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~

It's Saint Stephen's Day- Where's Rembrandt?

Where's Rembrandt? There he is, right above St. Stephen's head in this close-up of Rembrandt's painting The Stoning of St. Stephen, shown below.

Saul (later to become Paul) is depicted on his horse to the left as St. Stephen is stoned by the angry mob.

Today, December 26th, is celebrated in the Western Christian Church as St. Stephen's Day or Feast of St. Stephen. It is a celebration of St. Stephen-the first Christian martyr. He was a deacon who was put on trial after being accused of blasphemy against Moses and God. He was taken to the outskirts of town by an angry mob led by Saul of Tarsus, who would later become the Apostle Paul. Under Saul's persuasion, the infuriated mob stoned St. Stephen to death creating the Protomartyr. Over the years, I have heard of St. Stephen...his name is on many Churches and there is even a town in South Carolina bearing his name, but I never really knew the reason for his celebration. He is the Patron Saint of stone masons, coffin builders, widows (whom he served as a deacon), horses, and is also the Patron Saint against headaches.

The Stoning of Saint Stephen (shown above) is a painting by the famous Dutch painter, Rembrandt. Identified in 1780, it is not considered a great work of art, but is of importance because it is Rembrandt's earliest known dated painting, done when he was probably 18 or 19 years old. This wooden panel painting lay in a storage room in the French Museum of Lyons and was attributed only to the "school" of Rembrandt, probably due to it's skill level. Eventually, two Dutch scholars took matters into their own hands, suspecting Rembrandt to be it's true author. They simply had a corner cleaned and revealed the monogram of Rembrandt and a date of 1625. This painting has another first: possibly the first self-portrait of the artist. If you look directly above St. Stephen's head you will see him in all his "Where's Waldo" mode...it's young Rembrandt. Rembrandt would complete apx. 90 self portraits during his life time and his face appears in at least 5 works as a spectator or participant of the action. It has been suggested that Rembrandt's face in the St. Stephen painting serves as a element of disapproval as he is taken aback by what is occurring. But Rembrandt's appearance in his many paintings is not to be taken as a sign of an over active vanity as he had a merciless and very penetrating view of himself. In his quest for understanding of mankind, he found it necessary to begin with his own soul searching and honest portrayal of his likeness. His self portraits presented himself without vanity and with utmost sincerity (a characteristic easily "fudged" in paintings- the original Photoshop).

Rembrandt's "stoning" painting also demonstrates the technique of chiaroscuro which is an Italian term meaning light/dark. The artist uses the interplay of light and shadow to create a mysterious depth. In this painting, Saul is in the dark while the martyr, St. Stephen, is in the light. Chiaroscuro continues to be used today, even in cinema. Look at images from the Stanley Kubrick movie, Barry Lyndon, for an excellent example. In fact, Kubrick used this technique in all his films.

Rembrandt's Self Portrait With A Cap With Eyes Wide Open sketched in 1630, when he was about 24. An honest portrayal of his likeness.

A painting of St. Stephen done on a Demidoff altar piece by Carlo Crivelli. Notice St. Stephen's Saint attributes (symbols used by an artist to let the viewer know who he is looking at)-the three stones on his head and the palm of martyrdom.

Merry Christmas Eve

"All Is Calm, All Is Bright" by photographer, Stephanie Laird

Christmas Eve wishes to all the Blue Ghost viewers- all 17,000+ from all over the world. Peace, Love, and Happiness to each and every one.

Norman Maclean, Haunted By Waters

The beautiful Chattooga River: if this river doesn't speak to you, then none probably will.

Norman Maclean (1902-1990) was born on this day in Iowa in 1902. He was the firefighter, fly fisher and storyteller who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel, A River Runs Through It. Whenever I visit the Chattooga River and look under a rock, I think of this quote from the book:

"Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

I've had my mind on fishing again. When talking to a friend about fly-fishing recently, he explained to me..."it's not the fish, it's the water." I too, feel haunted by waters, Norman.

Fascinating Ambiguity: Christmas Still Life From Walter Tandy Murch

Urn (& Lights), 1945 by Walter Tandy Murch. Our family had this type of Christmas lights on our tree when I was young. I think this still life would make a good Christmas card...as the Christmas season is sometimes a little ambiguous.

I love this still life by Canadian born painter, Walter Tandy Murch (1907-1967). Murch combined realism with abstraction, as his subjects ranged from machinery, bricks, clocks and broken dolls. It is his mysterious and eccentric juxtapositions that create his fascinating ambiguity and I agree with the art critic, Clement Greenburg, that "ambiguity is precisely one of the largest sources of pleasure in art."

