Friday, July 01, 2016

On Blogs and Frogs and Flirty Lizards




It dawned on me recently that it's been ten years this summer since I started blogging.

Ten years --- holy mackeral! One sixth of my life.

Sometimes the ideas fall over each other inside my head in their haste to get to the page. More often it looks like the Gobi desert in there and I wonder "Why am I doing this?" The answer is always the same. Desert or rain forest, I have found that if I just get all the gobbledygook down on paper, where I can see it, and slowly move the words around, they will eventually  make sense. The Little Blister and I were talking a few days ago, I mentioned this and, to my guarded delight (she's made similar noises before,) she is about to administer CPR to her blog. Since that ten year milestone has inspired me to continue into my dotage it would double the fun (or is it torture?) if she were scribbling alongside me. She started after me and, for a year or two, we egged each other on, but life got hectic and her blog was one of the casualties. So, fingers crossed!



There's a little lake in our neighborhood, a couple of gardens over. You can't see it from here but me and shank's mare can get there in three minutes. It's a great place to think, to stargaze, to read a good book, to play at being a photographer, and a stellar place to just sit and think.




 Molehills were turning into mountains one day recently so I came to the lake to sit awhile and clear my head.



Lizards flicked to right and left as I walked along the boardwalk. They have the place mostly to themselves so they get pretty territorial about it.

They move just far enough not to get stepped on, then sit and watch me, all the while flexing their muscles and doing pushups. But I'm bigger than you, Squirt! Unimpressed. I think this little guy was flirting with me. He made a great show of stretching out his colors for me to admire. "Go find a lady closer to your own age and size," I advise him.




The sun is low behind the trees, glowing golden between their trunks. Great banks of dark clouds, sitting along the horizon, are fading from grey to a taupe-ish pink but, don't close your eyes 'cause it changes every minute. There's whispering in the pines as a breeze wanders by.


Suddenly the air is rent with raucous honking.  A trio of sandhill cranes prepare to land in the rushes but, oh-oh, they've changed their minds. Warned off by honking from others already settled in those reeds, they climb again skywards as two more fly overhead, squawking loudly. Must be a crane convention going on.

Meanwhile, piled high in the west, more grey clouds shot through with pink, the color of a rose.  The reflection of an old, fuzzy jetstream zig-zags through the ruffled water,. Straight out from where I'm sitting at the end of the boardwalk is a raft of waterlilies, no flowers yet but beauty enough in the leaves alone.

What looks like an old brown leaf appears among the ripples, dark, almost black against the water's grey. As I watch, it moves, then ducks beneath the surface and I realize, that's no leaf, that's a turtle!

Belly down on the raft at the end of the boardwalk, I watch this tiny spider catching the last rays of the sun.....



Big blue dragonflies zoom about, intent on going --- where? What's on the to-do list of a dragonfly?Does her nest (if dragonflies have nests) get claustrophobic so she feels she must get out and come to the lake to clear her head? And while we're at it --- why is the sky blue? If I had such beautiful, irridescent wings I'd fly down into the rushes where the water is squishy and brown and spy on those frogs who make such a racket and sound as large as dogs but are, somehow, invisible.


Guess I should go home while I can still see the way. The silver jetstreams high above have turned pink now, the clouds in the west are an even darker grey, and, best of all, my head is clear. The cranes have resumed their inelegant song and the wind is whispering "go home! Go Home!"




I went back to the lake last night to take some photos. It was earlier, and sunnier, so no dramatic clouds but all the usual suspects were present. Those loud, invisible frogs were as noisy as ever and I wondered idly who decided that frogs say "ribbit"? Sounds more like chirping to me. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe those loud, invisible creatures are not frogs at all but birds that hide under water! The sandhill cranes were having another domestic dispute but the sun was sinking and they sounded halfhearted.

You never know what new drama Life has up her sleeve so it's comforting to come to the lake knowing it will be different every time but reliably and serenely the same.


































Such an ordinary place but, when you sit and think and watch, you find ordinary places can be full of extraordinary peace and beauty.




























22 comments:

Sabine said...

These are great images!!

Thimbleanna said...

