22 -- Frog Blog

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

rilla: Ribbit.
Rilla: Rabbit?
rilla: Ribbit.
Rilla: A frog?
rilla: Croak.
Rilla: OK, you do mean frogs.
rilla: The frogs croaked.
Rilla: That’s what they tend to do…
rilla: More than one meaning to the word croaked …
Rilla: Oh… you mean croaked.
rilla: Frogs croaking all around the world.
Rilla: But not all of them are saying Ribbit?
rilla: No, they’re saying HELP, we’re dying, someone do something.
Rilla: Huh? So what? Don’t much care for the nasty, slimy things.
rilla: Ever hear about the Gastric Brooding Frog in Australia?
Rilla: Nasty slimy things…
rilla: They swallowed their own fertilized eggs and the frogs would hatch inside the parent’s stomach.
Rilla: Nasty slimy things…
rilla: Somehow the parent turned off its own gastric juices so that the eggs wouldn’t be digested.
Rilla: How’d they get out then?
rilla: Through the parent’s mouth…pop…pop…
Rilla: You mean puke, puke…nasty slimy things.
rilla: Remember that empty swimming pool in our first school.
Rilla: Never had any water in it.
rilla: Yeah, and the only ones who went swimming there were…
Rilla: … frogs, millions of them, tadpoles turning into froggies in the monsoon.
rilla: You had nothing against them then. I remember you climbing down those steps and laughing in delight when the little frogs jumped into your hands…
Rilla: Humph…frogs…swallow their own eggs huh?
rilla: Don’t anymore.
Rilla: Why? They got hungry and started eating them?
rilla: Nope, they’re extinct, along with the Golden toad of Costa Rica and species everywhere are dying out.
Rilla: So what? If the frogs outside our window would die out, we’d sleep better at night.
rilla: Frogs are the barometer of the health of an ecosystem, the proverbial canary in the coal mine. And it’s because they are slimy and have permeable skins that they’re so vulnerable to pollutants in water and the sun as global warming heats up the planet.
Rilla: So they’re croaking.
rilla: Yup, they’re telling us our ecosystems don’t work anymore. That means the end of more than just the frogs you know.
Rilla: Someday, all these animals we know might be memories too?
rilla: Myths we tell our grandkids about…
Rilla: …sitting around the digital campfire.
rilla: We used to have tigers prowling in our jungles.
Rilla: We used to have elephants roaming our savanna.
rilla: We used to have polar bears hunting on our ice caps.
Rilla: We used to have jungles.
rilla: And savanna.
Rilla: And ice caps.
rilla: And frogs.

Sad reflections on the state of our planet after watching the BBC series Planet Earth. If you haven't already, see it. The DVD set is on sale at Costco right now and always at Amazon.

Facts about frog populations declining
Interesting article on the adaptability of frogs
For Kids

