Poppy joy.

Poppy flowers make us happy.
They grow in abundance near our house.

Their lives are short.


So we surround ourselves with them as much we can.

Worm.

(The captive creatures)

Today my hands were covered, slathered really, in dirt. I detest wearing gloves when gardening. So I don't. All sorts of squirmy, slimy creatures were uncovered this morning while I transplanted some day lilly's along our front porch. Oscar, whose shoes were on the wrong feet, was right behind me just waiting to bottle up the creatures for his collection. It started raining and we could hear Angus, who had just awoken from his nap, yelling from beyond the windows so we dusted ourselves off and went inside.

The glass jar full of dirt covered little friends was set on the kitchen counter near the sink. Oscar kept reminding me to put the lid on the jar so that the wormy's wouldn't crawl out. (He also kept insisting that worms have legs that are hidden up inside their bodies and that is how they move, he just laughed at me when I told him they didn't.) I got sidetracked and forgot to put the lid on the jar.

As I was doing the dishes after lunch I noticed a worm slithering around on the counter. I gasped, not because I don't like worms but because I just don't like worms on my kitchen counter. Quickly I grabbed the worm and returned him the jar, but there was something else moving on the wall. As I looked closer I realized it was another worm. 3/4 of his body had already disappeared below the counter top (we still have not completed our kitchen back splash, so that explains the gap that the worm could fit through). I tried to grab his tail and pull him out, but my fat fingers failed me. He was gone, and is now squirming free behind the base cupboards.