10/12/09 Giant fiberglass turtle, given awayFinding the giant turtle in the woods was one of the stranger moments of our new home ownership. Who had bought it, why they wanted it, and what it was for, were questions I could never get answered. But I knew who owned it now: we did.
The big reptile was too interesting to just leave in the woods, so I hauled it out and placed it on our lawn. It faced the driveway, greeting visitors for years. Kids liked to climb on it, although the fiberglass was beginning to wear and the threat of splinters was too great to allow climbing this summer.
Turtle was at his best in foul weather. In mid winter, all we'd see of him was his great head poking from the snow, a white cap on his head. Visitors would give a double-take at the snake-like visage peering out from the snowbanks.
Even better was his look when it rained. His thick, green neck muscles glistened when they were wet, making him look like The Incredible Hulk Turtle or - depending upon your mood - reminiscent of something more phallic.
Today, Turtle went to live with our Casco Library Director, Carolyn, and her son, Spencer. Carolyn said she liked turtles, and I find it important to keep the Library Director happy.
I will surely find it strange, for a while, to pull into the driveway and not have Turtle looking at me. Without him, the lawn certainly has lost a bit of whimsy, but I can live with that.
Besides, Carolyn lives a lot closer to a lake than we do, which I'm sure Turtle will find to his liking.
This post and the photo of the "traveling turtle" makes me think there is a children's book in there somewhere.
ReplyDelete(Without the phallic part.)
As an unrelated "Why, back in my day..." side rant, I resent the fact that teenagers everywhere have made me second guess the use of punctuation at the end of a typed sentence. Sometimes adding a period and a closing parenthesis is just that, and not a one-eyed, smiling pirate. One wonders how many emoticons appeared in the correspondence between Jefferson and Adams.
Oh, CRM, you are getting crotchety in your old age.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, there's definitely a book in the "Traveling Turtle" idea. Write it, illustrate it, and send me a copy. Thanks.