i don’t really believe in good and evil, or heaven and hell, but i do believe that we have a dual nature and it is not angel/devil, but rather it is a primary nature that wants to be good, and an equally valuable and necessary and offsetting nature that, every once in a a while, for the pure joy of it, really wants, for a little while, to just be naughty.

bits of the garrigue

autignac, languedoc, france

walking along a path lined with somber, dusty green oaks and broom and juniper and pine, all struggling earnestly to survive in this dry, hot, unforgiving climate, i came across this arbousier (strawberry tree), who seemed to be saying, “hey! who wants to play?”

arbouses (fruits de l’arbousier)

valleé de l’orb, cessenon-sur-orb, languedoc, france

yesterday we went to pick prunelles with our neighbor, in order to make a liqueur out of the stringent, deeply flavored berries. the prunelle fruit is a beautiful blue, like a ripe blueberry, but the prunelle plant is full of thorns like blackberries and raspberries and roses. “you can tell prunelles are delicious,” said jean-luc. “look how hard nature has to work to protect them.”

wild rose thorns

autignac, france

i share the name “marie” (mary) with this plant. she is related, as are all thistles, to the artichoke. she, like me, wants you to know that she’s not going to take a whole lot of shit from you. but if you carefully and patiently peel back a few of her layers. you find at her center the reward of a very tender heart.

chardon marie

autignac, france

our son joseph has been in love with insects his whole life. he has recently started reading gerald durrell’s totally wonderful memoir, my family and other animals, one of our family’s favorite books of all time. following young gerry durrell’s nature-hunting adventures in the olive and myrtle groves of corfu has inspired joe to head out almost daily on insect gathering missions, and today he nabbed his biggest prize yet, a beautiful green praying mantis, that is currently housed in our living room. joe has made a house for her, and plans to forage for prey tomorrow for her, and has named her april, which i believe means that, technically, we have a new pet.

paying mantis on fennel frond

autignac, france