Hi and welcome to my blog!
Yay … I’m finally up! For a long time now I’ve been playing with the idea of writing a blog … and well, finally here I am! I am challenging myself to become a better writer and what better way to do that, than to write – a LOT! So – I’m going to give this a year shot and see what I come up with. Daily musings and ponderings … a variety of this and that, tidbits and snippets, stories and facts …
And I’m sure you’re wondering … Lobster On My Shoulder?
In case you don’t know … I have two grown kids … a son (Ted) and a daughter (Sam). When my Ted was little, about 3 years old or so, he woke up in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare. When I got to his room I could see his eyes wide and white and he looked in horror in my direction and screeched, “What’s that on your SHOULDER?” (with an increase in volume and octave with each word). And before I could answer (or look – to check to make sure there wasn’t some huge spider on me) … he screamed out, “It’s a YOBSTER.” Well, at the time, he had a few letter pronunciation difficulties and I KNEW there was no LOBSTER on my shoulder! I guess too many days at the local grocery store talking to the lobsters in the tank – scarier to him that I thought! He had been dreaming that they had escaped and traveled down the road, through the park, into our house, up the stairs … and one happened to somehow perch his little crustacean body on my shoulder!
So … twenty some years later and whenever there is something formidable going on or something scary … or if we just happen to see a lobster … that story comes to mind and we all get a good laugh. Poor Ted … he’s never going to get relief from that dream – ever!
And, in case you were wondering (or not) … there are over 42,000 species of crustaceans living, world-wide, in both fresh and salt water. There are basically two groups – the larger animals are shrimp, crayfish, lobsters and crabs and the other group includes much smaller varieties ranging from microscopic (mostly found in plankton) to a few inches. They all have an exoskeleton and when in danger or bothered they roll up, armadillo-like, exposing that crusty outer shell.
And on a futher note … they’re more common than you may think on land … most often seen as roly-polys.
Wishing you a lovely day. Be nice and watch out for lobsters. I’ll take mine with drawn butter – thank you! Enjoy – les