Very Last of Curve from ChosenPerspectives

Curve

I really am obsessed with this word “Curve”, and I guess I am not alone. There are so many entries this week! I thought I was done yesterday but I kept remembering other CURVES I really adore! So here are some more!

IMG_7122The Nautilus-one of my favorite shells

IMG_7125Curvy Shell Family from Fiji

But my real favorite Curve in the shell world is the ingenious Operculum. Defined in nature as a lid, a cover, or, get this, a trap door, it is a beautiful, smoothed by the elements, curved chunk of shell used by all sizes of  Hermit Crabs as their protective “front door”.

IMG_7127IMG_7131Definitely NOT one-size-fits-all!

In Fiji, the locals would keep special ones in their hands, kind of like a “worry stone”, constantly rubbing and smoothing it until the combination of friction and skin oil had it gleaming like a “cat’s eye”

IMG_7133

They were also called the Shiva Eye, and they made them into jewelry.

“It is the third eye in the middle of the forehead of the Hindu God Shiva. Representing wisdom, it is thought to have the ability to look beyond the obvious. It symbolizes the flow of life, the constant change of the universe, spiritual knowledge and creative visualization.”

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=shiva+shell+meaning

IMG_7132

This is the other side, exactly how they end up on the beach, worn down to “door” size for a variety of crabs and snails.

If you could slice the tips of these shells off and then sand and polish the nub down to a button shape, you would have an operculum. And, on the flat side, you would see the swirl of the shell’s life and growth, sort of like the rings of a large tree.

OK, that’s really it for me and my Curve fixation. I’m done now.

No more curves………..

 

well, maybe just this very last example of Curves that “inspire” me…just for the Yoga part of it though. Honest.

20160623_10582820160623_105929

This is my daughter-in-law’s big brother,

posing for a Yoga and Meditation Calendar a few years ago.

Pretty inspiring Curves, don’t cha think?

My House as a Life-preface (for Badfish and his Buddy Duncan)

Dear Badfish, my favorite Blogger,

You , me, David Attenborough and Barbara Kingsolver…the Hermit Crab Connection. I love how you seem to be able to make a home for yourself wherever you travel. I, on the other hand, am only completely at ease in my own house.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my house lately. I think I may be ready (finally) to write about it. I will title it “My House as a Life”. (Have you seen the movie “Life as a House”? )

But I will have to tell it in chapters. Here’s the preview.

Young woman with small child, left by husband so he could move in with secretary….

Oh wait, that could not sound more boring. It happens every day.

How about this?

Young woman, abandoned with small child, fights to keep the family homestead…

Better, but not particularly enticing. Sally Field and Cissy Spacek already showed us this story in their great triumph movies! (Places in the Heart and The River)

Wait, I know.

Reformed Hippie returns to her Sixties roots and shares home with 52 people and 16 animals over 40 year period. Stories abound.

Yeah, that’s where I’ll start.

The Hermit Crab connection? Well, they have this amazing system for replacing their homes when they have outgrown them. (see Attenborough and Kingsolver connection below)

But you know what, there is no antonym for the word “outgrow”. If there were, it would describe where I am in my life, and where many of my baby-boomer generation are also. This is a problem in our culture. We are living so much longer than our ancestors that we don’t even have words to capture many of the  dilemmas we now face.

Like the fact that I have “ingrown” my home.

I wonder what the Hermit Crabs do as they age………….

I only know I have to write about it….

 

I had no idea what a process I was interrupting when I collected these empty shells on the beaches in Fiji.

Watch David Attenborough explain. One Of my favorite all time videos!!!

 

And as for Kingsolver….

 

http://www.kingsolver.com/books/excerpts/high-tide-in-tucson.html

(It says I can not reproduce this but can I legally include this link??)

Trailer for “Life as a House”