A Soul Through A Telescope

 

       The Heart and Soul Nebulae taken by NASA's Survey Explorer.                                    

       "He looked at his own Soul with a Telescope.  What seemed all irregular, he saw and shewed to be beautiful Constellations; and he added to the Consciousness hidden worlds within worlds.  

Samuel Coleridge, Notebooks.

Men With Cats: Edward Gorey

"Books. Cats. Life is Good."

It rained off and on most of the day today and my cat was crazy. When this happens I always think of gothic illustrator, Edward Gorey, and his drawing of cats shown below.  A man whom many found hard to give a title to, I like to think of him as "Boredom Slayer."  He was also the perfect crazy cat man and would be proud of that title.  He even left his hefty estate to benefit our animal friends.  He loved ballet, tennis shoes, fur coats, and cats.  If you haven't looked at his work in a while, this is the time of year to do it.

Twin Brothers From Different Mothers

     Oh how this photo keeps calling me back over and over again and every time I look at it, I have to laugh.  It seems Mr. Wombat on the right lost his mother right after his birth and since he was a marsupial, he was placed in the pouch with this baby kangaroo.  He just looks so happy to be there.  And the kangaroo looks like he's saying "exactly how long does this last?"  I wonder if the kangaroo thinks he favors his "twin".  Mr. Wombat will get much more attractive with age, becoming a fat ball of fur with an attitude.
      Mark your calendar for October 22nd is National Wombat Day.

What I Would Like To Be Doing Today

Riding to Donna's to wish her a happy birthday.

Fox Dancing

"I think I could turn and live with animals,
they're so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
not one is dissatisfied,
not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
not one kneels to another,
nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago.
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth."
Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"


A few days ago, while feeding my backyard crows, I threw out pieces of an expired Subway sandwich. Before I had turned to go back in the house, a red fox came out of the woods, grabbed a large piece of food and then made a bee-line back from where he came and disappeared. I stayed on the deck and watched as he suddenly and mysteriously reappeared, grabbed more sandwich and headed to safety again. He was a red fox, one of two breeds of foxes in South Carolina, with the other being the grey fox. It is easy to identify a red fox if you can see his tail, as it will be tipped in white, while the grey fox's tail is tipped in black. Grey foxes are sometimes mistaken for a red because some of them have a good deal of orange coloring on them. But when you see a red fox, you know it is different. He is so colorful and beautiful, that it is hard to remember he is a wild animal rather than some exotic dog or cartoon character that has come to life. Grey foxes are native to North America but it is believed that the red fox was imported from Europe in the 1700's by fox hunters who were displeased with one behavior unique to the native grey...the ability to climb trees with his retractable claws. This feature may also explain why the grey fox has taken over the red fox numbers in many areas...because they can climb and escape one of the main fox predators, the coyote.

I found myself thinking about Subway fox throughout the day and in reviewing my "fox history" I realized that I only remember having red fox sightings two other times and both were pretty special. The first time I saw them, they were dancing....yes, dancing. It was late on a cold October night, and I happened to look out the front window and under the streetlight were two foxes who had obviously caught something good to eat. They were leaping high into the air on their rear legs, traveling around in a circle, looking almost as though in slow motion. In between leaps, they would stamp their front feet together on the ground, lifting their rear legs into the air.

Red Fox and Shrew by Tammy Irvine. Demonstrating "the dance".


It was one of those sights you stand and stare at, wondering if what you are seeing is real. As I watched the dance for over 10 minutes, I would have believed that all the stories and myths you hear about the fox having magical powers may just be true. The second time I saw the foxes, it was just as special. I looked out of my dining room window at dawn one morning, right at that time when the light is so special and unreal. Just below the window, there were two red foxes exploring around the birdbath, close enough they could have been touched. The red color of their backs combined with the yellow light of dawn was unbelievable. I remember looking at their black feet and how tiny they seemed and being amazed at what graceful animals they were.

