Jun 15 2008
Tardy Spring Things
3 months is too stupid long between posts, and I’ve been having so many amusing thoughts. So just pretend with me that it’s March 21, and let’s do this spring thing together.
First of all, trees. Amazing, no? Trees go through the entire life cycle every year, dormancy, budding, sex, work, some creating fruits or dropping seeds, and then withering and dormancy again. The same thing is happening to me, I’m just one very self-involved leaf on a very big tree, covered in billions of self-involved leaves.
And what’s more, the exuberant tree sex of spring makes me drip with slime like a hyperactive snail. For which I consume generic Claritin-D. I sometimes forget I’ve taken it. If you’ve ever had a noxious experience with any Claritin-D-type allergy product, please leave me a comment.
And speaking of the sexy world of spring, have you ever heard of the opalescent squid? They are extremely abundant along the eastern Pacific Coast, are usually about 11″ long, live for a year or two and they have an extraordinary life cycle. On one night, they all come together in an orgiastic frenzy, falling through the water and bringing their snow-white bodies together. The males’ limbs flush red to indicate their receptivity as they grasp the females, then they come apart and the female falls to the ocean floor, deposits her sack of eggs (the seeds of 300+ more opalescent squid) and dies. The males may each mate 3 or 4 times a piece- sexist nature!- and then they also fall to the ocean floor and die. When it’s all over, the starfish come out and carry away the bodies, to snack on later. Somehow the eggs remain untouched, apparently.
Maybe it’s way Hollywoodized, but the depiction of the night of opalescent wonder in the IMAX movie Into the Deep was tremendously affecting and gorgeous. xxx!
