I was out in the garden with my camera the other day when I took a picture of this teasel, including a tiny black flower bug. Only when I looked closely at the photo did I realize I was capturing a bit of nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw drama.
The flower bug had been seized by a tiny, tiny crab spider. These white spiders lurk inside flower blossoms waiting for an unsuspecting pollinator to come along.
It's so small it's hard to see even in a super-zoomed-in photo.
I had quite a busy day myself yesterday, though fortunately it didn't involve any imminent death.
I had a dental cleaning in the morning. I usually don't mind going to the dentist, but I had a very bad attitude about this appointment. You may remember I switched dentists a few years ago and the hygienist at my new dentist is VERY EXACTING about how I should be brushing. She wants me brushing twice a day with my electric toothbrush and using interdental brushes to clean between teeth once a day, no exceptions.
Now, I am quite good about maintaining my teeth and I haven't had a cavity in many years, but I would be lying if I said I did all that every day. Sometimes I use an old-fashioned hand-held brush because it's faster and easier. Sometimes I'm too tired and I skip the interdental brushes. Sometimes I'm in a hurry and I forget to brush in the mornings. These things happen -- as we all know.
Anyway, I was prepared to be scolded and I was dreading it. But she surprised me by saying that she was quite pleased with the status of my teeth and gums, and so instead we wound up having a pleasant visit.
My dentist's office is close to the firebombed restaurant, so I asked if they had any good gossip about that. They'd actually been there and said it was a weird place -- shisha on one side, sushi on the other. (Why didn't the proprietors call it "ShishaSushi" or maybe "SushiShisha"? I think they missed an opportunity.)
Anyway, they didn't know anything for sure, but we all suspect a dispute over money or some other underworld involvement. And while I was there, practically upside-down in the dental chair and listening to the hygienist's music playing in the background, I heard possibly the weirdest cover of any song I've ever encountered -- a version of "Ring My Bell" by a group called "Discohen," which specializes in disco songs as Leonard Cohen would sing them.
The hygienist said she downloaded the soundtrack for the TV show "New Amsterdam" and that song was on it. We got a good laugh out of it.
Back at school, there's an area where at the beginning and ending of the school year, people pile a lot of old furniture and other classroom accessories to be thrown out. It's all free for the taking until it's discarded. I found a box with this weird little paperweight (I guess?) in it, which I kept. It's on my desk now. It looks like me!
Finally, when I got home from work, I planted about half of my foxglove seedlings. I was not in the mood for that task but I have to get them in the ground while they can still get established before winter. I have to find homes for about nine more. I'll probably give some of them away to co-workers with gardens. Even when I try not to grow too many, I grow too many!
Our dental hygiene visits always seem to synchronise. I had mine yesterday! She was also pleased with me and my gums a perfect colour!
ReplyDeleteI hope HAPPY helps you get through your days. I had a hygienist like that. I used a synonym for ”exacting.” My word was ”annoying.”
ReplyDeleteYou are good going to the dentist. I am not.
ReplyDeleteThe paperweight does indeed look like you and I hope you smile every time you look at it.
I would love some foxgloves but I think the Australian border security would have something to say about you sending me some.
Your teasel pictures are really exceptional. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhy-oh-why did you not intervene to rescue the innocent pollinator from the evil white spider of death? That takes voyeurism to a whole new level!
ReplyDeleteMy last teeth clean had my dentist cross question me about cleaning my teeth in the evening as I said I mostly do, depending on circumstances. She asked, how often do you forget. I don't know, I replied. What, once a week or more often. I had enough and said no more but I think her persistent questioning was wrong.
ReplyDeleteLeonard Cohen singing disco songs. That gave me a laugh. I'll have to listen now.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a hygienist who loved to tilt me so far back, that I felt like I had to swallow against gravity to relieve the copious amounts of rinse water she used. Fortunately, she didn't stay very long in that office and my new hygienist leaves me at a slight incline.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely sounds like a Leonard Cohen song but I wouldn't classify it as aa disco song. Perhaps you were referring to their body of work as a whole.
That's great about your teeth and the good report from the hygienist! I remember those "furniture" days at the beginning and at the end of school. Hopefully the paperweight thing will give you a smile every now and then!
ReplyDeleteLuckily, my hygienist is very nice and fun, and my dentist is quite the hottie, so I actually look forward to the upside chair visits.
ReplyDeleteI love the "paperweight," it's a good reminder.
Once upon a time I had reason to shed a shit load of money at a great dentist's surgery. The bridge was a work of art. They usually reckon it to last about ten years or so before needing to be replaced. As of two weeks ago it lasted twenty five years. My then dentist was Chinese, genius, and definitely had an affair with his assistant. The air between them (behind my back) positively sizzled.
