Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Postcard From France: Snail Crossing

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We were driving along the road right outside of our little village here in the Auvergne, when my husband spotted the little snail crossing the road.
"You should take a photo of him" he said, knowing that, as a blogger, I never leave the house without my camera. "I'll gladly stop the car. But in exchange, you'll have to pick him up and put him on the grass, safely away from cars."
I got out of the car and took the photo of the slimy little fellow, before lifting him up by his shell and depositing him safely on the other side of the road.
For an instant, I thought about Brooklyn, city traffic and my other life.
I smiled, both at how different my life is here and my husband's soft spot for snails.

The interesting insect below showed up on our garden table this morning. Though rather beautiful, it was just a bit too scary for me and I was happy when it had crawled away somewhere and was hidden by the foliage.


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Nothing, however, prepared me for the huge web which this nasty looking spider built on one of the wooden shutters overnight. I must admit that I have a rather unreasonable fear of these eight-legged creatures. Whether in Brooklyn or here, I try to avoid them. I asked my husband if he could remove the spider, preferably as far away as possible, but I am not sure he did. In the meantime, I am avoiding that corner of the house. Can you blame me?



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2 comments:

frencheese said...

Hi Katia,
I imagine you enjoying insects and countryside lifetime.
Spiders eat flies and mosquitoes and all flying bugs you may find in summertime. They are very useful in the house. Just clean the web ( remove it) when it's full of dust, it will like it.

By the way, after the rain, you may collect snails for the diner. Ask someone who knows and can teach you how to prepare them( I am sure that one of your neighbors is a specialist). You will love it.

Celina said...

I would have picked up that snail too! What a lovely picture and what a big snail!