Post a Comment
Next Post
Previous Post
Back to TOP

21 -- Monstrous Muse

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: What are you working on now?
rilla: LynNerd has given me an assignment.
Rilla: Is that a euphemism for being tagged with another meme?
rilla: If I say yes will you go for a loop and explode again?
Rilla: I never explode. I have a calm disposition, what they call even-tempered…
rilla: OK then, yes.
Rilla: See…no explosion…you…really…do…me…an …injustice…
rilla: Why are you holding your breath?
Rilla: not…holding…breath…
rilla: You’re going blue…
Rilla: Phoooooo...ooooooooooo...oooooooo...ooo…
rilla: Hey! Isn’t that cool? She just blew away…note to self…discovered a great way to get rid of Rilla…must try more often…OK…where was I. Yes. LynNerd wants me to describe my muse…hmm…let’s see… my muse … my muse… what does my muse look like…my muse…
Rilla: Yes?
rilla: Groan…you back? That was quick…note to self…method not very effective…keep searching.
Rilla: So that’s your ‘assignment’ is it? Your muse?
rilla: Know what a balrog is?
Rilla: A balrog? Never heard of one.
rilla: You know. From The Lord of the Rings.
Rilla: Told you once, told you twice…I don’t do fantasy.
rilla: Oh, you must be buddies with Debra Garfinkle…
Rilla: Now there’s someone who thinks the way I do…fine, fine author…
rilla: Balrogs…
Rilla: Huh?
rilla: We were discussing balrogs.
Rilla: Sigh…if you insist…what is a balrog?
rilla: Something was coming up behind…a great shadow…in its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs…the dark figure streamed with fire…the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings…it raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils… That’s from The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien.
Rilla: All right…OK…enough already. I get the picture. This balrog is an immense, winged, fire-breathing, whip-cracking monster…
rilla: That’s a lot of adjectives.
Rilla: Is that what your muse looks like?
rilla: No.
Rilla: Then why’d you…?
rilla: That’s what YOU look like.
Rilla: So now I’m a balrog? Nice. Hmm… been called worse. A balrog…not bad. Quite like the sound of it to tell you the truth…
rilla: Oh, that’s just like you.
Rilla: So this muse of yours…how does it appear to you? I’m curious now.
rilla: Hard to describe really. That’s one tough assignment there, LynNerd.
Rilla: OK. What does it feel like?
rilla: Kind of amorphous …
Rilla: Like a vast shadow?
rilla: Yeah, it is immense. A shadow that overtakes me and…
Rilla: Fills you with a fiery passion?
rilla: Fiery is right. Hot and addictive, it’s relentless…
Rilla: Driving you to write…?
rilla: Like a whip cracking over my head.
Rilla: Prodding you?
rilla: With a flaming sword…
Rilla: Does it have wings?
rilla: Oh, yes, takes me on one wild ride, flies me to places and settings and vistas on the horizon of imagination…
Rilla: Hmm…this muse of yours…
rilla: Yes?
Rilla: Either it’s something you’re on…
rilla: …and you want some?
Rilla: Or…
rilla: Or?
Rilla: It’s ME!
rilla: Huh?
Rilla: Yeah. Prodding, fiery-tongued, whip-cracking… I AM YOUR MUSE.
rilla: How? Oh…I get it…you…balrog…muse…you sure fly to conclusions…
Rilla: Yup! Face it. I…am…your…muse!
rilla: Groan…no wonder I get so many rejections…

Post a Comment
Next Post
Previous Post
Back to TOP

18 -- Lizard Tales

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction


rilla: Ewww…!
Rilla: What are you ewwing about now…?
rilla: There’s a lizard tail on the mat outside the backdoor and it’s wriggling…
Rilla: Ah. Those cats. Can’t get enough of the lizard tails.
rilla: But it’s still jumping around, on its own…ewww.
Rilla: You’re such a wuss. What’s the big deal with a lizard tail? Been around lizards all our lives…