Self Portrait With Glasses, 1960.

Clear Sailing, Little Chibley

Chibley, the polydactyl sea cat, shows off her extra toes while taking a bath on board the Picton Castle.


I had the pleasure of discovering the story of Chibley after having a discussion about cats who go to sea and why so many of them are polydactyl, which means they have a genetic condition which blesses them with extra toes. Many people are familiar with polydactyl cats as "Hemingway Cats". Hemingway loved these big footed felines and the story goes that he obtained his first polydactyl cat as a gift from a sea captain in Key West. There is still an abundance of these cats in Key West and along the east coast...supposedly because they were brought to shore on ships from England and Wales. They have always been popular and considered lucky as ship's cats and a discussion with a sea captain as to why this is so disclosed the following two reasons: he said 1) they are excellent mousers because of the extra dexterity of their paws and 2) they have better balance on ship because their larger feet give them a bigger platform to stand on at sea.

Well Chibley is a polydactyl cat with quite a story. She was the ship's cat for the tall ship, Picton Castle for almost 15 years. Miss Chibley Bits (her full name) was a member of the Picton's crew from the beginning, embarking on its first world voyage in 1997 after she adopted the ship's Captain, Dan Moreland. She logged over 250,000 sea miles and sailed around the world five times.

The Picton Castle was built in 1928 and was named after a real castle in Pembrokeshire Wales. It was built as a fishing trawler, then used in WWII by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper. It was brought back to life in 1997 under Captain Moreland and now travels around the world as a working tall ship, conducting sail training voyages. It is based in Lunenburg, Novia Scotia. You can sign up to become part of the crew for 4 or 6 months, or as little as two weeks. They will be starting a new Atlantic voyage next year and will be stopping in Charleston, SC...probably for Harborfest.


Chibley would be given free range to go ashore when the ship would come into port and then almost magically show up to get back on board ship shortly before sailing. But last November on a dark stormy evening in Lunenburg, Chibley was stuck and killed by a car while she and the Captain were trying to cross the street in front of the Captain's house in order to board ship. A funeral and elegy was held for Miss Chibley

Chibley resting with Robert on board the Picton Castle not long before her death. What a great life she had and what a great pleasure she was to many others.

and Captain Moreland wrote in his log: "It is also easy for us to attribute too many human qualities to a cat and suggest that she was more human than cat but I think the reverse is more likely the truth-she was pure cat and her influence on her shipmates was that she turned them into more cat-like souls" He added "people say we could have been more careful, but then they didn't know Chibley. Chibley did as she wished-and so did you." I find these words to be some of the wisest ever spoken on why cats are so special. At Chibley's funeral, Captain Moreland summed it up..."Well she lived as she chose and she sailed a course on the track of her own making. Would that we could say the same." A picture of another polydactyl cat (not Miss Chibley) that really shows some extra toes.

Robert Frost's Road: The Not So Simple Truth

Usually, I am just so glad to see poetry referenced or read that it matters very little what the reader finds in a poem. But enough is enough with this one and I feel we owe it to Robert Frost to at least try to get readers with the program here; after all, he was a man who worked hard at articulating big truths at a time when we were more concerned with perfecting the big lie. Also, Frost's message is so much better than the interpretation by those with an undiscerning eye who mistakenly use this poem to represent the encouragement of self-reliance and not following where others have led. His message is actually close to the opposite. Frost said himself "you have to be careful of that one; it's tricky-very tricky." But it is not so very tricky if you read it-really read it as poetry deserves to be read. There is no road less traveled and he tells us this plainly as he examines his paths saying they were really worn about the same...it will only become the less traveled road "somewhere ages and ages hence" when he tells his story with a "sigh." In other words, he knows right now that some time in the future he will give credit to the path he took as making all the difference, when actually it will probably make no difference at all. As an old man he will look back, decide to place importance on this particular decision in his life. He will try to explain and give a sense of order to his life-implying that his decisions made all the difference, when in fact, a lot has to be credited to chance and luck. Look at the title: the poem is about a man taking a path that he would describe later as the "one less traveled" yet the title of the poem is "The Road Not Taken" telling us that there was actually no less traveled road to take. If this explanation is not accepted, then one must bring forth Frost's actual words about this poem spoken at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in 1953: "I wasn't thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other. He was hard on himself that way." This friend was Edward Thomas whom Frost walked with in the woods near London. Frost explained that when they would walk, they would come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always fret, wondering what they missed by not taking the other path. Thomas' evidently also suffered from an undiscerning eye and was unable to see that it really made no difference.

