Seeing the World Through a Cricket's Eye

     "One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

I've finally done it. I've finally jumped, like Cillantro, my little Cricket friend here...

Cillantro nibbling Cilantro

Wings almost healed and getting ready to jump, bon voyage my chirping friend!

Just days before my departure to Europe, the little guy you see above arrived in my Cilantro-which came all the way from Whole Foods in NY to Atlantic City. In fact, I wasn't even suppose to have Cilantro, but my grocery illiterate boyfriend bought it by mistake thinking it was Kale. He spent the night in the fridge (the cricket, not my boyfriend!), his only warmth coming from tiny Cilantro leaves wrapped all around. The next morning I was sautee-ing  "kale" and found his nearly frozen insect body camouflaged in the leafy herb.

At first I thought he was dead, but then I saw his antenna twitch

Long story short, I placed him outside on our balcony to warm up in the sunshine hoping he could make a recovery. Within thirty minutes he was crawling around like a lil critter should be...

I expected him to hop or fly away, but he spent the first night singing his cricket song, and was there the next morning. One day became two, which became three and eventually four. I noticed he was not hopping or flying so I assumed he was injured, though he seemed quite content to crawl around the balcony, sideways and upside down. Five days after his initial arrival it was time for my own departure, so I built him a house out of an egg carton, put a towel over it for warmth, and filled it was a bowl full of wet cilantro for safe keeping; It was time to say goodbye.

                                   

Just a few minutes before I left, I found him sitting on the blue chair closest to the edge of the balcony, as shown in one if the pictures above. It was as though he was overlooking the entire world, anticipating his own journey to come...

I, too, have spent many summer afternoons in that very same chair anticipating my own upcoming adventure. After Cillantro arrived, I read that many cultural traditions believe if a cricket enters your home and crosses your path you are sure to have good fortune... I have taken this sentiment with me as a comfort while I look at the world from above, while I fall to the ground.

     The Swiss Alps from my plane

      Il teatro, Parma Italy

 

   "For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. the great affair is to 

    move." - Robert Louis Stevenson

    (Photo: sidewalk, Parma, Italia)