Mermaid Magic

 

A look back at my time during the late ‘70s-early 80’s time in North Carolina.

I’d like to personally thank Stephanie Trepanier for her lovely artwork. The woman is talented. I’ll introduce our artist to you with this photo:

(as always, click on the pics to make them larger)

 

The hills of North Carolina are easy on the senses and sometimes stunning to the eyes, even more so when the hills have a lake running through them. Camp Mondamin was set in such a spot, just a short piece from the little town of Tuxedo. The skies were Carolina Blue and crystal clear throughout the summertime and the livin’ was easy for me to work as a camp counselor.

 

My mind was far from work on this particular day. Lake Summit was gorgeous, it was warm in the water and relaxing in the sun. I’d agreed to meet up with a trio of female counselors from the girl’s side camp across the water. Somehow we’d been able to create a little rendezvous spot in the woods that was semi private.  At night, a small fire would give a lift to energies and an urgency to move.  The girls were already there when I arrived.  The late light of the day filled the trees and air like a little magical illuminated tapestry that hung in the branches and spoke to you in little vibrating pulses of strong orange and red hues. I love the late light for photography. Every thing it touches gets stronger and bolder as the day gets older.

 

Dancing is so easy when you are breathing mountain air and the three young women had a languid sense of their bodies. Their movements flowed like liquid silk and laughter bubbled up into the valley atmosphere.

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The girls were twirling and swirling as carefree as could be. A blonde (Susan), a redhead (Nancy), and a brunette named Rachel. We’d spent many a time here in the late afternoons and gotten to know each other pretty well.  However, I was pretty surprised to hear the following from Rachel:

“Susan and Nancy have decided I should be your mermaid for the night”  “Come and swim out to the floats in the middle of the lake……..I’ll be waiting”

 

I breathed into that statement.  Closed my eyes and felt Rachel dancing before me.

The next thing I knew I’d been transported into the dark nite and swimming strongly for our date on the little platform.

What a night sky!

And what a wonderful sense to be cruising effortlessly in the wet environment. I sensed a figure diving playfully like a lil’ dolphin alongside. It was Rachel! And she’d actually gotten the lower half of her body slipped into some approximation of a tail.  Wow, she was strong, just powering thru like an undulating fish. Fun just took on a whole new dimension.

Treading water underneath the moon light, she motioned a white flower towards  me.  “I’m sure you know just the right way to open my petals on a night like this”, she said.

 

Emerging onto the floats, her wet skin glistened in the starry night. She took a breath and looked up into my eyes.  All I saw was the whole of the universe behind me reflected in her gaze. It was like you could just fall headlong into the light inside her head.

A tentative kiss….. relaxed body language…. and intertwined limbs touched off sparks of electricity that played across our lips like shooting stars.

We laid together and took in the sky between the hills while our little floating palace gave some rhythm to our sleepiness. You could hear the ancient hills sing a song it was so relaxing.  The night was heavenly and simply divine. There would be days ahead, though, that would seem a lot like hell.

 

 

 

Snakes On Your Shoulder

Let me introduce Jaxter. He’s a large snake that lives right in my neighborhood. This is my friend, Chelsea McKenzie, and her 6 yr old boa.  She is enamored of all animals and has a special rapport with them. I’ve enjoyed knowing about her stories that revolve around having a snake in the house.  Her cat seems to be addicted to going up to the glass of his cage and hanging out late into the night. This is often followed by thumping noises as the snake strikes the glass aiming at her feline.  Curiosity and cats…. go figure. Here is his jungle lair: (And, as usual, clicking the pics will enlarge them.)

Fun stuff and of course, I relate completely to handling the slinky large sidewinder.  On some occasions, she lets him slide through the grass in her yard and he seems most happy.

By the way, if you go to visit her house, this is the welcoming committee peering out through the window to greet you~!

In my 20’s, I thoroughly enjoyed the connection to the heavy bodied constrictors I took with me out into the school systems . My travels out into Greater Houston had a sense of adventurousness about them every day. Entering a classroom or auditorium with the menagerie was like bringing the circus to the school (literally). Introducing myself was a breeze and the room was full of excitement as the children got an eyeful of all of us as we spread out before them. I started the lecture off with Rosie: the 6 foot long boa constrictor donated by a local strip act (so she was used to be handled). Just laid the snake over my shoulders and everyone shut up. Best teaching prop EVER! Loved the job. So fun. I carried Rosie (the snake) in a burlap bag and we were at ease with each other. When she would have enough of being handled by grade schoolers, I’d feel her tense a bit in her belly and slide her back into the sack. Wonderful snake. And superb help from my Junior League women escorts (doctor’s and lawyer’s wives, etc. who volunteered to help me on my trips.) I’ve always enjoyed the company of good looking women. They were as hot to my eyes as a Houston summer was to the body.

