Buried in the Sand.

   Finding a half-buried head while meandering about the hillside is not one that most folks would relish.  It could be most disturbing, to say the least.  I did...and I did what I normally do with my "finds"...I poked it.  Then, my investigation went a bit further and I wound up toting said "head" back to the Little Bayou House with me.  It is a good thing that I am not like "most folks" as life would be horribly dull!

  Down behind the canebrake, there is one small area that is almost like a sandy beach hidden beneath the layers of pine straw.  At times after a hard rain, the "beach" is exposed and anything hidden under it can be easily seen.  To clarify, this sand was washed ashore by Hurricane Katrina, so in all fairness, anything unearthed could have also been in that tidal surge.  But...today, it was a head and I am now in possession of this "gruesome" item and plan to add it to the shelf of curiosities of other Bayou finds.

  Now about that head!  The head is made of porcelain and is about one inch in length from the broken neck to the top of the pate. Although scratched, the facial features are still there which is what attracted my attention, in the first place.  (Hey!  That "rock" has a face!) I am thinking that this (at one time) was part of a lovely antique pincushion doll from the nineteenth century.  As to the origin of the doll, there is no clue as to whether she washed ashore on that same tidal surge that brought the sand or if she belonged to someone that lived here long before my grandpa came into ownership of the property just after the turn of the century or if she was one of the dozen or so that Mom had given to me so many years ago.  (I lost those in a housefire some 40+ years ago.)  If only the little doll could talk...errr....maybe that would not be a good thing, though.  A talking, decapitated doll may be a bit much but...she might be able to provide some answers!  In the meantime, I shall just have to ponder of her life before being buried in the sand.

All In Her Head

  Years ago, I was very ill.  After countless visits to several doctors, one had the nerve to tell me that "It is all in your head"....meaning that I was imagining things.  I am glad that I did not listen to him since it turns out that it was my heart...not my imagination.  Once I got the right doctors, things went well and I made a fast recovery but it could have been a very different story.  The new doctor said had I listened to the other fellow, I would have died within a month. 

  Still to this day, the quote "It is all in your head." irks me to no end.  The thought that having things all in your head is a bad thing, (the way the doctor had meant it), is all wrong.  To my way of thinking, it should be the other way around.  Having it all in your head should refer to the cognizant thought processes without which our daily business could not be faced.   It should refer to ingenuity, intelligence. wisdom and, yes, imagination.

  Just this morning as I was marveling at a spiderweb being illuminated by the morning sun, a thought started worming its way into the brain.  If things were not "all in our heads", how does the spider know how to build such a perfect snare?  If you have ever noticed, not many mother spiders go out of their way to teach their offspring a thing or two about web-making, catching food or escaping predators.  This all has to be learned on their own.   Most of us tend to think of spiderwebs as something we would rather not walk into and become entangled.  The thought of a spider crawling up our back is not overly desirable.  But that spiderweb is a remarkable thing and the spider used all of whats "in its head" to spin the fabulous creation.  How does the spider know to make a web in circles?  How do the spiders in the marsh know the changes in tides?  Why do some spiders make platform webs, others dangling webs and others cone shaped?  Because it is all in their heads.  They have thinking brains that help them to figure out the best method of catching their prey.  Spiders also can adapt their methods when put in a different situation.  Take an orb spider that makes a perfect hanging web.  If nothing is flying into the web, they have the ingenuity to drop a few "fishing lines" or dangling webs to the ground to catch crawling bugs.  Whereas they usually wait for a hapless moth to fly into the web and then just leisurely walk over to munch it, with the dangling webs, they literally reel in their catch!  A rather ingenious method!

  So, the next time someone makes the snide remark that something is "all in your head", thank them!  Tell them "Yes!  I have that and a whole lot of other brilliant things floating around in there!"  Just do not listen to them and think that is the end of it....or it may be.  In the case of my illness, I used what was in my head to find someone who could and would help me.  So, I am glad it was "all in my head"!