So suggest that undiscerning eyes "take the road less traveled" and see the real meaning of this poem. This well loved poet has a message for us-don't let it go misinterpreted-for that is where the message is usually needed the most.

Snoop Santa Picks

Shopping with Snoop who knows how to pick those gifts that make it happen... I like to wear this one when I watch Toddlers and Tiaras. If it's fly, then buy.

WeGlow International Light Up Fuzzy Pink Cowgirl Hat....Amazon $12.99.

Cria: My Huaca

Cria, the Huaca. Huaca cames from the word "huacan" meaning to howl. Ancient Native South American worship often took the form of a howl or wail.


A huaca is a Quechua (native american language of South America) word for an object or place that represents something revered. Most early civilizations of Peru considered all of the world to be sacred and alive. The Peruvians would chose objects to carry with them to remind them of sacred places or things. They often took the form of a rock from a designated sacred area, an ear of maize, or a llama. I was given the little fellow above as a Christmas gift from a dear friend and I have designated him as a Huaca..to remind me of good friends and how revered they are. His name is Cria which is what a baby llama is called-he is only about 3 inches tall and is covered in real llama wool.

The Exotic Mississippi Pigtoe Tahitian Black Pearls

A black pearl on the shell of it's "mother", the Black-lipped oyster which is found only in Tahiti and other South Pacific Islands.


Sometimes eating great food will spark great conversation, so it was no surprize to hear a fellow unknown oyster eater gathered around an all-you-can eat oyster table on Thanksgiving Eve exclaim "Damn! I just nearly broke my tooth on a black pearl." His friend quickly informed him that the ugly piece of black grit he was holding in his hand was just a piece of shell because "all black pearls are just white pearls that have been dyed." Well that overheard conversation started me thinking about black pearls and wondering if by some chance friend of Broken Tooth might be correct. What I learned is that what I suspected was true, that black pearls are in fact "made that way" and are just as exotic as they sound. What I didn't know was the humble beginning of their exotic beauty was closer to home than I thought.
The majority of black pearls come from French Polynesia and are all from pearl farms. They are produced from only one species of oyster: the Black Lipped Oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) pictured above. Black Lipped Margariti is one of the world's largest oysters-about the size of a dinner plate. So where are the humble orgins? In order to form a cultured pearl, farmers must introduce a piece of mantle epithelium from another oyster and for Tahitian black pearls they

The humble Mississippi Pigtoe Mussel...the beauty starts here.

use the humble Pigtoe Mussel from the Mississippi River. It seems that the old idea of a grain of sand becoming a pearl is not very accurate as even natural pearls are formed around organic material such as parasites or a damaged piece of mantel. Tahitian black pearls are rarer because most sea oysters can only be nucleated with one pearl at a time, while freshwater mussels that produce white pearls are capable of handling multiple pearl implants. The South Sea oysters also live at deep depths and are not easily harvested from shallow lagoons like other oysters. It takes the harvested oysters two years to be mature enough to produce a pearl. It is extremely rare for a black oyster to produce any natural pearls at all, though it does happen.

A Tahitian pearl farm.

Black pearls are rarely black but range in color from silver, blue, lavender, and the most prized, "peacock" which is an irridescent green. Black pearls came on the European market around 1845, but were not very popular until worn by Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. They became popular in the US in the 1970's. (And Broken Tooth's friend was partly correct as a white pearl can be dyed most any color.)

So if you happen upon the rare and exotic black pearl from Tahiti, remind him that, like lots of good things, he has roots in the South.

Of all the black pearl jewelry I saw, this is my favorite. Notice the peacock coloring that is so prized.

Here is Empress Eugenie, 1845, wife of Napoleon III, and lover of black pearls. She is looking rather sad here, possibly because she has on her white pearls. There is a story that she was warned to not wear pearls on her wedding day because they are supposed to bring bad luck. Her love for her pearls won out over the warning and her life was reported to be one long tragedy. We owe her for black pearl's popularity.

Smokin' 'n Talkin' Men Are Back Again...

"Well...whatever you are, you're a good one."

"I hate happy endings--they make me feel cheated."

" If you have tears, prepare to shed them now"

"You and Tequila drive me crazy"

"I am not bound to please thee with my answer."

" If you recognize the world is but an illusion, you escape the suffering"

" I'm gonna put a curse on you and all your kids will be born completely naked."

"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

"Chitty......Just Chitty"

"I suspect people are plotting to make me happy"

"we will either find a way, or we'll make one"

"No way, girl, it's Black Friday and I'm headed to the Gap to buy some underpants"