Slug Love.

This is how banana slugs do it.

JULIET

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

ROMEO

It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Act 3, Scene 5

These two slugs were at it for over forty-eight hours. I stopped checking on them after two days because I didn’t think that the flash photography was helping much with the mood they were trying to set. Plus, I started to feel like a pervert. I’m still conflicted about posting pictures of their lovemaking on the internet. I wonder if there’s any such thing as internet slug porn? I guess there is now.

Banana slugs are the second-largest terrestrial species of slug in the world. They’re hermaphrodites, by the way, which means each slug produces both eggs and sperm. Curling up as they do allows them to exchange sperm so that each of their respective clutches of eggs can be fertilized. Makes that yin yang positioning seem all the more appropriate, if you ask me.

Slime and all, they're beautiful creatures. With a nod to J. D. Salinger, every day is a perfect day for banana slugs.

A Word On The Word Hippie.

One of my favorite film clips from the 1960’s shows a local NorCal logger being asked by a reporter about the influx of back-to-landers into Mendocino County. I’m paraphrasing, but essentially, here’s how this gigantic bearded lumberjack responds when asked how he feels about all the hippies running around: “They’re fine,” he says with a smile. “They’re friendly. And the women work shirtless.”

Politically incorrect? Sure. But his heart’s in the right place.

Swallowtail writes:

“A community is a container which hopefully has room for all.”

With a wonderful turn-of-phrase like this one, is it any wonder LARABEE is one of my favorite blogs?

Swallowtail is referencing my recent post on the Fourth of July Parade in Mendocino, and how amazed and inspired I was by the collision-turned-embrace between the back-to-landers and the residents of the county who preceded them. She correctly points out that the back-to-landers were able to successfully integrate into the community up here without losing their identity, and brought with them their unique perspective on the world - much of which was embraced by the locals.

She’s right, of course. And of course, the back-to-landers couldn’t have made it up here without locals who were willing to teach them some pretty non-hippie skills like hunting and fishing and clearing land to farm. Philosophically speaking, the locals taught the hippies that sometimes you have to bend your ideals a little in favor of practicality, and that hard work and perseverance can be its own reward.

This is not to suggest that the back-to-landers didn’t meet up with their fair share of hostility. Nor do I mean to imply that there’s no lingering conflicts. For instance, I still get really bent out of shape over the fact that some local businesses are in denial about how much of their income comes from the local cannabis industry. Cannabis is another thing the back-to-landers brought with them, and while there are those who frown on it, with the loss of logging and fishing up here, growing is now the main driver of the local economy. In fact, the legalization and taxation of cannabis could single-handedly save the entire state from its current financial crisis. Hippies to the rescue!!

Yet there are those community leaders up here who get heart palpations at the thought of a Marijuana Museum or a Bud And Breakfast opening up in town. And if growers want to sponsor local schools, churches, or charitable organizations, they have to do so in a clandestine manner because they will often be met with resistance otherwise. And if there’s any doubt about the growers feeding tons of money into the local coffers, check out this post at Redheaded Blackbelt.

For the most part, however, people do a good job up here of finding common ground and pulling together. Sticking with the cannabis example - while there are exceptions - most local businesses realize that a large percentage of the money in this area is spent by the local growers. Many will extend credit to farmers, and lots of them help the local growers in times of crisis - like providing generators and fuel during power outages, for example.

What I want to emphasize most is that each of these groups has had a positive and lasting impact on the other - for generations now. That’s why it’s possible today to use the word hippie lovingly, and why the gift shop in Mendocino Village can sell a sign like this one:

Because like that lumberjack, we have learned that having a sense of humor about one another is essential to our survival. If we can’t laugh at our differences, after all, we might start yelling. And frankly, enough of this country is engaged in the yelling business. I’m glad we’re more invested in the laughing up here.

Swallow Fail.

Only two shots

Of this tree swallow

Nesting in a redwood hollow -

She was too fast

For my lens to follow!

Patriotism And Peace On Parade.

These photographs were taken at yesterday's Fourth of July parade in Mendocino.

The whole day, I was thinking about patriotism and peace.

Many people in this country believe that you cannot possibly be a patriotic American if you advocate for peace.

Maybe they don't know these guys. These are the Veterans for Peace. Every one of them is a war hero, and they regularly demonstrate. For peace.

Or these guys. These veterans opened the parade, and got a resounding ovation from the crowd for the work they do in advocating for the return of American soldiers missing in action.

And what about all of this red, white, and blue?

Like Uncle Sam himself had snuck into town the night before and gone crazy with the flags and bunting.

The question is, did Uncle Sam help with these signs, too?

Patriotism? Peace? Both?

Peacenik hippies would have booed "The Man" as he cruised by with his flashing lights and uniforms and sirens blaring. Right?

Yet the fire and police departments all got resounding ovations as they passed.

Because after all, when you have people like Wheelie Boy...

... or Captain Inebriation here "participating" in the festivities, having a little law and order on hand isn't such a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.

The fact is, hippies are complicated. We advocate for salmon habitat restoration...

...we fight against abalone poaching - I think that one’s a keeper...

... and we’re passionate about protecting the ocean from environmental devastation - especially offshore drilling. How passionate? Check out the nifty pirate outfits and intense bongo drumming, if you don’t believe me.

And yet, some of the loudest cheers of the day were reserved for the funky cars.

Yes, that's a saxophone exhaust pipe.

Jesus here also got a lot of applause...

...especially when he was followed close behind by the Devil Ride hearse. Hippie humor.

Speaking of hippies... Nice flags and bunting, fellas!

But the gas-guzzler that got the biggest ovation? The General Lee. A 1969 Dodge Charger RT, complete with the stars and bars paint job. There the General was, rumbling down the road with its horn blaring Dixie, emitting copious amounts of exhaust and attitude, and the crowd couldn't get enough.

Which brings me back to my point about hippies being complicated.

For some, being called a “hippie” still carries a sting with it.

The fact is, there’s a hippie stereotype that is less than flattering. Over-educated. Lazy. Lacking in toughness or common sense. Often spaced-out. Kind of whiney.

However, I reject this stereotype. As these pictures illustrate, there are a lot of folks who live up here who can only be described as hippies - and I include myself in that mix. Maybe I’m not a “traditional” hippie, but I’m certainly a neo-hippie of the first order. And while I may be over-educated, I’m also tough. And sensible. Mostly. Sort of.

What people fail to realize is that day-to-day living up here in the redwoods is pretty challenging. There’s no room for laziness, and no one who chooses to make a life out in the sticks can afford to be anything less than resilient. The frontiersmen who settled this area in the 1850’s were the toughest of the tough, after all.

And survival out here in the woods requires working together - there’s simply no other practical option. So when the back-to-lander hippies arrived in the 1960’s, the locals taught them how to farm and hunt and fish and log. They taught them how to become self-sufficient fighters, and to teach their kids and grandkids to be fighters, too. The result is some extremely tough, sensible, hardworking hippies.

For their part, the hippies made their arguments to the locals about women’s lib, environmental preservation, and not being unkind to others just because they’re different. They also made their arguments about the benefits of peace and love. And you know, those hippies made some good points.

This collision of views is one of my favorite things about living up here in the northernmost reaches of my state. Or rather, the collaboration that results from the collision. Sort of like peace and patriotism. Because far as I’m concerned, the love of peace is a very patriotic thing.

Happy MendoPendence Day!