Sea Mustangs and a White Christmas
I am dreaming of a white Christmas. It's acually the week after and we have about a foot and half of snow, which in reality has been pretty darn amazing. I have tried unsuccessfully shovelling out the sidewalks during the middle of the storm. And I have done nothing but play ... skiing, walking my dog, snowshoeing. Snow, snow everywhere.
When I am exhausted from the day, I surf the Intern
et and somehow I find myself on a website about seahorses (seahorse.org). I have only seen live seahorses a few times, mainly in aquariums exhibits. But once when I was a kid in Florida, my grandfather took me and my sisters to a bait shop that had a tank full of sea horses. I remember glaring at their tiny fins and wondering how they moved around, after all, they really did not swim, but rather floated They looked so awkward, and yet so elegant. And being the freckle-faced, sun-burnt, horse-loving kid I dreamed of what it would be like to ride an oversized sea horse through the water. Floating along on my bright red mount. Riding through underwater canyons, chasing schools of small fish.
Seahorse.org confirms that there is in fact a website for everything. It’s an amazing site and hours later I emerge with a dearth of information on seahorses, with my favorite fact being that the females do not carry the babies, but rather the males do. The site includes incredible cool home videos of seahorses having babies, dancing, and eating. Viv
id pictures of seahorses make my little girl fantasy seem a possibility. It also includes discussion groups, a shop to buy tshirts and handbags that say, "I love seahorses", and lots of information about how to take care of seahorses, including why you should NOT just nab them out of the wild and bring them home.
The last bit amuses me because I stop to wonder why wild seahorses are not called sea mustangs. Ah to tame the wild beast! A lone co
wboy chases the sea mustang through vast underwater prairies and then off into the deep canyons of the ocean, until at last he snares the sea mustang with a rope, as it leaps into the air, whinnies and tries to escape. But there’s no hope for the sea mustang. The cowboy climbs onto his back and with a click of his spurs, rides the sea mustang off into the depths of the ocean.
By Linda English
et and somehow I find myself on a website about seahorses (seahorse.org). I have only seen live seahorses a few times, mainly in aquariums exhibits. But once when I was a kid in Florida, my grandfather took me and my sisters to a bait shop that had a tank full of sea horses. I remember glaring at their tiny fins and wondering how they moved around, after all, they really did not swim, but rather floated They looked so awkward, and yet so elegant. And being the freckle-faced, sun-burnt, horse-loving kid I dreamed of what it would be like to ride an oversized sea horse through the water. Floating along on my bright red mount. Riding through underwater canyons, chasing schools of small fish.Seahorse.org confirms that there is in fact a website for everything. It’s an amazing site and hours later I emerge with a dearth of information on seahorses, with my favorite fact being that the females do not carry the babies, but rather the males do. The site includes incredible cool home videos of seahorses having babies, dancing, and eating. Viv
id pictures of seahorses make my little girl fantasy seem a possibility. It also includes discussion groups, a shop to buy tshirts and handbags that say, "I love seahorses", and lots of information about how to take care of seahorses, including why you should NOT just nab them out of the wild and bring them home.The last bit amuses me because I stop to wonder why wild seahorses are not called sea mustangs. Ah to tame the wild beast! A lone co
wboy chases the sea mustang through vast underwater prairies and then off into the deep canyons of the ocean, until at last he snares the sea mustang with a rope, as it leaps into the air, whinnies and tries to escape. But there’s no hope for the sea mustang. The cowboy climbs onto his back and with a click of his spurs, rides the sea mustang off into the depths of the ocean.By Linda English
