One Bite at a Time

Driving down the road a couple of weekends ago, Riff and Noah were playing "Slug Bug" when they spotted Volkswagon Beetle's.  Noah called out, "Slug Bug red - No hit back's!" after a 5 year old sized slug to his Papa's arm, then he was quiet for a few seconds. 

  

 "Bana?  I don't really remember what a slug is."  I replied that a slug is a slimy bug with no bones - just like a snail without a shell.  "oh yeah!  I remember!  What do slugs do?"  "Hmmm", I said.  "Well, they come out when it rains and when your garden is growing they come out at night and eat all of your plants."  This provoked a concentrated look on Noah's face, then he asked, "Don't the spider's eat them?  'Cause spiders are good and they eat the bad bugs."  I told him that no, spiders don't really eat slugs because they're too little.  The slugs are bigger than the spiders.  

"Well, Bana, why can't they just eat them one bite at a time?" 

The Octopus Tree

  

This is called The Octopus Tree and has stood on a bluff at Cape Meares on the Oregon Coast for the past 300 or so years.  This tree is a Sitka Spruce that has mysteriously grown without a central trunk.  It's about 42 feet around and stands over 100 feet high with arms that extend out and up like an upside down octopus.  

The mystery is what formed this incredible tree.  Was it natural forces such as the wind that hammers the bluff this Sitka Spruce stands on? Most likely not.   Did the Native Americans of this area, the Tillamook Tribe, purposely form this wondrous tree this way?  Local legends say that the tree was formed this way as a ceremonial site to cradle the canoes that held their dead.  The tree is also known as "The Council Tree" where tribal elders came to make decisions and where shaman performed tribal ceremonies.  

Seems to me this tree is sacred.  I think, quite possibly, the spirits of our Native American ancestors can still be felt here, if you just take the time to listen.  

(This posted linked to Green Day over at Raindrops & Daisies)

Wordless Wednesday

The Fixer Upper

Remember me telling you last month about the What's in a Name reading challenge?  It's a really fun challenge with six categories; the idea is to read one book that meets the criteria for each category.  I just finished The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews that fits just perfectly into the "Up or Down" slot. 

Dempsey Killebrew is a junior lobbyist in Washington D.C. whose boss has taken her under his wing and made her his prodigy, so she thinks, until he is charged with bribing a senator and uses Dempsey as the fall guy. She loses her job, and her name and picture are spread all over the news as the girl who hired prostitutes for the senator. Dempsey's unlikable father has just inherited his family home in small town Georgia and, not having much choice, Dempsey packs up and heads to Georgia to "flip" the house. It turns out the once beautiful Victorian is in shambles and a shirttail elderly cousin has taken up residence in the home. Dempsey has her hands full with the house as well as with the scandal that won't go away. Two FBI agents show up in town and threaten her with prison time if she doesn't cooperate with them. As Dempsey starts to restore the family home and her own life, she begins to find the things that are important. 

This book was just ok for me. There wasn't a single character that I really connected with and the fact that the author thought it necessary to throw brand names around in every other sentence really annoyed me. For most of the book, I found myself mostly skimming instead of digging in and really getting into the story.  I certainly won't go out of my way to read any other books by this author.

Not to late for you to join in the What's in a Name Challenge!  Where is your reading taking you?

Wordless Wednesday