Wonder and curiousity.
The thrill of discovery fills my soul as I take in the nature all around me; on my way to no place in particular, nowhere to be at this very second. Time actually has stopped to wait patiently, momentarily. Noticing more, stepping closer, squinting one eye and then the other, hoping to somehow circumnavigate* the entire specimen in one fell swoop. I’m intently so close in vicinity to it that my eyesight blurs – as if I can somehow find the keyhole to step through to another realm where all magic resides; but as my eyes adjust, I realize: it’s all right here. I am looking straight into the mystic, the very history of the world through time eternal, from the beginning up to what is now right here in front of my very own eyes. Pinch me, I’m daydreaming – can this be real, do we really exist here? Yes, here I am, right here, right now, and here, we are.
I started this series not knowing what it would unfold into. It was on a nature walk along Buttertubs Marsh, where I found all kinds of interesting natural textures, and things I only found because I happened to be looking at them as I wandered around. Conversing to myself: “Ooh, pretty…” I started to stash bits. “Where will I put all this?…” The collection grew. Once home, I flung them all out on the table and started unraveling by colour, texture, similarities; discarding the bugs whose fate befell re-homing in my own yard, less their significant others. This is when I was noticing there’s more to this than I first knew, everything is ultimately connected and fits together like an unusual but synergetic puzzle. Seemingly to take on a life of its own, it morphed into a blue-bearded fiery fertility monster laying her eggs.
Soon after, the eggs became hatchlings…
*Squirrel! Side Note / An Aside. I first heard the term “circumnavigate” in the summer of 2000, back when I was gallivanting around the streets of Edmonton and spiraling through the caterpillar stage of an (unrequited) young love spell. I always loved that word, circumnavigate – to go completely around. It was a lyric in the song Aside, by the Weakerthans; a Canadian indie band from Winnipeg, led by John K. Samson the great. That album, Left & Leaving left an imprint on my soul for sure. They toured to town with the one and THE ONLY Lowest of the Low, where I was able to catch both of the bands live. Two bands with incredible lyricists and story-tellers. I was heart-warmed to find that I still have that 24 year old relic of a ticket stashed inside the CD, how bizarre that I would know exactly where to look for it when I often can’t find my keys or all my marbles at any given time. Nostalgia for the win. It’s funny how we stash these things and keep them tucked away safe in a space within our homes, and in the back corner of our minds. Sentimentalism is real, I know it well. What’s even more amusing to me is that today (May 5) as I reflect, it’s nearly to the exact date of the show (May 7)… many years & moons later, but I had a chuckle when I first looked at the ticket. Never cease to be amazed by the happenstance that befalls the day-to-day, therein lies magic… or whatever you may call it.
