Where in the world.

Nature. Wonderful, beautiful, amazing nature.

I believe it is highly important that we take care of our planet Earth, and do our best to preserve and nurture our environment. I also believe our leaders are not doing enough to ensure the good health of this big, blue, wonderful ball for the years to come. But I can’t find my soap box anywhere, so that topic will have to wait.

No, instead, I want to recognize nature for what it is. Like everything else in the world, it has its high points and its low points. I mean, look at any single thing in life. You will see it has good and bad qualities. The ultimate merger.

Nature is beautiful. It can be completely charming, and, appealing. Sometimes it is stunning. Magnificent. Glorious. Different sights, and sites, have unique allures.

But for all its good and wholesomeness, there are also lurking dangers. Nature can be powerful and ominous. Again, it depends on the location. There are hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, tornados, and more. As we have seen recently, there are even volcanoes.

Because of this, there are certain places where I would rather not live. Like California. The whole state falling into the ocean unnerves me a bit. Or the extreme cold of the very far north, or the very far south. Last night, I told Lou he looks like the Abominable Snowman. That’s as close as I want to get.

But Indonesia. That is a place I really don’t want to live, and I really don’t care to plan a visit there ever. And now that is set in stone. It seems that yesterday, near Jakarta, a really big Python, swallowed a 54-year-old woman. Whole.

True dat, as the youth of today say. As sure as I am sitting here. She (her name is Wa Tiba) went out to check her vegetable garden, and she never came back. So. So. So. Her family went to look for her in the garden but found only her belongings — like a pair of sandals and a flashlight.

Of course, then, the family and villagers launched a search for the woman. And search they did. They found the snake with a bloated belly about 54 yards from where her belongings were found.

Okay. I like snakes. I think they are coolio. But. Now. This is all too much for me. And I am not sure what I would have done from there. But, those villagers. Those villagers. They killed the snake and carried it to the village. And then, according to the village police chief (Faris), they took it a step further. “When they cut open the snake’s belly they found Tiba’s body still intact with all her clothes,” Faris said. “She was swallowed first from her head.”

USA Today ran a photo of her being cut from the snake. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/16/python-swallows-indonesian-woman/707564002/]

So yeah. Scratch Indonesia from my list.

And last week? A part of a woman ended up in an Alligator’s belly down in Florida. That’s off my list too. Brown Bears have a way of killing people too. I need a list of states with Brown Bear populations. Right now. Shark attacks happen from time to time too. I’ll just have to stay out of the oceans. My list of states is dwindling.

You see, I love animals so very much, I just couldn’t possibly stand to be killed by one.

Well. Now. That was a dumb thing to say. Of course, I couldn’t stand it. I’d be dead.

Completely.

Nevermind. Forget all this that I’ve said. Nature. It is good. It is marvelous and magical. Maybe just go hug a tree today. But watch for the Poison Ivy.

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“Time is the longest distance between two places.”
― Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

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“It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.”
― Vincent van Gogh

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“Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.”
― Gary Snyder

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