The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

"The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating:  A True Story" by Elisabeth Tova Bailey.

I came across this book through my online library and was intrigued by its title.  I had never given any thought to how or what a snail eats let alone what kind of a sound it might make while eating.  Was there actually an entire book about the sound of a wild snail eating?  That wouldn't make sense, so what would such a book truly be about?  It was advertised as a true story about the meaning of life, about one woman's survival and the companionship of the snail that helped her survive. 

Elisabeth shares the story of a severe flu-like illness she contracted in her mid-thirties that turned into a mysterious, almost paralyzing & life-threatening illness that would change her life forever.  While she was bedridden in a studio apartment and away from home, a friend found a wild Maine snail in the woods and brought it to her, placing it with a potted plant by her bed in hopes that she might "enjoy" it.  Elisabeth is perplexed by the snail and finds herself wondering why should she enjoy it and what should she do with it?

Soon, Elisabeth begins to observe the snail and its activities.  She becomes intrigued by it, feels comforted by it, almost lives vicariously through the snail as it lives its life while she herself is stuck there in bed next to it; unable to fully live her own life.  She likens the snail's experience to her own (both trapped in small space, away from home).  She explains how the snail helps her through her own journey and in the process treats the reader to such an unusual wealth of snail knowledge including a description of snail "romance" that can take up to seven hours to complete.  Honestly, snails are far more complex creatures than I had ever imagined, and hopefully if "Snails" or "Mollusks" is a category on Jeopardy or Trivia Night I will now be fully prepared for any snail trivia thrown my way.

The story is about (in my opinion) the survival of our species and other species through adaptation and also just appreciating & understanding the different forms of life around us.  In a more general way it considers where we came from, how we evolved for survival, and what creatures may exist someday based on these evolutions.  It is of course also about the sound of a wild snail eating.  You can hear that sound for yourself in this short Flash presentation given by Elisabeth about her book.

It wasn't the type of book that I would normally read, but I am glad that I gave it a try.  It was definitely worth reading and a welcome change to my world of fiction and technology books!

Amish Friendship Bread

This is the bread that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends!  If you aren't familiar with Amish Friendship Bread I should explain why it is like the chain-mail of bread.  Someone (presumably a friend) gives you a bag of mush.  You take care of that bag of mush for 10 days, mushing the mush together in the zip lock bag, feeding it flour, sugar, and milk halfway through, and finally on the 10th day you add more to it and set 4 cups aside in individual bags to give to friends to start their own bread (the bread that keeps on giving!).  You keep the remaining mix and add the final ingredients to create the bread that you've been preparing for 10 days.  You get to do something that takes a long time and requires no fancy technology, hence appreciating the Amish life?  Well, I don't think that's really the point.

People have tried to give me the starter mix in the past and I have respectfully declined.  I feel like I could get stuck in this bread making chain and possibly be converted to Amish beliefs (ha, I don't really fear that.... really... I don't).  I've declined this starter bread my entire life - until yesterday that is.  I found a message on my Facebook wall from a friend who wanted to know if I would like a starter kit and instead of running away screaming about the vicious cycle of Amish Friendship Bread I accepted the offer.  I'm a baker (not professionally) and I should embrace this bread challenge (not that it should be considered a challenge).  I should find out if it is any good (people rave about it) and I should see what I can do to it to make it unique... shouldn't I?  That's my dilemma.  Do I follow the recipe exactly, try an online variation, or my very own variation?  I think I have some good ideas in mind, but when I have to wait 10 days to find out if they are awesome it becomes a painfully long process.  Should I mess with the classic or switch it up?  I'll probably just end up feeding it to my coworkers anyway (especially if it comes out bad... ha ha!)  It'll be a fun project for me though.  I hope the bread mix survives for 10 days; my potted basil in the windowsill died in my care in half that time ;) 

Also, there's still the issue of the chain bread.  I think I am going to break the chain instead of risking all of the extra carbs that would come my way ;)  I'm an Amish rebel.

My bag o' Amish bread mush

Area Dog Doesn't Want Breakfast

After being woken up by her dog at 5:50 this morning an area woman spent a better part of early Sunday morning trying to convince the dog that he could probably eat his breakfast if he just tried.  The area dog, a German shepherd named Jagger, looked into his bowl, sniffed as though he was repulsed by his usual breakfast, and looked at the owner like she was trying to poison him.

Area dog not interested in breakfast; bored with owner's coaxing to eat.

After a few accusing glances and what appeared to be stifled gags, the dog walked away from his bowl and stared at his exasperated owner as though he could not be any more uninterested in breakfast or any conversations about it.  He was unfazed by statements about dogs in area shelters who would be grateful that someone crawled out of bed just to feed them and how some dogs might even be on the breakfast menu in certain areas of Asia where children and other dogs are starving.

After four hours of refusing to eat, even when a piece of real bacon (because dogs do know the difference!) was tossed into the bowl early on as an incentive, the area dog finally decided that the food was edible.

In Search of the Melano Groundhog

Last week I discovered a black groundhog (woodchuck) at the Maine Audubon Center at Gilsland Farm.  It was the first black groundhog that I had ever seen and I thought he looked like an adorable Tasmanian Devil :)

A black groundhog, also known as a melano groundhog at Gilsland Farm.

 After searching around online I discovered that he (or she) is a rare black woodchuck known as a melano.  Melano is essentially the opposite of albino.  Albinos have a lack of melanin and melanos have an excess amount.  See Wiki on Melanism.  I learned something new from this groundhog!  I had never heard of a melano before looking it up and I suppose since it is less startling than an albino (and lacks red eyes) that people don't really hear about them. The gene that causes it is a dominant one and I think there have been generations of melano groundhogs at Gilsland Farm.  While doing a Google image search for Gilsland Farm I came across this link (Queen of the Woodchucks) about woodchucks being tracked there and there is a picture that appears to be of a melano woodchuck from July 2002.  I didn't see any mention of it being melano so I am not sure if they realize that they found a rare woodchuck in the plethora that they have on the property :-)

I was disappointed that I didn't get a good picture of his face so I went back there to see if I could find him around dusk since all of the groundhogs are out enjoying dinner around then.  I came across 10-15 different woodchucks, but didn't find my melano again :-(

There was this cutie who thought he could hide from me under a shed.

Groundhog version of Peek-a-Boo?

There was this guy who was not at all shy about eating in front of the camera.

Hopefully I will find the melano again this summer.  It'll be a photography win ;)

Flower Power

I've taken a lot of photos of flowers in the past year or two.  I think they make great models, especially if you know how to talk to them :)

Most of my collection is here on Flickr:  My Flower Photo Set

These are my favorites from the collection:

My favorite coastal Maine flower.

In front of the library, they were dancing that day.

Lake Placid, NY, John Brown Farm, it paused in the breeze for only a moment.

St. Johnsbury, VT, Dog Mountain, the bee was sluggish in the early fall air.

Bird of Paradise, Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, CA; I swear I could hear it.

Vibrantly colored fall flower at the San Diego Zoo, CA

Something very Power of 3 in this triangular Orlando, FL flower.

Giant tulips and a late spring sunset in coastal Maine.  Gorgeous.

Currently my wallpaper; I so love this Maine flower.  So pink, so green!

Learning how to use my new camera; like the way this one came out.

I have a new camera; a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 16.2 MP Waterproof Digital Still Camera with Exmor R CMOS Sensor, 3D Sweep Panorama, and Full HD 1080/60i Video (Pink).  Perhaps I will write a review of that as I get used to it and take more photos.

As much as I love flowers I am awful at identifying them.  Perhaps I shall invest some time in learning their names and more about them :)