There is this tiny copse of gnarled trees on my walk to the woods. They sit beneath the shade of an old evergreen macrocarpa, in a dip in the path. Their trunks are a little twisted, and some of the roots are showing. These trees seem altogether magical, as if a gnome might pop out of the bank beneath them at any given moment, and ask you to dinner. Yet something about that shady bay, with the twisted trees, seems a little disquieting - the magic of the place is powerful. Every time I pass them by, I hurry onwards, while bidding them 'good day.'
MARILYN SLIPPERS
There is that one scene in The Seven Year Itch in which Marilyn Monroe is hiding behind a swivel chair, but all we see of her is her dainty little foot, sneaking out to snatch up her missing slipper before it is noticed.
Sometimes I get myself a box of chocolates - the fancy type - and slip on my marabou slippers to watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or The Misfits, in honour of Marilyn.
WHEAT & CLOVER
If you ever peer into a meadow full of long grasses, there you may find a whole 'nother world...
The world of the long grasses is inhabited by big, fat bumblebees who make a droning noise between the clover and the buttercups.
There are long stalks of wheat, some with pointy ends and others that look fluffy, all of them growing golden yellow towards the harvest time.
In this world, spiders weave giant webs between the grasses, catching small flies and dew drops in the morning.
And every-so-often, a cluster of dandelion clock seeds drifts by, promising wishes to those who could capture them.
