Feest Isolation Days – 30 May
Neighbours are so good at helping each other! On the “Next Door” local Website I saw a delightful exchange. “New home needed for three frogs.” The response was instant, and helpful. “I’ve got a pond and they can move in with me.” How good is that? Lucky old frogs!
Frogs of course got me thinking of water, ponds, rivers and lakes. And on a flight of fancy I decided where in the world I’d like to end up if I belonged to that frog trio. Clifton isn’t a bad spot to end up in, but my thoughts then wandered to other destinations. A hop skip and a jump (sorry) and there we frogs were in New Zealand. You probably guessed that would be the destination! Specifically the Rangitikei River. This won’t be the first time I’ve mentioned this magnificent place and probably won’t be the last. Terry fishes, I write and take in all the splendour of the place as we amble down the water for eight to ten hours at a time in a boat steered and rowed by our great guides who live there.
There are frogs in NZ but like most things in that part of the world, their frogs are different and have several distinct features from frogs anywhere else in the world. They have no external eardrum and round eyes instead of slitty eyes. They don’t croak regularly like most frogs (maybe because other frogs can’t hear them?) and they develop inside an egg and hatch into an almost fully formed frog without going through the tadpole stage.
Kermit of course must be the most famous frog ever and is only a few years younger than me! He was “born” in 1955 and his creator Jim Henson developed an entire world around his frog.
And of course where would Kermit be without Miss Piggy? The two were simply made for each other. In 1979 in a Muppet Movie, Kermit got to sing a song called the Rainbow Connection, which Willie Nelson made famous many years later. Someday we’ll find it. The rainbow connection.
Kermit’s song……
My Rainbow connection for today is of a different sort. If you haven’t yet made his acquaintance, you are about to meet Randy. He is Randy Rainbow and this gorgeous thirty-eight year old has created some wonderful and original songs that are all available on You Tube. He takes Trump themes and rewrites familiar stage tunes to parody the man. There are plenty to entertain you. Hard to believe but his given name is really Rainbow! His father was a musician and entertainer who changed his name from Ribner to Rainbow. Randy was born in Florida, but raised in Long Island, New York. A nice Jewish boy who credits his grandmother as the person who inspired him. She apparently used to kvetch (Yiddish for complain) at the television when politicians or entertainers were on screen. Bit like our household!
Frogs, rainbows, neighbours! It’s an amazing world as our Kermit reminds us. “The rainbow connection, someday we’ll find it, the lovers the dreamers and me”. All these things are somehow connected, and so too are we.
Until we meet again, enjoy and hold firm. Stay safe and remember, this virus hasn’t left us yet.
With love
Kathy x