Well... needless to say I wrapped up the lemonade fast and I have to say I feel fantastic. I ended up cutting it short by a day, due to some dizziness I had been experiencing. A point that was brought up in light of this was the possibility that I don't have as "toxic" a body as the average person who might undertake such a drastic regimen, due to the fact that my entire life my family has eaten relatively simply, and I have never drunk softdrinks or sodas nor had much of a sweet tooth. I'm sure the "ten day minimum" is totally arbitrary, and despite my falling short by a day, I recommend fasting in principle and practice to anyone interested in hitting that metaphysical "reset" button or just looking to wring out their spiritual and physical sponge!
As part of my "get back in shape" routine, having started with the fast, I am back on solid foods I have been cooking 90% from scratch. It's been very gratifying to make simple things like hummus, pesto, tomato and cucumber salads. I have certainly become intensely selective on what I buy and choose to eat, though I'm sure eventually I'll cave in to some of the less healthy vices I participated in before (red wine ideally being the healthiest of them!).
I have begun jogging again and practicing Tai Chi with hopes of fully returning to Kung Fu before long. Yesterday afternoon, while I was out on a jog along the Upper Panther Hollow Trail I encountered this terrifying creature:
I am not joking when I tell you I spotted it from at least ten yards away, and upon closer inspection found it to be at least six or seven inches in length! It was just bumbling clumsily along the path, overturning leaves and twigs and being proud that it was the largest most frightful caterpillar I have ever encountered. A middle-aged hippie couple strolled by a moment later (the man in a sort of bicycling suit that looked like it had been tailored out of a dashiki with thinning shoulder-length hair, the woman equally decked out in burlap with a walking stick) and jumped at the sight as I crouched over the creature observing its weird movements. I looked up and said, "looks like something out of the Amazon, eh?"
The woman could only think to say "he's certainly been eating his Wheaties!"
Wheaties, indeed. At home I remembered to look up the monster, finding it in a Google search by typing in "giant green caterpillar with spiny orange horns". It is known as the Hickory Horned Devil, a fittingly Appalachian sounding title accommodating its Western Pennsylvanian discovery. It is fairly common to the area, and after an over-winter subterranean pupation it becomes this marvelous specimen:
Better known as the Regal Moth or Citheronia Regalis it certainly peaked my newly developing interest in the Natural Sciences, though I haven't yet graduated to the level of collecting live specimens (so far my collection has halted at recently deceased cicadas I find on the sidewalk in Squirrel Hill). I did, however, during an hour or so of tottering around the internet find this interesting website that creates custom mounted insect displays. I guess I'll save up and start ordering custom framed bugs I encounter, I'm sure it's cheaper than a bottle of ether anyway.
0 comments:
Post a Comment