Appearances Can Be Deceiving!

  "Appearances can often be deceiving."   "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  "Don't judge a book by its cover."  We have all heard and even said these fine quotes but do we believe them?  Do we listen to the advice given in them or are we quick to let our eye fool our brain? Sometimes I wonder.

 Today while working in the garden, I came across a vicious beast.  Had this critter been larger, I would have been terrified!  But, thankfully, the beast was tiny....and cute.  It is only vicious because it relentlessly attacks my plants.  I found a land snail which I decided definitely needed to be photographed.  One thing led to another and the snail got quite the closeup!    That is when I realized that things might appear differently when viewed from an unusual perspective.  Our eyes somehow deceive our brain.  The brain can easily be convinced to accept appearances over logic.

  The closeup of the snail's face(?) made think it was some weird critter that I might find beneath the murky waters of the Bayou.  The photograph almost made the thing seem like some giant octopus (not that I would find an octopus in the Bayou as he would be quite the wayward critter!).  Anyway, the two inch long, dark pink shell housed a slimy critter that could stretch out for a good five inches! It was not a giant octopus trying to attack me in the garden!  It was trying to escape my presence by scooting itself across a board.  As it inched along, it left behind a goodly amount of slime.  Poor little guy!  If it kept this up, it would be all slimed out in no time so I toted it down behind the canebrake where it could live in peace.  (Yes, I did feel sorry for a snail.)  

  Still when you view the photographs, try to imagine if you did not know the identity of the critter.  Those eyes protruding out on stems, that slimy, orangish face, those tentacles reaching out at all angles...yep, easy to let the imagination run wild.  The eye was convincing the brain that things were somehow different. MONSTERS ARE ON THE LOOSE IN MY GARDEN!  LAND OCTOPUSES ARE ON THE RAMPAGE!  Oh....I found a snail.