Cameling!

We just got back from the Silk Road!  Click and enjoy!

I believe I caught this guy passing gas.  I could be mistaken.

I think these camels know way more about things than they're letting on--as evidenced by the smug look on this guy.  I love his floppy over hump thing.

"You're on to me, Mad.  I DO know more than I'm letting on.  I'm currently contemplating Nietsche.  Last week I wiled away the hours ruminating on some proofs that were the subject of debate at the camel barn."

"Thank you for noticing."

Picture this--500 camels, nearly 4 times that many visitors, endless sand dunes...

We opted out of the orange sand boots--call us devil-may-care...

At the handler's command each camel fell to their haunches to permit boarding.

At another command they rose speedily (hastily, quickly, abruptly, WITHOUT ANY FREAKING WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!),

and

we

were off!!

Paco is cameleer #2 here in the baseball cap.  Note his perfect cameling posture!!

Good old #141!  Blondes DO have more fun!  I just had one question (which I hesitated to ask)--how do they keep the libidos of 500 camels in check?????  I saw no horsing around.  Come on...

Epiphany

Yes, I recently had one on the Silk Road, no less!!  But first a short biology lesson.  This dog and these ducks illustrate the phenomenon in the animal world of imprinting--simply put:  many animals bond with the first moving life they experience.  Thus, ducks will follow a human etc.  The story behind this picture includes a young girl's science project.  She videotaped the progression of these animals' attachments from egg hatching to adulthood.  Interesting.

THIS is the first image (cleaning gals on right at the ready to board the plane) I had of China when I landed here in 1997

which I think explains my imprinting problem

quite completely.

BUT,  it doesn't explain Teri's (whom I met on the Silk Road)!!!!!!!!!!!  YES, THERE ARE TWO OF US!!!!!!!!

Together we commiserated  over this burn victim broom,

paused to encourage a shy broom,

observed two wild out-on-the-town mops just fresh from having their hair colored,

ooh-ed and ahh-ed at bundled newborn brooms (no sign of fathers looking through the glass),

cheered on a working class mop,

tsk tsk-ed at mops who have inexplicably "lost their head",

complimented these mops on their choice of accessories,

tiptoed past this guy basking asleep in the sun,

cautioned this broom to hang out with better friends,

and envied this broom who sweeps up shards of terra cotta warriors every day.

WE think we're funny and oh, so clever.

Our club is small, and membership interest seems to be limited.

But we're dedicated

and oh so happy to have found each other...

Sweeping Up

Legal Disclaimer:  No brooms or mops were harmed in the photography for this blogpost.

Do you remember one of the closing scenes in Fiddler on the Roof when they must leave Anatevka?  Golda slips back into their cottage at the last moment to "sweep up".  She just can't leave without doing that.

That kind of sentiment is not lost on me.

I have no explanation for why I needed to come clear to China to  discover that I truly feel so passionately about mops and brooms.

But I did.

Number of pictures taken of my Swiffer at home:  0.

But in China...

I

find

mops and brooms

completely irresistible.

Whether they're resting in bamboo,

or trying to "work it" in a market,

or just valiantly striving to clean up China,

they are charming

humble, and

completely photogenic to me.

And for that,

I have

no explanation.

If I approach it philosophically,

perhaps I, like Golda,

feel the need to calmly perform routine rituals before the cosmic door closes. (gasp!!  Is Madd speaking euphemistically about death???  How dark!!  She's losing it!!!)

Or maybe they are just plain beautiful.