a chameleon

I have a confession to make - this is a blog by proxy, a "dictatoblog" because my back is hurting. I should have heeded the advice of those who said my laptop was badly set up! I now will. And another thing...I sat in some chewing gum. Now, how could I have done that? Never mind, I'll put my dress in the freezer and break the offending matter off later. *Sigh* Now you know, on with blog

You know what it's like when you want to be like everyone else? There is a very strong pull towards being accepted, recognised as one of the pack, understood and loved. With this blogging thing, I find my poor brain being torn in all directions, a chameleon going potty as it goes over a kaleidoscope picture.

Subject change: maybe I am very weak, but the violence in an otherwise brilliantly filmed and acted "Read my lips" ("Sur mes levres", or actually may be "Sur tes levres") unnerved me. But what unnerved me most is that the friend who recommended it and knows my non-violent preferences did not notice the violence; her 13 yer old son watched it too and no eyelid was batted...What?!
Am I the last one on the planet not to be desentisized to blood and gore? Do tell me!

Come with me: for now, let's go down a steep path in a tropical wood, well a jungle really. I am holding on to the vines like they were dangling handles on the Paris Metro so as not to lose my footing. It is very hot but no one minds. There is a toucan flirting with us just above where we are. They really are the way they're meant to be - so colourful that you have to do a double take. You wonder how they fly with that huge beak. Maybe it's made of balsa wood. In any case it's probably extrememly light. It's probably a honeycomb structure. (How clever am I?)The sounds all around us - the birds, the leaves, the creaking, the distant water: a soundscape like no other.

Look down now. The butterflies are there in their dozens - they are not scared at all - they bask in the glory of their designer wings. The path turns sharply and reveals a waterfall. Perfect height - not too powerful, not too small. I'll go and cool off in the spray. You can get behind the water and there's a lovely cave there. Very mossy, very cosy, very secrety. I am the first one ever to have gone in. Stay here a while, reflect, marvel, connect with the peace.

Later, it is picnic time on the rocks that border the stream that trickles away from the base of the waterfall in the filtered sun of this magical clearing. I haven't got a spoon to eat my yoghurt (a bet you didn't expect a yoghurt there, but trust me, I brought one.) What I do have is a knife and plenty of wood. So, whittle, whittle - a spoon I have made and a vanilla yoghurt I have eaten. Do you want some, I've got another?

Something magical has to happen. And here it is. The sun has now curved its rays and hits the spray of the waterfall to release a million rainbows; they were there all along.