My mind is full of Scorpions today

Photo – Jim Parkin

I woke this morning thinking of scorpions.  I don’t know why and where the thought came from.  I have never seen a scorpion and did you know that a group of scorpions is called a Cyclone?

Via Wikipedia

Ugly looking things aren’t they? According to Wikipedia “Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger.”

One of the first blogs I read today was from my blogging friend Val at http://absurdoldbird.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/i-am-crying/.  I feel for my friend at this time of sorrow.  From there I clicked on the link to http://www.josephinecarr.com/blog/index.php/yom-hashoah/ and that really got this cyclone of scorpions out of control.

If you do click on Josephine Carr’s post I am sure you will feel as distraught as I did.  I felt this huge rage and guilt that we didn’t know just what was going on in Europe.  As a toddler, I could not have done anything but I still feel the collective guilt.  We can use all the excuses that technology was not as it is today and reporters were not allowed into the camps etc but these scorpions are buzzing.

The next blog I read was on the subject of atheism and I am sorry that I cannot give you the link here.  The post has disappeared into the blogosphere.  But the gist of the post was that the writer hasn’t told his family that he is an atheist and so is being put into the unenviable position of having to say a prayer at a family gathering.  He feels that his family would not be able to accept the fact of his atheism.

In this ‘enlightened age’ shouldn’t people be allowed their own beliefs and be able to discuss these openly with friends and family.  More buzzing from those scorpions.

And a news flash that police are concerned about the safety of a nine-year-old girl missing from her home since 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon.  Her parents and friends searched for some hours before calling the police, but she hasn’t been seen since then. She’s now been missing for about 20 hours and how worried her parents must be.  More buzzing.

So now some good news. 

Photo – Ed Dear

I read Egypt intends to open its border with Gaza permanently to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians under an Israeli blockade but the mechanics of such a step are still being worked out, the Foreign Ministry said.  That has to be a step in the right direction.  No buzzing just butterfly wings flapping.

More butterfly wings with this clip from that Royal Event .  This darling little girl found the noise all too much.

And some more good news.  Watch this video of Dave McCalman and his bionic legs.

And on that note I will finish this very strange post.  I hope I haven’t spoiled your day but I really think some things need to be said – to be brought out into the open and discussed.

So until tomorrow. I leave you with this quote from my favorite book, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol :

“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”