Heaven.

I guess playing with snakes has appealed to some of my relatives.  My aunt, JoAnn, had her hands full with this one.  Heh…. it looks like her left hand can’t figure out whether to advance to touch it or head for the next county. Snakes… must run in the family.

I enjoyed all of my experiences with snakes but I also had a healthy respect for them. You just don’t get aggressive with snakes (or any animal, for that matter.) Some beligerent yahoo staffer at the zoo was being a jerk and was rough with the reptiles. Needless to say,  a boa bit him on the hand. Really bad visuals for that one. Rumor has it that they have fierce fangs.  The head of the zoo had been bitten by so many poisonous snakes over his career that the docs told him if he got one more bite, he’d be dead. I figured my job was actually a godsend compared to some of the duties of the keepers at the Zoo. I didn’t know it at the time, but there were changes in the wind that would take me far from this animal paradise.  There would also be moments coming where I’d long for animal behavior as compared to some “human” shenanigans and incivility.

I’ll just leave this last pic as a reminder of previous companions that graced my shoulder.  Thanks for the pics, Chelsea!

Her cover pic seems completely appropriate here and encompasses the deep affection I feel for all living things:

 

 

 

Playing with the Pachyderms

 I’m enjoying matching some artwork with some of my stories.  Credits for the above go to Stephanie Trepanier for her lively depiction of elephant energy. (Thank you, Steph!)

I’ll take this story back to 1970 Texas again. I have to admit that the job with the Houston Children’s Zoo was one of the most fun and playful work set ups I’ve ever encountered. That episode of slippery driving with a full load of animals in the vehicle  also reminded me to not lose your cool just because the world starts spinning around you. My piano teacher, Mary Heim, always said don’t be distracted even if a whole herd of elephants comes stampeding thru the room. In this case, it was baby elephant butt bouncing off the walls of the vehicle. He was doing a mini-version of stampede city and loading and unloading the grip on the tires in perfect synchronicity to my deftness (sort of) at the helm. I wondered if he was going to somehow get his trunk thru the cage and grab onto the steering wheel~!.
He always did manage to play some tricks with his trunk by snaking up someone’s pants or skirt and on at least one occasion took the toupee right off the principal’s head and started doing a dance with it coming on and off the lil’ tusker’s head and then back onto the principal, then onto my head, then onto the best looking Junior Leaguer’s face to give her a beard. Needless to say, I wasn’t the only smart ass on this circus ride.

Talk of baby elephants reminds me of this shot. Photo of one year birthday for baby Ludwig (Munich Zoo). Happy times. And reminds me of the enjoyable times back then.

(click to enlarge)

There is something about a baby elephant’s face that make you think they are laughing at you. (Particularly if you are behaving like an idiot). And there were plenty of those idiotic moments. Early on, before I realized what a clown the big baby was, I was playing it pretty straight and soberfaced. Standing by a horse trough at one elementary school, I’d just concluded my opening statements with this: “And here is one of our more well behaved examples at the Children’s Zoo” Several of the kids were acting out the part of an elephant off to the side and being really goofy. When they proceeded to raise their voices in a crescendo of Monkey sounds….hooo hooo hoo…. with monkey squeals and the like, “Winky” (my name for the lil’ pachyderm) proceeded to upload a whole charge of H20 out of the horse trough using his trunk. Swinging around, he unloaded with the accuracy of a fire hose and took out the whole first row. It seemed from that point onward, his smiling laugh face got even broader.
For those of you who have never been around such big energy that is so wonderfully young, here is a video of a recent addition to the Houston Zoo. “Baylor” at 2 weeks of age is having a ball. For those of you who are parents, you may see some similarities in humans dealing with water for the first time. And it looks like he’s a little party animal.
I like how the mom encourages where to go for more playtime with her big foot. Click the link to play.

Baby Baylor in the baby pool!

This next video was almost a year later. 2011. Baylor was born at 348 pounds. Now he’s up to 1100 in this pic with his lil’ sister, Tupelo at 600 pounds. This is current footage, of course, but very similar to what was going on when I was there.
“The small, inflatable pools do not last longer than 5 minutes without getting popped. The babies now get a family size pool which is 120 inches in length and holds both calves. It is a lot more durable. This size pool lasts for about 5 uses before it has to be replaced. Playing in the pool is a fun enrichment activity for the babies and the pool is given to them when the weather allows.

(click to enlarge photos)

Click the link to play video

Baylor and Tupelo in the Pool

Life in Texas back then was fun, energizing and carefree.  However there were some storm clouds on the horizon and big changes would eventually  overshadow the playfulness of frolicking youngsters.

I’ll close this by fading to black and white with the fading light.

Artwork credits:  Stephanie Trepanier.