"I’m not the only person who dips insects carefully out of the pool"

Inner harbor lights, the latest iteration of the special magic of the dawn's early light this morning at Goomp's Camelot-by-the-Sea, this time viewed through the framing Red Oaks and other native species from the driveway looking west.

Who knew a snake could be cute and cuddly? This baby Common Garter Snake (x 2) rescued this afternoon from the pool filter -- possibly the same one or maybe a sibling of the one we rescued yesterday -- seemed to enjoy the warmth of Tuck's hand, the manus made famous by The Anchoress and Dr. Sanity these last couple of days -- not struggling to escape. Tiny and Baby, of course, swear by Tuck's Midas touch. We tried to get Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" when the sapling serpent's forked tongue was testing the surrounds for scent signals, but no luck. Even so, a mystical meeting of scale and skin.

Photographed by Goomp himself with his trusty little Kodak EasyShare C643 last week, two fearless fawns a mere seven yards away from the window where Goomp sat -- where we are even now as we blog  -- looking towards the mouth of the river out to sea. Talk about cute when they're little.

Throughout the day we carried on our work of saving lives caught in the killing fields of the pool filter. This morning it was a wolf spider, whose clan has owned our heart since that day a coupla years back when we rescued a wolf spider mother and her entire brood -- clinging to her back in the way of their kind -- from the pool. Our blog focus on animals without backbones has helped us overcome an innate arachnophobia to the extent that 1. We weren't totally freaked out when the wolf spider started to crawl over our fingers, although after a couple of moments instinct kicked in, and we shook the little critter off into the bushes, and 2. We are no longer able to dust corners of the house -- not that we ever did that much -- for fear of disturbing daddy longlegs spiders. Now comes the latest Circus of the Spineless! brought to us this month by Summer Fey Foovay of the elegant, emotionally charged and effervescent Naturalist Notebook, who, like the wolf spider mother herself, knows where we live:

Sisu shared yet another dramatic rescue with us. I'm so glad to know I'm not the only person who dips insects carefully out of the pool.

You want beauty in unexpected places? Try Goomp's festive paper napkin in the midday sunlight streaming into the kitchen after a totally awesome lunch of hot dogs on buns, potato salad and freshly made broccoli soup.

Some call it a Crusader's cross, some an angel. Is the Christian God trying to tell us something? The earthly remains of this moth, its soul long since gone to its maker, were caught in the sticky spider silk that laces the corners of Goomp's side-door vestibule, Can you say creeping dhimmitude?

The moth, Tuck's drink and its shadow on Goomp's well-weathered Walpole table make a surrealistic tableau worthy of a DeChirico.

The last word on this day of small, miraculous discoveries goes to Summer Fey Foovay:

A few centuries ago, when I was young, I read in some animal guidebook or another that there was a constant tiny drama going on all around us, if we would just take the time to look. From that time on, I found the time, anytime and anywhere. I learned that sitting around on the grass in the lawn, one could stare at a patch of grass or better yet, weeds, long enough and miraculously an entire tiny society would begin to appear of ants, “bugs”, butterflies, bees, and many more I could not identify. My interest in invertebrates started with watching and wondering at those “tiny” dramas that were no less than life and death to their participants. And so you have my theme -- the drama of life, and especially the drama found in smallest unexpected places.

As we said in her comments, "Drama in unexpected places is not for the faint of heart -- the 'EEK! a mouse' factor -- but for the bold, the rewards are endless."

Update: Pajamas Media links.

Comments

[goomp]

Your thoughts and photos are making the most of what life has to offer.

[pam]

Your post is a buffet for the eyes, yet it seems to awaken all the senses! Wonderful!

[bird dog]

Moths, spiders, crickets - even bats occasionally. We escort them outside the house firmly but carefully. Bats in butterfly nets. You never know - they might just be your reincarnated grandma paying a visit! And, if not, they are still God's critters.

[pb]

Adorable snake baby. Note the big eyes and tiny head! It still amazes me that many people would freeze, terrified at the sight.

These little fellows grow into very useful yard mates...