... natural porn and games ...

... I find double entendre almost anywhere given a sniff of a chance ... the prickly bush at the end of my driveway is in its reproductive phase and neighbors have been cruising to collect the seed pods of the procreating plant ... the seeds they seek have immediate allure in their shiny smoothness and are irresistably tempting to touch ... indeed ...

... when it comes to mischievous metaphor and suggestive simile you can't beat nature ... the ripened hardness of the beans are purposefully exposed when the time is just right ...

... "the little men in the boat" present themselves to destiny ...

... some reach fertile ground to start another cycle but others are prized as gaming pieces for a local board game called Warri ... said to encourage contemplation and cunning ...

... African in origin, specifically Akan from West Africa, this game sometimes unfolds like life itself in a nascent form ... although onlookers are encouraged to participate, it's essentially a two-player game, and successful stratagems can result in a triumphant grand slam ...

... and, as if the naughty-by-nature visualization of the labial display isn't enough, in the Caribbean Warri is traditionally played with these nickernuts ... locally known as "nickars"...

... I'm not making this up ...

... almost artificial android autumn ...

... it sure is gettin' tres chilly 'round here ... watch the squirrels, bear and deer,

an' forget undressing bare as you dare ... dip in a lake now, privates disappear,

but, nature's concession thru powers that be ... is color-change on each deciduous tree,

a timely reminder to you 'n' me ... the best things in life are still wild and free ...

... leaves warm the cold,

... rich landscapes, behold,

... my android-tab snaps, to have and to hold ... flash-frozen, in vivid reds, greens and gold ...
magic Muskoka moments inspiring to share ... constant as time, year after year,
the cycle of life goes on ev'rywhere ... reassurance there's really nothing to fear ...

... Joyce's gerberas ...

..."take time to smell the roses," ... this well known bit of advice is a Russian proverb, who knew? ... of course, in our Western interpretation it refers to more than roses ... the phrase nods to the fragrance of the flower while conveying a philosophy of deliberate appreciation toward beauty in general ... colourful plants, astral constellations, rainbows, autumn vistas, sea-breeze, natural phenomena great and small, in fact, any facet of Creation which stimulates pleasure sensors into a state of wonderment ...

... I arrive at these thoughts by reviewing photos of my most recent Jamaica jaunt which featured a trek to Black River, St. Elizabeth to hail Aunt Joyce, longtime earth-mother and horticulturist ... her yard's a port in a storm, featuring comforting constancy associated with boyhood happiness and adventure ...













... the open-faced blooms of her gerberas come in various colours but it is the overlapping radiance of their display that makes me take time to really look ... the gerbera flower is a member of the daisy family which originates in South Africa, and is valued worldwide in floral arrangements ... it has been hybridized to the point where it can be considered a cash-crop ...














... I suppose one could say it shows considerable temerity on my part to talk of smelling roses while visually featuring gerberas, but that's the sort of thing I'm getting a reputation for here at Ackeelover Chronicles ... literary license and extrapolation ... besides, I'm really only speaking in terms of the exquisite expressions of nature represented by these flowers ...

... having attended many a Black River Flower Show, I have a good understanding of the power of a flower ... so too the people who came up with the Persian proverb "the world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends," ... I'm due for another visit to this versatile garden, perhaps at that time my peculiar logic will lead me to smell the orchids and write about Joyce's roses ...

... mystic revelation ...

... if you're a parent ... even if you're not ... it can be challenging to explain the concept of God to an eight year-old in a manner which will satisfy both the explainer and the explainee ...

... I find a good tool is an old-fashioned mother-nature watch ... the type science helps us to understand while often sidestepping the element of supernatural wonder that is empirically infinite and ultimately beyond the rational ken of a human brain ...

... sometimes ... like yesterday ... the heavens intervene with a practical lesson the like of which seems tailor-made for the purpose of amazing minds ... young and old ... the sort of thing for which the only answer is God ...

... the small storm cloud passed ... with its electricity and spilling greyness giving way to bleach-white puffiness and freshly showered clear blue sky ... the afternoon sun, low-set and partially obscured, provided the active ingredient for a prismatic display far more unusual than a comparatively mundane rainbow ... it looked like photoshop run amok in the sky ...

... I was transfixed ... bobbing in the same sea where it had just drizzled warm droplets ... muttering in dismay at not having my trusty Canon while at the same time trying to instill a sense of Creation in a young mind ...

... irony hit me square in the head after nearly ten minutes when the little voice ... God bless her soul ... announced excitedly that which had not occurred to me ... my mobile was ashore ... there was no time for sheepishness ... young ones do get some things quicker ... I swam back to the beach to capture what remained of the now fading phenomenon with my iPhone ...

















... gingerly holding the iPhone with dripping wet hands I hurriedly snapped away as the multi-colored spectrum retreated from the spectacular, to the merely beautiful ...

... when I look at the pictures I can see the whole scene as it was, in my mind's eye ... it includes the Rastaman bathing there too with his family of four ... when it came time to leave we did so all at once, wide-eyed and chattering of the remarkable vision ...

... "we got a blessing today," said I ...

... "yeh man," came the reply with a knowing flash of dreadlocks ...

... "mystic!"

... see seashells ... safely ...

... duck for cover, here come da seashell lover ... another one of those beard-grooming neo-hipsters who softens unashamedly at the compound beauty to be seen throughout nature ... and he wants you to see what he sees in the photographs he's taken ...

... avoid your eyes and slide by or risk an assault on the pleasure receptors in your head ... y'never know how you'll react, feelgood can escalate to addiction, especially if supplies are plentiful ... check it, have you seen how many seashells there are? ...







... ignore the oohing-and-aahing you hear, it's a psychological ploy to make you think you're missing something good ... don't be fooled into swinging around to actually look, most aren't able to resist what they see ... seashells have perfected the use of colour to seduce your senses ...







... do not touch either for that matter ... there is a verifiable connection between touching seashells ... picking them up, feeling their smoothness or heft, and an overwhelming desire to own them ... it doesn't stop there ... many, many shells are aware of this and offer tactility designed to ensnare you ...








... of course it was inevitable that seashells would start to drift upmarket ... initially there was the seemingly ad hoc patterning, but frequent observation of geometrically consistent design in shell after shell, combined with use of colour and sheen, indicates malice aforethought ...











... despite the ubiquity of seashells and collections thereof, there has, to date, been precious little insight into this "condition," neither uncommon nor new, but strangely still unnamed ... perhaps because it's not known to be fatal ... in many cultures the very young may even thrive on it ... for grown adults though, tread carefully and use sound judgement ... seek help if you start to dream about seashells or hallucinate ...

... I'll include a simple yes-or-no test for your peace of mind should you feel uneasy about overexposure to seashells ... look at the next image and answer the question ...

... is this a seashell pretending to be a peacock? ...