Keriosity

While choosing the perfect apples at the Farmer’s Market in Venice, I overheard 1 sentence of a conversation between two men who were looking at the oranges. “Well…I mean…you can’t really spread shingles to another person…” The other man looked relieved, and I looked horrified. I put down the apples and left the market immediately.

Since there is no way I am posting any photos that come up when I google “shingles”, I am instead posting this:

I love bizarre old cures.

I am not an eavesdropper. Some of my friends are. They often bring to my attention some wacky conversation happening within earshot - that frankly is none of our business but wacky enough to be entertaining. I have decided that my ability to block out everything but what I am focused on may be great for meditation, but it is a disservice to me as a writer. So…I’m going to become an eavesdropper, a busy-body…a lookie-loo, and see where it gets me. And I will post each week’s most entertaining morsel of nosiness on Fridays.

This week’s nosy quote is from a conversation between two women at a restaurant bar:

“I mean, I know 40 isn’t a big deal, but it’s just around the bend. A year away! Christ. I really enjoyed my 30’s! It kinda sucked that I wasted my 20’s in that crazy cult, but my 30’s were a blast!”

If by “crazy cult” she means “awesome gay club” and by “blast” she means “pit of despair” - then wow, we have a lot in common!

Something has been bothering me about the Phil Spector trial. And it’s not that he’s an insane drugged-up gun-waving woman-hater. It’s this:

Can you say “Channeling Carol Channing” 5 times fast?

A few weeks ago, I was flying back to LA from NY - AND THERE WAS A BABY KANGAROO ON MY PLANE! He was sitting in first class. His name is Bloke. I love him. He was folded up in a big pouch-like bag, slung over the shoulder of a strapping young Aussie. (I love him too.) I wasn’t able to get a picture because the stupid flight attendant was talking to him when I walked by. The woman in the seat next to me said that they had loaded a bunch of strange animals into cargo. When we landed, she and I were glued to the window to see what animals would be unloaded. Another Kangaroo (bigger than Bloke), a koala, some sort of bird, and a mongoose-like animal. The ground crew looked uncomfortable and nervous.Cool, huh?  I want a baby kangaroo. I’d name him Springs.

Here is something you might not know about Kangaroos:  The joeys only gestate in the womb for about 38 days. When they are “born” as tiny pink hairless babies (less than 3cm in length!), they grasp onto the mom’s fur and crawl up her body into her pouch to complete their gestation cycle, which is another 8 months. Once they are able to bounce around on their own, they can still nurse for 6 months. Kangaroos can reproduce continuously, so she might have one in the womb, one in the pouch, and one out of the pouch but still nursing. She can produce different types of milk for each of the babies.

Meanwhile…I want to pass out hearing about the gestation cycle of humans, but I am fascinated by baby animals. (I had to pretend my sister was having a kitten the first time she got pregnant.)