Nothing Unusual Going On

Categories Supplemental Thoughts

Hello. Everything is normal. There is nothing unusual going on. I went for a routine walk in my home town of Vincentown, NJ and only needed one rubber glove and a bottle of Purell. Things are just starting to sprout and flower, as they’re apt to do in early Spring. Just like normal.

bluebells?

I feel like I know a lot of plants in South Jersey, but I’m not sure what these are. They may be immature bluebells. This small trail that runs by the old mill race in town was apparently built by Boy Scouts, given the rough-hewn posts reminding me to be obedient and reverent and clean, and I wonder if these flowers were intentionally planted to provide a little color. They only seemed to be near the trailhead. Or maybe they’re native and I’ve just never noticed.

camouflage

Can you see who’s in this picture? Yeah, my shadow is in it, but there’s someone else too, and rather well camouflaged.

garter snake

It’s a sneaky snake. Just a little one, going about his or her business: trying to catch some rays, eat a bug, whatever. Normal snake stuff.

buds

I spent an awful long time trying to remember how to get my camera into manual mode. Many of the plants were just starting to grow little buds, and I took dozens of photos of the woods behind them. I sometimes wonder what I would look like if someone were secretly observing me in situations where I’m doing something like taking a photo, quietly saying “you bastard,” and then seemingly taking the same photo and muttering the same words over and over. I could not press the shutter release fast enough to defeat the autofocus, but I did eventually figure out how to turn it off.

flowering tree

I drive stick shift. I make a boat go by pulling ropes and moving a tiller. While I do enjoy having the option of an automatic mode on my camera (like if I come across a sneaky snake and want to snap something suddenly), I generally prefer to be the boss of my machines. There are many things that I cannot control, but I can damn well control my focus.

tiny leaves

So, it is Spring, as it is every year around this time. Rebirth and renewal, Persephone returning from Hades to Demeter, Inanna resurrected in the Sumerian underworld of Kur, yadda yadda, just as it’s always been. A cycle, and not an endless downward trend. Nothing unusual. Normal.

"Prepare to fend off the bridge abutment."

2 thoughts on “Nothing Unusual Going On

  1. Grape Hyacinth’s are those purple little early flowers by the trail. I’m not sure if they are native but they are perennials in this climate, returning year after year and multiplying as per normal.
    That looks like an Eastern Garter snake or similar. Totally harmless except to bugs, worms or maybe a small fish if it catch one. We had one of these as a pet for a while. We also had a Red Boa constrictor that grew fast (as per normal) and got out of it’s cage and found a comfortable spot inside my mother’s baby grand piano. The piano tuner was called and he spent about 4 hours taking apart the piano to find the snake. Snakes like warm, tight, dark places. That is normal for them.

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