Friday, April 16, 2010

Dear Dev, You need to come and see your Mama...

While talking to #2 Daughter this morning, on the phone, in the sun, on the back porch, "You should see what I see on Mom's Clematis..."


So I picked them, one by one.  I put them in my left hand.  The sun warm upon my back I notice, these little buggers are nocturnal.  They chew all night long.


They wake up in my palm.  Actually, it feels kind of cute to have them crawling around on my hand.  Is there a poem here?  Who are these guys?


They do, fairly quickly, get squirmy and decide to flee.  They pile upon one another.  They do not click, or whistle, that I can hear at any rate.  They move faster than one might expect.


Look at all the beautiful spirals.  So perfect.  You know, this is the same spiral found in the Sunflower, in sea shells, in my thinking, doing, wondering.

So, I took them out to the front yard, and put them into the Periwinkle.  They won't hurt anything there.
Blessings, Little Spirals.
xoxoLC

11 comments:

Merry ME said...

I'm not sure I would have been able to zero in on the beautiful spirals when looking (or feeling) at the gooey parts so close! I'm reminded of the time when in France my then husband did what Frenchmen do and ordered escargot. I had to get up and leave. So much for my ability to appreciate continental cuisine!

Not knowing much about snails, or other garden pests, I'm wondering why they won't chew on the periwinkles.

Laura Paine Carr said...

I was hoping they would, as it is an invasive "ground cover" that is in the hedge! Of course, "pests" rarely do what we want them to do, right?

Kym said...

You and I may be the only gardeners I know that don't smash the tiny creatures with their questing feelers.

Good to know I'm not the only crazy one.

Elizabeth said...

You're a better woman than I -- ugh. I do not like snails.

AkasaWolfSong said...

I think they are perfectly beautiful little snails! :)

N2 said...

Only you, LC, could make a California Brown Snail look beautiful to me. You know how I feel about them eating the peas, lettuce, iris and baby blue eyes =o{...
I just hope they stay up there in vinca landia. x0 N2

Sorrow said...

I laughed out loud when I saw these photo's!
the things we love to play with. The wonders that hold us enthralled.!!!
Thank you!

Annie Jeffries said...

I cringe over snails. Singletons I don't mind. In a group? Yikes! And never on my hand. Oddly enough, I love escargot. Go figure.

grasshopper said...

This is awesome. Reminds me of the gypsy moth infestations we had a few times when I was growing up. We kids would collect buckets full of those squirming caterpillars, let them crawl all over us, pet their furry backs, pick one out to name and keep as a pet (at least for that afternoon.)

It's great that you can still see beauty in their slimy grossness. I love that you move them instead of squashing their heads.

Bimbimbie said...

So many "spirals" in varying sizes ... I relocate any I find too but never ever this many, that clematis must taste delicious*!*

Bethany said...

I love the spiral too, but my God, they do move fast and do such terrible damage!
You are sweet to love them for a bit.

 
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