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OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD
DARWIN WAS ON TO SOMETHING
I believe
Darwin was on to something
IMPORTANT...
adaptation,
which is another way of saying
compromise...
and
survival is NOT what it’s ALL about,
but definitely what it’s partly about...
The pleasure factor having
to be taken into account
because without some of that
survival wouldn’t be, shall we say,
worth it, whatever “
it” is.
But back to the question or
proposition (a word that could
lead to all kinds of tangents) which
has to do with getting along, going
along sometimes, even when it
means not doing exactly what I
want to do or being exactly where
I want to be... SURVIVAL with
at least a little pleasure, provided
by myself if that’s the only way
to get it... adaptation is what
plants do... and animals, which
is what i am, do it
some reluctantly, knuckling under,
crying “uncle”... some with glee and
ABSOLUTE JOY... so “You pays your
money and you takes your choice.”
You can adapt and like it or
you can fight it all the way.
Whatever way the orchid
came to be how and where it
is, I want to take that same route.
Any way you look at it, the orchid
in question is absolute gentleness
with a ferocious look.
I don’t often post somebody else’s photograph on my BLOG, but today I couldn’t resist using one sent to me by my friend Mary Louise Ross. I don’t know who took the picture of the hen caring for an exausted puppy while her chick looks on; but whoever did it has increased my sense of hope that things can better in this world if we all just learn to care for each other no matter what our differences. I hope the photographer won’t mind my sharing his/her photograph. The snails are my own photographs for today. The snail, like the borrowed photograph, was an incidental gift to me today. Another friend gave me a big plant that has grown too large for her patio, and on one of the leaves I found the snail when I got home. I set it free on some big shrubs that need trimming... and took the pictures. Together with the puppy and mother hen, these snail pictures make a good homily... a reminder that things might be better if we just slow down and enjoy what's around us.
TODAY I got a new camera: Panasonic's LUMIX ZS3. I've been looking for the "perfect pocket" camera to take the place of an Olympus that I've been using for six years. I use larger SLR digital cameras (Nikon D2X and Nikon D100) when I go out to find a picture; but on those occasions when the picture finds me, I have to be ready with a camera in my pocket. This new little camera seems to fit the bill. I used the first picture taken with the camera for my photo du jour, and it is the self portrait above that I accidentally took when I pressed the shutter release for the first time; then I turned in my chair and got the next two shots of Balinese masks on my office wall.
OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD
DARWIN WAS ON TO SOMETHING
It's true, I guess: We see what we want to see. IN BALBOA PARK TODAY a row of crepe myrtle trees all naked in the warm winter day reminded me of the bold sculpture that never fails to get my attention whenever I am in Florence. 
