The Serpent Has No Eyelids: a true story.
My other snake of September turns out to be not a snake at all. On this French island, Belle Ile, after the tourist horde leaves, the paths by the ocean fill up with fast and brilliant green lizards. Mindy and I always wait for their appearance because it means we've got the place to ourselves (along with our friends, the locals).
But last year I found a dried dead snake in a flower valley, and was mystified. Perhaps because Hawaii and Ireland are both sans-serpent, I assumed Belle Ile was, too. Then came this year, and a living version showed up, neatly curled, in the sandy path to the beach.
Only, our friends explained, it was really a lizard--the Orvet--and the only way you can tell is by looking into its eyes. Because it has eyelids, and snakes do not. (Reminding me of Will Smith confronting the agile alien in the opening scene of Men in Black.)
http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/418774
Not the whole story, just some fragments of the days–-literary, political, sporting, and personal. Why call it “A Salty Blog”? Fond memories of the Players cigarette pack, which was also the cover and title of a Procol Harum album called "A Salty Dog," that showed a wild-eyed Jack Tar, wreathed in a tatty beard, leering gap-toothed–-just the kind of guy I’ve always run into in pubs who, when not telling stories of the ouroboros would threaten to “bite yer ****ing nose off!”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
And the blue goose flies high at night ... Oh, I thought we were talking secret code there for a second!! My bad. I never grow weary of reading your writing. So fun to know you have a blog - keep it coming! My (seldom used) blog is http://billmurrayrants.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete