Or want to hazard a guess?