pill bug, roly-poly bug, doodle bug

With segmented shells, this little third-of-an-inch critter is somewhat related to millipedes and centipedes. The doodle bug is even better armored and can roll into a tight little ball in self-defense.

My question today was whether they have antennae or not. I didn't find a clear answer. The appendages from the head area do perform sensory functions, but instead of waving upward they stretch forward and downward. Not sure of these details, though.

Looking this up at the library, it became clear doodle bugs - who very much enjoy fungus and rotting vegetation - could be called composting bugs. They play an important role in the transformation of plant and other matter into soil.

twinkle twinkle

a wee little kid
is singing far away
i hear the familiar melody
but not what he's saying

A - B - C - D
E - F - G
H - I - J - K
L - M - N - O - P?

or

Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star
How I Wonder
What You Are?

or

some
wondrous
childish
nonsense
never heard before?

Ash Wednesday


the details
are cumbersome.
the words -
who
did what
where
when
why -
fill the
page of day.
'no more words.'
'talk outside.'
in the empty
of subsequent quiet
worries
like a fist
full of ash
like motes
of dust
float up
and scatter

work of art

every piece of art
one throws together
pores over
scribbles over
makes
out of scrap, time,
passion, paint,
charcoal, paste,
popsickle sticks
is an adventure
from blank canvas
weary mind
to portrait
landscape
mobile
film
totem pole
quilt
opened doors

clay

We lived on land in Louisiana that, if you dug down a few feet, you came to a layer of clay. I liked messing with the clay. We had no kiln or anything like that, but I did experiment with shaping things. The clay was muddy looking, but it behaved differently than mud. It held together. It had a glossy look to it. And instead of absorbing water like dirt did, it tended to block water. Parts of the yard that had clay beneath stayed soggier after rains, the layer of clay preventing some of the drainage.

Many Native American Indian tribes have been renowned for their skilled and beautiful pottery work. The color of the materials typical of specific tribes likely were affected by the mineral makeup the clays of their locations.

Before we had such easy, far-reaching means of transportation, and before we had big box construction material franchises like Home Depots and Lowe's, one might have noticed that various towns and locations had buildings and walls of brick that were mostly of the same color. In south Louisiana, we had quite a few churches, school, and hospital buildings in the 1950s that were of a particular shade of red brick. That might have been because the bricks used were of a local clay.

I was driving for coffee the other morning, and stopped at a red light. One of the street signs at the intersection was half blocked by a truck, and my mind played word games with the three letters I could see. n-i-g : nigh is near; night is dark. The socially complicated word for negro came to mind. Negro is a word that means black in Spanish. Niger, was it there? My mind then got caught up then with the word benign. It's a  word I like to associate with God.  Benign-ness, I thought. Benign, I thought, nine. Be nine. I drove into the parking lot, and got my coffee and a muffin. I was eating at the counter, and there in front of me was my receipt and I found myself looking at its transaction number in big print, the number used to call a customer when his or her order is ready. B-9

How are thought and physical reality entangled and interconnected?

scientists

of the early scientists
there are some whose names we know
some who learned and shared
without any degree
or publication
some who taught
and never saw
their field or thoughts
as territory

we know of Newton
and the falling apple
of Thoreau and his pond
Carver with
an endless list
of the agricultural and other gifts
of peanuts

western scientific method
has several steps
but many of those folk
whose efforts we admire
focus on the first step
as though it were the only:
observe
observe
observe
then, there are those folk
and other kin
who just live fully
without pencil or notes
the great puzzle of life