Ravings - by Linda J. Clarke

“Ravings” are a series of essays written by my sister Linda J. Clarke. It was her hope that people who read them would gain a “tenderness and appreciation for the animals and plants who share this world with us.” For more on Linda and her book, “On A Planet Sailing West”, click here … Linda Clarke.

I used to spend summers in Maine with my family all those long years ago when nobody hated our country and banks were small and neighborly. Yet, I never saw her, a juvenile clambering between rocks along the bottom of the coves and inlets in the cold waters off the coast. Strutting on her curved tail, claws extended, her antennae waving ominously upon the currents, she must have presented herself as imposing and heroic and I am sorry I missed her.
Out of 10,000 eggs no larger than the head of a pin and glued to the inside of her mother’s tail like tiny black berries, this great American female was one of only ten to survive into adulthood. She was set adrift in the sea, a little late in the hatchling season, by a flick of her mother’s tail. Looking like a miniscule shrimp bobbing up and down almost invisible under the white-capped waves, she slid along, skimming the surface with the breeze. [Read more …]