The Magic Of Imagination

Over the weekend my grans visited, and my oldest gran, Scarlett, does what she always does, goes out around the property looking for cool stones or feathers. She always finds something interesting to show me. I encourage these forays of controlled independence, where she can wander around, often out of sight – although Bandit and Smokey always follow her around and Claire and Honey are always within her vicinity – and I enjoy her excitement when she returns with something cool or unusual. I encourage her curiosity and imagination.

Saturday afternoon, she raced back inside, her two younger sisters in tow, breathless to show me what she had found on the grounds.

Now I have been pinched by enough crawfish (or Crayfish in the Bronx) in my childhood to recognize what this little archeological ecofact/biofact was. The pond that covered the back quarter of Casa Claire until The Claire Trilogy was completed – when it disappeared as quickly as it arrived – had lots of frogs and toads that had migrated when the water tables shifted, and I had stocked the pond with mosquitofish each year so the neighbors wouldn’t be hassled, but I had never seen a freshwater crustacean or any remnants thereof on the property.

I found an example on Etsy for comparison, just to be sure –

I suggested it could be from a baby dragon, which had the girls greatly excited for a bit. But I didn’t want them to be called out by one of their friends should they share that hypothesis – kids can be cruel – so I ponied up my real thoughts after a few moments, explaining that dragons never leave anything behind when they cross the veil. Even at Casa Claire.

The best idea I could come up with to explain how the chitinous appendage arrived was that it possibly brought by one of the visiting Canadian Ducks who would stay at the pond each summer because the cattails and other high grasses that surrounded the pond gave them plenty of safety and cover. And my stocking of fish provided easy meals. It helped that Claire and Mr. Rogers enjoyed patrolling the pond like a couple of Godzillas. There was a fox who used to like sneaking down for a drink from back by the gulley, but it never stayed longer than the few gulps necessary to quench its thirst.

It could have been dropped during a flyover by one of the other predatory species.

I couldn’t possibly figure out how long it had been there before Scarlett’s sharp eye seized upon it. The sun here bleaches things white in a summer season.

But the most beautiful aspect of this tiny little exhibit was how it threw the girls’ imaginations into overdrive, given how magical they believe Casa Claire is. And they are right to feel that way.

There is magic all around us, if we know where to look.

As Albert Einstein famously reminded us, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, whereas imagination encircles the world.”

Well, I can imagine a shortened work week, given that our country’s birthday falls on this magical Friday.

So, my fine, five readers, imagine how quickly those four days will pass, given how even the bosses have their long weekends planned and ready to launch as early as possible.

Have that final cuppa and go blow Monday out of the water.

I’ve got some swimming to do, then morning chores, then legal shit.

But no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.

Oh, and a shout out to my friend Renee Clarke, who, along with other members of her North Dakota town dodged some terrible Twisters over the weekend.

Prayers – yes, Druids pray – for all involved.