Thought for the day - August 17, 2000

Subject: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 12:40 AM

Apologies to Peter T.

I walk through the woods on a hazy afternoon in August. Dusk is slowly covering the small part of the world I inhabit, and the noises of humanity fade and are replaced with a chorus of insects - the great "om" of nature. Oh, what a lust for life have the ravening hordes of mosquitos feasting on my blood! Oh, how lush and shiny is the poison ivy I'm standing in!

MAN BITES DOG-DAYS
Ogden Nash

In this fairly temperate clime
Summertime is itchy time.
O'er rocks and stumps and ruined walls
Shiny poison ivy crawls.
Every walk in woods and fields
It's aftermath of itching yeilds.
Hand me down my rusty hatchet;
Someone murmured, Do not scratch it.

Reason permeates my rhyme
Summertime is itchy time.
Beneath the orange August moon
Overfed mosquitoes croon.
After sun-up, flied and midges
Raise on people bumps and ridges.
Hand me down my rusty hatchet
Someone murmured, Do not scratch it.

Lo, the year is in its prime;
Summer time is itchy time.
People loll upon the beaches
Ripening like gaudy peaches.
Friends, the beach is not the orchard,
Nor is the peach by sunburn tortured.
Hand me down my rusty hatchet
Someone murmured, Do not scratch it.

Now the menu is sublime;
Summertime is itchy time.
Berries, clams, and lobsters tease
Our individual allergies.
Rash in rosy splendor thrives,
Running neck-and-neck with hives.
Hand me down my rusty hatchet
Someone murmured, Do not scratch it.

The bluebells and the cowbells chime;
Summertime is itchy time.
Despite the cold soup, and ice, and thermoses,
Garments cling to epidermises.
That fiery-footed centipede,
Prickly heat prowls forth to feed.
Hand me down my rusty hatchet
Someone murmured, Do not scratch it.

Hatchet-killings ain't a crime:
Summertime is itchy time

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 12:45 AM

Hmmm............Nothin' about the dragonflies buzzin' around your hooters or the clams in your toes I notice.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 01:07 AM

Nah, Spaw - the dragonflies were fooling around on the flowers, and the clams packed up and migrated from the woods to a condo on Long Island. Was real sad to see them getting on the bus with their tiny little suitcases...

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: Morticia
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 03:47 AM

I wonder what they packed? Thanks for that Jeri, I love Ogden Nash.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: MMario
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 08:59 AM

Isn't it amazing how *pretty* poison ivy can look? If you don't know what it is or you are safely out of it.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 10:03 AM

MMario, I've never had poison ivy. Sat in a lovely patch of it once with shorts on, and I've occasionally yanked a bunch of it with bare hands from somewhere. Still, there's always a first time.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - August 17, 2000
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Aug 00 - 12:29 PM

It had been a damp day but now the setting sun shone gold on the land. Rose colored mist hung over the road, and the trees and fields were a glossy green. All this is burned forever into my minds eye for I was in the passenger seat and my 16 year old daughter was dirving for the first time on her new permit.

Pay no attention to terror-striken Dad in the seat next to you!