rilla: You remember when you were chasing that lizard around the walls in Nilokheri and it fell on my head…
Rilla: Gosh, that was eons ago. I must’ve been five years old…hmm. People used to think it was lucky for a lizard to fall on your head…
rilla: Yeah, and remember in Bangalore, there was this huge chameleon that hung out in the school toilets. Our classmate, Jonathon, used to say that chameleons can get into your mouth and pull out all your teeth unless…
Rilla: …unless you hold your lips in-between your teeth. Yeah! I remember that, gosh, I must’ve been seven. Made it a point to chomp down on my lips and hold on tight every time I went to the toilet…the things we used to believe…
rilla: And in Hyderabad, Mytrae and I would go out in rocks in the morning and ask the chameleons questions. If they bobbed their heads up and down, it was a ‘yes’… side to side was a ‘no’…Am I fat? Up and Down…Does he love me? Side to side! Ah…the wisdom of chameleons.
Rilla: Remember when the bit fat outdoor lizard got into our bathroom?
rilla: Yeah!
Rilla: You didn’t know it was there when you went in and then, the chicken you are, wouldn’t go out again ‘coz it was right above the doorway and when Mom called you, you didn’t dare tell her why you couldn’t leave the bathroom and she kept knocking and knocking…
rilla: Like you were so much help…
Rilla: Huh! It was my idea to go out the other way.
rilla: You mean the door behind the closet that led outside…nearly killed me trying to move that heavy thing and then the bolt was stuck ‘coz it hadn’t been used in a century...
Rilla: We got out…didn’t we? And all because of a lizard…scaredy cat. No, I shouldn’t say cat…our cats aren’t scared of the lizards…
rilla: It was huge…there's a reason they're called 'bloodsuckers' you know...
Rilla: Lizards around the house all the time…but you had to go and…
rilla: IT WAS HUGE…
Rilla: Not as big as the ones in Australia…
rilla: You mean the goannas…yeah, there was the one that hung out on the way down to Wentworth falls… oh, and the one in Lane Cove NP on the path near Mahrukh’s house…a lot of Aboriginal traditions think of them as thieves…
Rilla: Not all of them…how about the story of how the goanna built the first canoe…
rilla: I remember that…the goanna clings to the bark of trees and spends a lot of time considering it. He figures he’ll use the bark to build a canoe and spear some yummy fish.
Rilla: But as soon as he sticks a sheet of bark in the water, it starts to leak and goanna has to swim ashore.
rilla: Then goanna wizes up and figures out a better system that involves singeing the bark first and sewing it at the ends with softened cane thread and a needle made from wallaby bone and sticks down the middle to hold it open..
Rilla: Resourceful fellow…nice of him to share his fishing methods with humans…
rilla: …but the lizards I really liked were the frilled lizards…
Rilla: You like lizards now?
rilla: These guys are pretty…
Rilla: You mean the ones we saw in the red center…
rilla: There’s a story about them too…
Rilla: How the frilled lizard brought fire to the northern islands…?
rilla: Yeah…how the people would watch the smoke tendrils go up from the islands of New Guinea and wished they knew how to make fire. So, frilled lizard offered to swim up there to his sister’s house and ask her for the secret…
Rilla: …and he finally persuaded her to give him a live coal…she didn’t dare part with the tribe’s secret of how to make fire…and frilled lizard hopped from island to island on his way back. On each island he set some dry grass alight to ensure his coal was still going…and his people knew of his journey and his success by the string of smoke spirals they saw approaching.
rilla: But frilled lizard carried the coal in his mouth and when he finally reached home and his people used the fire to cook a delicious meal, his tongue was too burned to enjoy it…
Rilla: Poor fellow. Supposedly, if you look at a frilled lizard’s tongue you will still see that burn scar today…
rilla: Seems like a lot of symbolism there...and history...
Rilla: The history of fire in a lizard's tale...
rilla: Reminds me of the smoldering banksia tree cone, tribes near Sydney would travel with. When they reached a good camping area, they would simply attach it to a string and swing it around until the flames spurted out and fires could be started for the evening meal.
Rilla: …creation myths…gotta love ‘em.
rilla: Creation myths…hmm…I like any kind of myth…like the Ute tale of how lizard tricked coyote when he came to eat him. Here, says lizard, don’t eat me. I’m holding onto this pole that is supporting the earth and if I let go, the pole will fall and the earth will crack. Oh no, replies coyote. Don’t let go of that pole. But my arms are tired, whimpers lizard. If I don’t get any help, I’ll have to let go and then… NO! cries coyote, here, let me take a turn. So he grabs hold of the pole and of course lizard runs away. After a while coyote’s arms get tired and he finally has to let go. He shakes in fear expecting the earth to crack at any moment, but of course nothing happens…hey…
Rilla: Yeah, I see what you mean…that pole is probably the lizard’s tail.
rilla: You mean just like that one outside the back door that came off in the paws of Sha-do?
Rilla: Look, it’s wriggling again.
rilla: Eww…!

Funny how the flick of a lizard's tail can whisk you back through the years
Here's to Lizards!

Mexico



Hawaii








Mohave Desert, California

Read more mythology:
Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables compiled by A. W. Reed
Ute Tales collected by Anne M. Smith

Post a Comment
Next Post
Previous Post
Back to TOP

17 -- Multiplying Exponentially -- Rilla

Rilla: Just me here, today. rilla's off writing somewhere. So, I thought I'd surprise her. I'm just so tired of watching her go through that favorites list of hers, on her browser, whenever she wants to find information on a publisher or agent or a useful link tucked away somewhere in the miles and miles of links. Writers! Not a very organized bunch!

Well, here's what I did. I organized her links and put them up on a website for her so she can access them more easily and spend less time glaring at her browser favorites pulling out my hair.

I called it rCube. If you're also a struggling writer trying to find those elusive web links, you might want to see if the site can help you too. And, if you're so inclined, drop me a comment here to contribute your useful links to it, anonomously or otherwise. Appreciate it.

Oh, and yes, we are mutliplying exponentially -- scary thought -- anyone seen Shrek the Third...well you'll know what it feels like then ;)

Shh...here comes rilla. Later!

Post a Comment
Next Post
Previous Post
Back to TOP

c3 -- The Gift of Friendship

--




Fog-Gi: What is that?


Sha-Do: I don’t know…some kind of colors in a pattern on a sheet of paper.


Fog-Gi: Yeah, but what is it?


Sha-Do: I said I don’t know. She’s been staring at it for a long time. First she smiles, then she goes all teary, then she smiles again, now she’s laughing…weird!


