Wherever you go in Florida , you’ll cross paths with an anole. Especially taken with the little lizards are newly transplanted homeowners, thrilled by the prospect of spending balmy, exotic lives where palm trees drop coconuts on cars, and the little reptiles perch on rocks, translucent crimson dewlaps flashing territorially in the endless summer. They eat ants and crickets and can be kept as pets… but why bother? They’re just as much fun peering at you through your kitchen window or hanging from a fern on the porch. Perhaps because of the housing boom, a rather lot of the little beasts are suicidal, running directly under your feet as you pass. Hopping from one foot to the other to avoid them does no good. They have an uncanny knack for finding the Shoe Of Doom. Suicide by bicycle is also a trend. One day, halfway to the beach on my motorcycle, I looked down and saw one perched on the handlebar, face to the wind, like a dog in a pickup, master of all it surveyed. I was enjoying its ...
Love them both.
ReplyDeleteWell, now that I think about it, I'd say that little pang of guilt makes it alright. And if I knew Val or Sigourney, which I don't, just sayin, if I did, I'm sure they'd both giggle at the thought.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so what's the story behind your blog's monicker? Reminds me of that hat on the invisible man's head. But that's just me. Is there a story that comes before? Or is it all coming to be, post nom de wutchamacallit?
"Reminds me of that hat on the invisible man's head."
ReplyDeleteHey, that's pretty good. And is exactly what I had in mind for the subtext. Being truant from the 9 to 5 life was first. I also liked the word's origin in French: bum, vagabond, beggar. Roads down here are sometimes called "Trace", as in track, or trail. So there you have it. I was also considering "Absentee Ballad" but, well, did you ever have to finally decide...?
Sigourney or Val?
ReplyDeleteOne is rather masculine, one rather feminine.
And not in the order you would think.
Androgynous tastes? Dear Joe!