Lizards are everywhere in south Florida where I just spent a week with my daughter's family. Nevertheless, the ardent Harry Potter fans in the fam are holding out hope that 3-yr-old Nickolas was right when he said he found some "wizard eggs." He and his daddy found them behind a stack of plywood in the garden shed.
I had never seen lizard eggs before and was fascinated that my son-in-law, Thaddeus, knew immediately what they were. Originally from the island of St. Croix, he and his siblings grew up with them. For our dinner conversation, they volunteered a memory of a game they invented as children. It required patient skill and a particularly long blade of grass. They tied the end of the grass blade into a specially designed loop and waited. The longer the blade, the better the chance of sneaking up on a lizard without scaring it off. When the hapless creature crossed their path, they slipped the loop over its head and walked their new pet on a leash. Here's hoping this post doesn't give anyone any ideas. dkm (aka Omi)
 |
| Lizard eggs |
 |
| Lizard lasso |
 |
| See how tiny |
 |
| Wook out, wizard! |
oh my gosh they are so tiny. I used to have pet lizards when growing up. I loved feeding them jam and remember the feel of their little teeth on my finger. I've tied cotton round a blowfly before and held on while it flew. :)
ReplyDeleteIs cotton what we call string? How you managed to get a string around a blowfly, I can not imagine---talk of skill and patience!
ReplyDeleteThe eggs are beautiful! I'm sure Nickolas is right - they must be Wizard eggs!! Here, locally, we have skinks and geckos (little lizards I guess). Sadly the cats like them :-( Elsewhere is NZ there are tuatara - VERY ancient.
ReplyDelete'Omi' is nice :-)
I just googled St Croix - and now understand the relationship to south Florida.
Lovely to have you back 'on-line' Debby.
Omi, don't you love that it took a grandchild to find the eggs? Issa and I figured out a leash to walk Lizzie, her turtle. (they need to look out because Bibi is lobbying to Free Lizzie...)
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this post--pictures, and text! I don't think I've ever seen lizard eggs, and really needed the photo with your hand to help me with perspective. And the lizard game seems great fun--unlikely to hurt the lizard, who I imagine just heedlessly stumps on, and a great payoff for the patient children.
ReplyDeleteNow I wanna walk a wizard!
Me too! Currently I'm in Savannah, GA, and yesterday, when a lizard explored the front door, I thought of trying it---the only thing that stopped me was wondering what the neighbors would think of a lone adult woman engaged in such a pursuit---that and lack of time. Made me long for the freedom of childhood. Thanks for confirming I wasn't the only one for whom it sounded like fun---
ReplyDeleteAnd Bibi too---how smart to try it with a child and a slow animal :-). Her name is even Lizzie---
And Jane---skinks, geckos, and tuatara! Way cool---the creatures as well as their names.
Whoa, that IS tiny.
ReplyDeleteNever seen that before either, wow!
Cotton is what we use to sew buttons on etc :) Great wee noose, just hope it doesn't strangle the wearer :) You would need a lot of those eggs to make an omlette hey ??
ReplyDelete