The Humble Snail

brown and black snail closeup photography

Progress moves at snail's pace on the 'path to getting published' - so I am trying to embrace the art of patience. ... Will snail-watching help? Snails are not as slow as we think, and their ability to decimate a carefully grown lettuce is impressive (with the help of slugs and other pesky creatures). I am reminded of Elisabeth Tova Bailey's remarkable memoir, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating where a common woodland snail takes up residence in a terrarium in the room where Elisabeth lies suffering from a serious illness. Too weak even to pet her dog, she becomes fascinated by the life of this snail. It's movement, sounds and habits bring a kind of meditative comfort. Elisabeth recovered, and her world became bigger again. Then she wrote her prize-winning book.

Speaking of Nature - it is Spring! (over Melbourne way) and the blossoms are bursting forth. There is a tree across the road that I can see from my study window, a Manchurian Ornamental Pear I think, and it's a joy to behold.

Dennis Potter, brilliant English playwright, gave a wonderful description of the tree blossoming in his garden during an interview late in life: The blossom is out in full now, it’s plum tree, it looks like apple blossom but it’s white. It’s the whitest, frothiest blossomest blossom that ever could be...

He ends by saying: the now-ness of everything is absolutely wondrous


Image result for plum tree blossoms pictures



So here's to Nature and now-ness and the Art of Patience and the wonder of snails!









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