Fog-Gi: Maybe it’s something magical…has some strange power over her to make her nutty.


Sha-Do: You think she needs magic to make her nutty…hey look, there’s writing on the back of the card.


Fog-Gi: What does it say?


Sha-Do: Lost…in…the…Woods…


Fog-Gi: Huh?


Sha-Do: That’s what it says…Lost in the Woods


Fog-Gi: That’s her all right. Just hope she gets out of the woods in time to feed us. I’m getting hungry.


Sha-Do: I’m guessing lunch is late today. That image has a hold of her…the magic must be terribly strong.


Fog-Gi: Rrrrr…


Sha-Do: Stop growling at me…it’s not my fault…


Fog-Gi: I’m not growling, you idiot…that’s my stomach.


Sha-Do: Should we try calling her…meow…? Hm…nothing. Meoow…?


Fog-Gi: I know. I’ll jump up here on the banister. She’s sure to notice that and come get me down like she always does. Can’t believe she thinks I’ll fall over…I mean…I’m a CAT, for crying out loud…here rilly, rilly, rilly, here, I’m on the banister…come get me…I’m dying of hunger…


Sha-Do: Nothing! She didn’t even hear the racket you made jumping up…a wonder, given you’re so clumsy…she still hasn’t noticed you’re there…hmm. That magic’s very strong. There’s more writing there on the back of that thing, maybe it’s a spell…you know…spellbinding…get it…spell…


Fog-Gi: WILL YOU STOP BEING CUTE AND JUST READ IT OUT, ALREADY? I’m dying of hunger here. We need to break that spell somehow…


Sha-Do: Let’s see…The pattern used in Lost in the Woods is a key pattern made up of two interlocking components. Many European, Asian and Native-American artisans have used these designs through the centuries.


Fog-Gi: Through the centuries…I think that means it’s very old.


Sha-Do: Yeah…duh! This particular design was invented by the pre-Celtic Pictish peoples of Britain (200-900AD) …yadda, yadda, yadda…doesn’t sound like a spell…


Fog-Gi: I don’t get it. It doesn’t look old. It looks brand new – the paper’s sparkling white and the colors are brilliant…


Sha-Do: Here’s something else – a number – on the front -- 8/200.


Fog-Gi: My math’s never been any good. No idea what that boils down to.


Sha-Do: Let’s see – 8 divided by 200 is the same as 4 divided by 100 – is the same as 2 divided by 50 – is oh no, ouch…never got far with fractions – but there’s more writing.


Fog-Gi: She’s sighing…


Sha-Do: This is a signed, numbered, limited edition giclee print of the original ink on raw canvas painting…


Fog-Gi: Painting? Hey! She’s getting out of her chair. Lu-u-u-nch!


Sha-Do: NO! She’s going over to the phone.


Fog-Gi: Look, here’s the envelope that thingey came in…it’s got bubble wrap…yay! Pop! Pop! Pop!


Sha-Do: The thingey has a name on the front…it says L. E. Smith.


Fog-Gi: That’s funny…the envelope says Lorna Smith in the corner…Pop!

Sha-Do: Will you stop that…here…let me have it.


Fog-Gi: NO! It’s mine.


Sha-Do: Then I get the magic paper.


Fog-Gi: NO! I want it… you’ve had it all this time.


Sha-Do: Let go of it you idiot…it’s mine…


Fog-Gi: You’re a magic hog. I want some now…


Sha-Do: Mrrrrow!


Fog-Gi: Meeooow!


Sha-Do: Mine! Go get your own magic.


Fog-Gi: Selfish pig…give me some of yours…


Sha-Do: Oh no! Now look what you’ve done!


Fog-Gi: That wasn’t me, that was you…shh…she’s speaking on the phone. Let’s get out of here before she notices you’ve lost Lost in the Woods…


Sha-Do: At least now it looks very old …the way it says on the back…


Fog-Gi: Hmm…can’t read the back anymore…





rilla: Hello? Lorna! The print’s beautiful…you shouldn’t have…I’m all choked up…I don’t know what to say…it’s not even my birthday…or anything…thank you! … Yeah! It arrived just fine. The packing was perfect. No…not a scratch. I’m going to frame it right away…before the cats can get near it…

Thank you Lorna, and all my friends, for being so AMAZING.

In the lottery of friendship…I sure won the jackpot…love ya’ll!
And no, the painting’s fine. It’s way out of reach of the cats…I promise.

Post a Comment
Next Post
Previous Post
Back to TOP