Beautiful pictures Miss Molly! I love that you have a nice peaceful place to go when you need to "get away" or sit and think. Everyone should have such a place! Happy 4th of July weekend!

Elephant's Child said...

What a beautiful spot to find heart-balm. Thank you. Water is SUCH a benison isn't it?

Susan Kane said...

What is commonplace for most ignorant people don't use their eyes. But yours is a beautiful world! Next Keep showing us the magnificence of your world.

Our next decade will find us moved, overlooking beauty, not our neighbors' fences!

Secret Agent Woman said...

I love those lily pads. So pretty.

And I didn't realize until you said so, but I started blogging summer of 2006, too, How can it already be ten years???

Ali Honey said...

Nice one Molly. You have a certain way with words that pleases me. The line about the pines is a keeper!
I hope I am still reading what you write in 10 or 20 years to come.

Unknown said...

Such a delight, Molly. I felt as though I was right there with you.

molly said...


Sabine --- Thank you! High praise from someone who takes pretty nice ones herself.

Anna --- hope you're having a great fourth too --- you and that newly minted American citizen!

EC --- Yup. Never more peaceful than by the water be it an ocean, a lake or a river...

Susan --- We take the gift of sight so much for granted. I guess we take most of our senses for granted - until they start to fade.

SAW -- I think as we get older the years speed up. Remember how as children we couldn't wait to be 8, or 10, or 16, or 21! It seemed to take forever! And now we turn 50, then, in a blink, there are 60 or more candles on the cake and the fire brigade standing by.

Ali --- Thanks Ali, I hope I'll still be writing!

Marion --- You could be! How long would it take you to get here? 20 minutes? Come on over.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

The occasional brief encounter with a Lounge Lizard is very good for one's morale...

molly said...


S&S --- Thanks for the chuckle!The one I met was missing a polyester suit!

dianne said...

polyester suits accompanied by matching white patent leather belts and shoes - that's what came to mind when i read about your flirty Lizard - reptiles, all (even the mammalian variety)

so much water in one place would not be Ordinary here - rocks and dirt are the norm, and can be quite extraordinary, too ... and serene

p.s. - bison is the funniest pun the Internet coughed up - bwah ha ha ha!!!

Lee said...

I, too, have been blogging for 10 years, Molly and have met some wonderful people through it (not physically, but readers). How time flies...all to quickly.

Thanks for taking me along with you on your stroll...what beautiful area it is. :)

Pam said...

I'm a 10-year blogger too. And you did write that so beautifully... though I was worrying slightly about the alligators lurking under the lily leaves...

molly said...


Lee -- it's true it puts you in touch with people you would otherwise never have a chance to meet.

Pam --- It's a small lake that rises or falls depending on the rainfall. So the alligators would be small ones. Is that any comfort? No, I thought not. Thanks for the kind words. You were one of the first to encourage me. Thanks for that too!

riseoutofme said...

Ah Molly ... the sun ...the sun...the sun ... So nice to know it's shining somewhere. Know the feeling of the molehills turning into mountains ...all you need is the right equipment to conquer them ... Flirty lizards perhaps know the secret?

molly said...


Yes Little Blister, the sun shines here every day, and it rains there every day, and each of us wishes we could have a little of the other's bounty. It hit a hundred today so we're slowly withering --- andnot just the grey matter. Glad to see you here as many of those we knew when we started have fallen by the wayside. Let's see if we can keep it alive for another little while, one post at a time....

Pam said...

The only time I've been in Florida (to go to Disney with our children) a small alligator got into the swimming pool at our rented house. Someone official person fished it out but I've never quite felt the same about swimming pools since. It would presumably have taken only small bites out of the children, but, you know. I prefer them to have the standard number of fingers and toes.

gz said...

to sit and watch unmoving, to listen silently...how often do we do that?

molly said...


Pam --- there was an unfortunate incident here (at Disney) recently where an alligator had a small child for a snack. Very sad for the poor little boy and his parents. Small dogs frequently meet their end in a gator's jaws also. It behooves people to be aware that Florida belonged to the alligators long before humans arrived on the scene.

gz --- Not enough I'm sure. Modern life has way too many distractions. That's why I love places like this.

riseoutofme said...

Once a week?

riseoutofme said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
riseoutofme said...

Your turn