Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Key West in No Particular Order (1)


"They will kill you!"

When I was a little girl and we lived for part of the year in Vero Beach, we viewed Portuguese men o' war as jelly terrorists. Lying in wait on the beach after the tide receded, they would whip their 50-foot long tentacles into the air and snap them around your legs, causing you to gasp for breath and writhe in pain as you succumbed to a slow and tortuous end.

I don't know how we expected them to consume us, or why we thought that they would have any interest in trying. I suppose that logic is not a component of childhood drama.

These days, I view them with a good deal more equanimity.


4 comments:

Terri said...

yeah....and I used to think that something lived under my bed and could reach up around the side and grab me...so I always had one side against the wall and slept on that side...'cuz then the "thing" couldn't get me....

I guess you have to watch where you step, but otherwise, not to worry much about those sea creatures....

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

They are lovely photographs. I had the same childhood fear as mompriest.

Stratoz said...

way cool. any sea slugs about?

Anonymous said...

My kids had a wonderful book called "The Monster Bed" with its own stuffed monster. It dealt specifically with Mompriest's fear. Great story and illustrations.
Welcome home, GG. I love the last picture with the minnow swimming innocently toward the jellyfish!
Word verification is "unness". Rhymes with "loch ness"!!!!