But the Subway fox sighting had been more focused and driven, giving the impression of a man on a mission, an arrow, tightly aimed for his Subway sandwich. But then, there would be a fourth sighting that same night as I left to go take a full moon walk around the neighborhood. As I approached the road, a mysterious shadow crossed the woods beside me, perfectly outlined in the moonlight...it was the fox again, returning for a more dramatic and "aesthetic" viewing. As he paused, it was almost as though he was giving me a "thank-you" for the food.

There is an old myth that the fox does not idly choose who he reveals himself to. You often hear of people seeing foxes and taking their appearances as a message or a sign. When you see one, their grace and beauty makes you understand that reaction...it is more than the animal you are seeing...it is a feeling. Like Tigers and whales, pictures cannot do them justice. I remember the wise fox from The Little Prince, the French children's book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The story's message is contained in the lines uttered by the fox who says, "The essential things in life are not seen with the eyes, but with the heart." When you see foxes dancing, you see it with your heart.

The Fox Hunt by Winslow Homer. Hanging with the crows, like the Subway fox.

The Vanilla Orchids...And Beavers

The beautiful orchid pictured above is the flower of Vanilla planifolia. Did I know that vanilla came from an orchid? It seems as though I should have, but somehow it seemed like "new news" I stumbled upon while reading about orchids. It turns out that little brown bottle of vanilla extract has an interesting history and without one young man's ingenuity that led to it's availability, we may be more dependent on... wood polymers and the scent glands of beavers.

The vine of vanilla planifolia will bear the fruit known as vanilla pods (sometimes incorrectly called beans) only after the flowers are fertilized. These pods are harvested and the oil extracted from them adds the "vanilla" to vanilla extract and other natural vanilla flavorings. But this tiny flower, native to Mexico, will bloom and then die in about one day if pollination does not occur. And, as if the time constraints weren't pressure enough, this plant can only be pollinated by a very localized species of the tiny Melipona bee. In the wild, there is only about a 1% chance that pollination and pods will occur. Attempts to cultivate the vanilla orchid outside of Mexico and Central America proved futile without the Melipona bee. So even though Hernan Cortes introduced vanilla (remember he addicted us to chocolate also) to Europeans in the 1520's, it was not an easy commodity to get.

A picture of Edmund Albius, whom we should say a "thank-you" to when we enjoy vanilla.



But the ingenuity of a young man who was patient and observant put this dilemma to rest. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12 year old slave, orphaned at birth, observed the Melipona bee carefully enough to discover that he could replicate the bee's work by using a thin stick or blade of grass combined with a simple thumb gesture. Albius' pollination technique is still used today. His method was much faster and more cost effective than hand pollination techniques previously developed by botany professors, giving the world the delicacy of real vanilla. Edmond died in poverty in 1880, unknown as he is today.

A drawing of the Melipona bee can be seen on the far right in this drawing...he's the one with the white tail and no stinger.

This Mexican vanilla is named for the Melipone bee.


Even with Edmond Albius' help, vanilla is still the second most expensive spice (after saffron) due to the labor intensive cultivation process. But beware, because all that says vanilla is not real vanilla. About 95% of vanilla products actually contain artificial vanillin, which is produced from lignin, a polymer found in wood. Most synthetic vanillin has only one of the 171 identified aromatic components found in real vanilla pods. Yet synthetic vanillin from wood polymer will seem pretty pleasant after hearing the following food fact: In the United States, Castoreum, the erudate from the scent sacs of mature beavers, has been approved by the FDA as a food additive. Castoreum is understandably simply referred to as "natural flavoring" in the list of ingredients. It is used in foods and beverages with vanilla and raspberry flavoring as well as cigarettes and perfumes.

"Thank-you, Mr. Albius. You may have saved me from the Castoreum farm."

BOB: It Gets A Whole Lot More Complicated When You Have Kids...

Charlotte: It's scary

Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.

Charlotte: No one ever tells you that.

Bob: Your life, as your know it....is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk....and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.

~words of wisdom from Lost In Translation~