I was going to title this ‘Badger Latrines and Cherry Trees’. I wonder what kind of hits that would encourage in google searches?
I’m still busy painting and not working on my WIP (Code name:AIDAN) because I just don’t have the energy for anything else these days, however I am thinking about the story and hugging it close to my chest and savoring it. (Savor—as I did with the wonderful paneer tikka masala I had last night for dinner. Mmmmmm!)
My mother, a wise country woman, recently told me something nifty about badgers. Badgers are fierce black and white animals about the size of a wolverine (or if you prefer a fat basset hound). We had previously been talking about badgers because a) I have always wanted to see one, because b) they are European not American and I believe this continent suffers from a lack of them, and c) because I mentioned them in my last manuscript ( which is on its way to an agent as I write this. Cross fingers everyone!).
Anyway, we were on our morning hike (this morning we helped a small toad cross the road) and she told me that badgers dig latrines in neat rows. I already knew this. I had always thought it was cool. They dig a small hole and fill it and then dig another a foot or two to the side and fill that and so on. But then she told me that they really love to eat wild cherries. So often you can locate a badger’s bathroom by the neat row of cherry trees growing in a line.
I don’t know why you would want to locate a badger’s toilet necessarily. I myself am intrigued by the dry pellets that owls and other birds of prey cough up, and also by bear poop which is large and so studded with seeds that it looks like some kind of free-form fruitcake, but that’s just me. I am absolutely floored by black bears even though I have seen a few now. They are so large and wild and unpredictable, they make me come over all crocodile- hunter-ish.
However…
Whether you are like me or not (twisted!) you must admit that there is something special about the cherry trees. I mean, doesn’t this perfectly encapsulate the natural balance in things, especially when they occur without interference by humans? And why, when we are capable of great beauty, do we inflict so much ugliness on the world???
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