Of Dogs and Stones and Crescent Moons . . .

Imagine you're a young guy walking down a lava flow beach on a Canary Island in the warm March sun. Imagine you have the beach all to yourself, so you think. But then strolling a little farther along the rough black volcanic rock by the sea, you suddenly realize you are not alone, there is a very naked young lady lying in a low spot in the rocks where you couldn't see her until you were a little too close for innocent comfort. Imagine just then a big black dog comes from who knows where, walks right up, and stands there gazing at the remarkable landscape of the Canary Islands. Well, that is exactly what happened one day to your reporter. What does one do in such a situation ??? Nowhere in one's schooling is one taught how to react when confronted with such irrefutable facts and bare evidence. So your reporter did what any reporter worth his salt would do . . . he took a picture . . . and here it is . . . I admit, I couldn't help wondering what that dog had on its mind . . . maybe chasing a little tail for fun ? Isn't that what many dogs like to do ???

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The dog, it quickly became apparent, just wanted to play, and had an obsession for picking up stones. He struggled with this one for quite a little while . . .

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Getting down and grinding his teeth on it, growling all the while . . .

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Finally, after much effort, he managed to pick up a large rounded stone, which he then carried proudly over to the sleeping goddess there, who knew what was going on ; if you look carefully there is a hand waiting to receive the stone, like manna from heaven. Your reporter was sorely tempted to pick up a few large stones himself, with his teeth if necessary, to take them over as offerings, but didn't . . . how terrible it is to be so shy as to let obvious opportunities like that pass by in life. . . For the astronomically oriented people in the audience, you may just be able to make out a waning crescent moon in this image, like the real moon outside tonight . . . ahh, the perfection that reigns in some of nature's forms . . .

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Another smaller black dog dropped by to check out the action on the beach, but after a short nose to nose conversation, he decided to amble off to other parts. . .

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When the reclining female proved to be too inanimate, he came over to see me, and we had a fine time for a while, your reporter tossing stones into the tidal puddle, the dog splashing in to fetch them. . . (music repeats and fades to end a daydream song)

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