ReplyDeleteThe resident hygienist? He was great like the rest of the practice. I called him "The Butcher". That he was German helped in as much as he was terribly thorough. He'd literally take my mouth apart before putting it back together again. Vorsprung durch Technik.
Unlike yours he didn't lecture me.
U
Ring My Bell - boy THAT brings back memories (especially that sitcom episode where someone for whom English was a second language sang it - hilarious). I'll have to check this version out when I'm not at work - & I'll have to track down that sitcom version.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am so glad that your dental hygienist found no reason to further instruct you on how to care for your teeth. Being lectured to in that chair is quite unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great difference on hygienists. Some are pretty rough. some give you lectures and some are pleasant. I've had them all.
ReplyDeleteThe teasel photos remind me that nature is red in tooth and claw.
ReplyDeleteI love that paperweight you found. I think it does look like you. Nice find!
I brush and floss three times a day (totally neurotic). I use those interdental brushes too. Just trying to keep my teeth firmly in my mouth. You'll appreciate these efforts as you get older.
I love your happy face. Everyone can use a smile in their day.
ReplyDeleteThe drama on the flower is...well...very dramatic. It's amazing the things we capture with our cameras from time to time.
Glad you had a good dental appointment. That reminded me of an old commercial, "Look, Ma, no cavities!"
ReplyDeleteI love the self portrait paperweight. I don't mind the dentist because they usually announce that I have good dental health, charge me a lot of $$ for cleaning and X-Ray, and wave me off for another year. I go annually, brush and floss once daily. More than that sounds to me like the Dental Full Employment Council at work.
ReplyDeleteI loved that statement Ricky Gervais made in the movie where he played a dentist whose client didn't want to floss his teeth.
ReplyDelete"Just the ones you want to keep, then," Ricky said.
-Kate
Dischohen - thanks for that- it is hilarious! I love Cohen very much, he is a one off but this parody, I would call it, did make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI am inspired by the paperweight, too!
Good job on teeth keeping- you know, once they start to go it is a domino effect- so Brush and floss and stay minty fresh!!
I like disco but not that particular song. Glad you had a decent time at the dentist's. I always got in trouble as a child for not flossing; my Italian dentist grandfather would get rather...animated.
ReplyDeleteThose first photographs are sublime
ReplyDeleteThere's something a bit vulnerable about being laid out in the hygienist's chair like that. I just had a cleaning a couple of weeks ago and it all went well. I may have asked before, but is an interdental brush like a sulca brush or more of a flossing instrument?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the "Wild Kingdom" photos at the beginning of your post.
Going to the dentist always carries some worry on how everything is going to pan out. You got a good report and passed with flying colors. I hope I do as well!
ReplyDeleteAmazing what can be found while editing photos! Love your Happy paperweight and glad the hygienist didn't beat up on you! I get annoyed with mine, too.
ReplyDeleteI have watched the entire series of New Amsterdam and don't recall hearing thta at all. Probably because I only notice the more upbeat songs.
ReplyDeleteRachel: It's always a relief to get a good report!
ReplyDeleteMitchell: She can be annoying, yes. I realize it's her job but the last time I went (before this visit) she exasperated me.
Caro: I would mail them to you if I could! I always have too many!
Sabine: Thank you!
YP: I can't intervene! The poor spider has to eat too!
Andrew: Yeah, sometimes they need to know when to stop! The point was made, right?!
Tasker: It's quite weird!
Ed: Well, the song (in its original form) was a disco song. This version doesn't qualify as disco, no!
Michael: I thought it was a fun little find!
Bob: I had a hottie dentist when I lived in Florida. He looked quite alluring in his mask. :)
Ursula: Your hygienist experience sounds a little too intense for me! LOL
Bug: Yes! What sitcom was it? Do you remember?
Ms Moon: It really is! Talk about a captive audience!
Red: I don't mind minor lecturing or questioning. That's part of the job. But it shouldn't be the third degree, like Andrew said above.
Robin: Three times a day?! Wow! My hygienist would LOVE you!
Sharon: Without even realizing it!
Ellen D: Oh yeah, I remember those commercials! Colgate? Crest?
Boud: I'm glad to hear you brush daily. I think this focus on brushing multiple times a day is overkill.
Blondi: Ha! Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up.
Linda Sue: I knew you would like "Discohen"!
Margaret: I was never a huge fan of that song either, but I do like the "Leonard Cohen" version. :)
John: Thank you!
Kelly: I had to look up a sulca brush! Yes, it's like that, not like floss. (Although it DOES clean between teeth.)
Susan: I never feared the dentist as a young person because my teeth were pretty healthy. But as I get older there is more of a sense of trepidation!
Jeanie: Yeah, when you zoom in on even the most basic photos you sometimes see surprising things!
River: It probably played in the deep background in some obscure scene.