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Monday, April 14, 2014

O, Beauteous Gladsome Season!

First, here is a portrait of me from this weekend:
It is artwork committed by one who loves me, so I will refrain from critiquing it. Admittedly, it possesses a resemblance to my inner self, my homonunculus, who was not born into captivity and ignorance as I was. He is wild, canny and has fierce orange teeth. I am working to cultivate these virtues into my corporeal self, except the teeth. I like my real teeth, made of hard white tooth stuff --a scientific dental term-- and not carrots, which are no good for gnashing, rending or any fierce articulation of wild canniness.

Only once do I recall looking in a mirror and seeing an approximation of  Veggieface. It was many years ago, when I was a child in college, after an evening forum that covered all known but unknowable subjects and made everybody fall down. My roommates and guests had overtaxed their brains and underestimated the refreshments. Chief offender was a local red wine, available at the time at 75 cents per gallon to connoisseur oenophiles of all ages, which turned out --upon later suspicion and consensus-- to be a coal-tar derivative. I survived that intellectual insurrection firmly resolved never to resemble bunny food again.

This brings us to our next picture:
It shows the southwest field purpled in redstem filaree. Cottontails and jackrabbits often bounce and kaboingulate through it. These are normal, natural, free bunnies --not born into captivity but not bothered by homonunculism either-- who are unencumbered by psychology and metaphysics. Although joyously brainless, they do announce the advent of Springtime, not like the Easter Bunny --who doesn't resemble his Biblical description at all-- but just by being their bunny selves. Although they are phenomenally athletic and quick, I don't know that they set much of an example to young people, human or not, or help them pick careers --except maybe, those who aspire to become flyherders.

Flyherders must be nimble enough to drive flies to market where they are purchased for turtle feed. This is the job all those little soccer players in elementary and preschool are being trained for. They view the world, even into adulthood, as a big gym class or field of filaree. They are quick like bunnies, perhaps quicker. But nature has its stabilizers. More and more flies are developing canniness, pretending to be bees, hovering and landing on blossoms, communing with their irreducibly dinky houseflynunculi and escaping the turtle food abattoirs. There's one now:

  

26 comments:

  1. We have some old coal tar soap: I never thought to make wine out of it before... if made correctly it should cleanse the liver as it passes through? And we would all be able to view our homonunculi? This is brain food indeed! Happy springtime Geo :-)

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    1. Lisa, I suspect the cheap intoxicants of one's youth create a special appreciation for the sophisticated palate of age and experience --which, for me, is just knowing what bottle not to drink out of.

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  2. Dear Geo.,
    this amazing unknown Arcimboldo is a rare find! The joy in these sharp eyes, the filigrane earrings, which resemble each other like peas in a pod, the somehow perpetual spinach hair full of iron-y - WOW: a delectable spring painting!
    The field of Gewöhnliche Reiherschnabel (Erodium cicutarium) looks beautiful - as I didn't find "kaboingulate" in the dictionary, I only can assume that it means something like frolicking - as far as a brainless bunny can do that. Not much brain - but much happiness, so it seems to me. I saw a real and free Easter bunny yesterday on the green of neighbour's house - it nibbled self-forgotten the little plants the neighbour can forget too, now. In Germany we call this way of nibbling "mümmeln" (teethless old people do it too - but nowadays, as somebody remarked yesterday, nobody is teethless anymore), and so folk calls the hare "Mümmelmann".
    About the flies I had to laugh - their disguise as bees is also an imitation of helicopters, which makes it easy to distinguish them from real ones.
    Now I'll bumble on - tomorrow I have to bake: Easterbred (half of it has to travel to Munich); and from Easter on we can become oenophiles again: Lent over (but hopefully not bent over).

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    1. Dear Brigitta, I believe Giuseppe Arcimboldo, were he still with us, should have done all our official presidential portraits. We Americans would take ourselves less seriously and quit barging belligerently around the world. "Kaboingulate", I confess, is a newly-minted verbal coinage and,,,what can I say? Guys make up words.

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  3. "kaboingulate" That is EXACTLY what bunnies do and they it did all over our yard over winter dropping their little Easter treats behind them and ravaging my pussy willow bushes as they went. Little devils. Still, I'm glad I had something they could eat. It was a hard winter.

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    1. Delores, don't --I repeat: do not eat bunny kaboingulations. But yes, I followed your blog through winter and admire even the "little devils" for their survival skills.

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  4. I like the artwork 'by one who loves you'
    (and your words made me chuckle)

    Yikes on the coal-tar derivative, that must have tasted awful.

    We have lots of bunnies close by in a big field, that Rose and I try to catch .
    They are much too fast for us ....LOL

    Beautiful last shot

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    1. I'll relay your compliment to Norma. People who don't play with their food have no idea how much fun they're missing. And I must in fairness say Gallo Wineries have improved exponentially in the past half-century.

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  5. I could read that a dozen times.

    kaboingulate

    You weirdo you. :-)

    With much affection,

    Pearl

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    1. Weirdo!? Pearl, why you little... Thanks! Affection mutual.

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  6. I like that last sentence. Very unencumbered.

    Don't believe I'm familiar with kaboingulating. Perhaps I have overestimated the effectiveness of my morning repast?

    I quite love that Norma Photo of you, btw. Though I know not to underestimate the legitimacy of hard, white tooth stuff. Fairly important, as far as canniness goes.

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    1. Kind Suze, Canniness and canine-ness go hand in hand (or mouth?)

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  7. This post has me kaboingulating (quietly) in my chair. Hooray for season change.
    And yes, some wines are for lying down and avoiding.

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    1. Kaboingulating, quietly --or kaboisterously-- is an appropriate response to springtime.

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  8. Replies
    1. Indeed, a growing field that will soon be all the buzz.

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    2. I saw a movie about bees recently that you might enjoy: More Than Honey.

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  9. Hi Geo,

    Just to say, "Hello!"

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  10. We see more and more suburban rabbits every day and their young have to contend with loud cars and noises. Just doesn't seem right.

    Great veggie face btw!

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    1. Sorry to learn rabbits suffer the same noise pollution in the U.K. as they do here in the states. Their emotional health will suffer, as does mine. Passed veggieface compliment on to Norma --she glowed.

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  11. Red wine made from a coal tar derivative? that answers so many questions. We were in/near Malaga, Spain, and bought the cheapest wine possible (equivalent to 75 cents) in cardboard milk cartons. Now I know.
    Great photos. The yellow flowers against the sky--great shot.

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    1. Thanks Susan. Cheap wine, yes, and milk cartons, but you were in SPAIN! There's romance and adventure. Have never been to Spain --only my kids could afford to go so far.

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  12. The worst wine I ever had was in Greece, which seems ironic given all their Homeric homages to wine. Retsina, it's called, and anyone who's had it is wrinkling their nose right now. It tastes like Agamemnon used it as an ashtray for a thousand years, plus boiled his sandals in it.

    Love the veg-face. The Green Man.

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  13. Thanks, Stephanie! Great description of retsina. They do add pine resin --as the name implies-- which is also the main ingredient of turpentine.

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  14. Can't find homonunculus. Found homo and nun. Didn't think they went together? Well let's not go down that road. Couldn't find culus. Gave up in the end.
    Oh inner self you mean? Complicated in there.

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