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The Blog Brothers

Two Black-Irish-American brothers from the mythical city of Albany, New York ponder their 20th century adventures from either side of the Pacific Ocean; Bob in Kyoto, Japan and Mick in Santa Barbara, California.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Salamander Legacy

I remember the summer back in 1951 or so when we discovered there were big numbers of salamanders and snakes in the woods behind PS 23 up on Whitehall Road, the same woods whence I shot out that inviting streetlight with my beloved slingshot, the same woods where Mick and his fellow perpetrators (I don't know where I was that day) hid out after the great unfinished-Thruway Conflagration (about which major event Mick thus far remains mum herein, for some reason, even though the statute of limitations has almost certainly long expired) and the same woods where later I finally found a public-access monocot plant (Solomon's Seal) for the monocot/dicot specimen requirement assigned by my civilian but still noxious natural science teacher at Vincentian Institute where I did my first year of high school and one Sunday afternoon when I was home alone hurriedly prepped the specimen folders using Dad's art tools and got ink all over but only got 1 out of a possible 30 points from the unimaginative teacher... Solomon's seal is a beautiful plant though... You see what happens when one gets talking about the mystic woods up behind PS 23?

Anyway, starting in late Spring/early Summer while school was still in session, Mick and I and the Olander Twins would head up there into the woods – definitely not when we should be in school, it wasn't hookey, no way, that would be unthinkable, could only have been a weekend or a holiday, we haloed ones would never miss a precious and delight-filled sunny day in class at St. James Institute; imagine skipping school just to catch wild animals – and caught red salamanders from under the rocks and put them in our pockets, we also caught a lot of snakes, a small one of which I put in a Sucrets box and took to school, let it crawl around on my desk with its salamander friend.

Each time we went into those woods our salamander-snagging expertise grew, until one day we went up there with a big cardboard box full of high-quality dirt to keep our catch in, for as any great hunter knows, one is loathe to part with a redback salamander one has caught legitimately by hand through sheer cunning and lightning speed; such skills must have their trophies. Plus the salamanders were so cute with those bulgy little black eyes and smiley faces, but even better they were free, and best of all their tails came off and wriggled for a long time and really freaked the girls out, which was great. The snakes were aces at their jobs too; my secret heart-throb Diane Finn was gratifyingly horrified at the sudden snake and salamander on her desk. Such are the enigmatic thrills of boyhood.

To get back to that day-- when we brought the boxful of forest dirt and salamanders home to the yard of our house on Delaware Avenue we counted our catch and found that we were collectively richer by a staggering 146 salamanders, a new world record that I believe still stands in the pre-teen category. Despite the obvious gold-medalness of the event, however, Mom (for reasons known only to moms) refused to allow us to bring the box into the house (not even into our bedroom!), even when we widened our eyes and looked as sad as we could. We would have loved to have those cute little salamanders crawling all over everything all the time, we would have named every one of them within a year or two. Having no other choice, we did the next best thing and tossed the box under the back porch where we could keep our little red treasures close by, and immediately forgot all about them.

Some time later, when one day I remembered our cardboard vault full of salamanders, I crabbed under the porch to check on our wealth and found that time and the weather had pretty much destroyed the cardboard box, and that every single one of our living treasures had wriggled off into the wild, where living treasures do best. Thus it was that Mick and I and the Olander twins so radically altered the salamander biomass of that region of Delaware Avenue. Now all you salamander-rich folks who live there know who to thank.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Federico II Gonzaga, fifth marquess of Mantua, had the salamander as his symbol. It was commonly thought that the salamander did not fear fire, and Federico adopted as his motto: "Quod huic deest me torquet", meaning that the fire which spares the salamander did not spare him. He was burning with love... So you see, the salamander is the most perfect gift that any boy can give his beloved. Diamonds are for the ignorant...

3:49 AM  
Blogger Mick Brady said...

Ahh, such brilliant memories. Your salamander tale brought back a few more memories, including one story that must be told, that of the legendary Bert Caswell, the Huckleberry Finn of the Hudson River.

As far as The Great Thruway Conflagration goes, I'll get to that one of these days, now that you've assured me that the statue of limitations has finally been completed. Where is that thing, by the way?

Suggestion for you: Dad and the Soap Box Derby.

1:36 PM  
Blogger joared said...

Nothing like helping those salamanders expand their territory. Can't you just hear the stories from their perspective they've passed down through their progeny?

My appetite is now whetted for The Great Thruway Conflagration. Great stories that the two of you keep remembering and writing about.

3:16 PM  
Blogger joared said...

FYI Blogger is at it again not accepting my comment -- same ole' thing. Hope you don't mind, but I was asked to give Robert this message, so just copied my whole comment.

BTW I'm looking forward to the continuation of your story at The Storytelling Place. This is for Robert:
Are you talking about the following quote or another one?

"The wisest man has something yet to learn."

FYI I visited Australia's 107 yr old "blobber," Olive at
http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
(that's what she calls blogging.)

Was asked to give you this message:

"I had found this blog you reccmmend, PureLandMountain.com. once before and then lost it.

"But as soon as you descibed it, wrriten from Japan, wonderful nature writing, I knew it was the one I’d liked so much and lost. Now, I have it as a favorite. I will read some to Ollie and see what she thinks.

"I would have liked to leave Brady a comment but the google system of signing you up for a blog start if you try and leave a comment, totally infurates me. I have gone through the whole thing up several times, but always forget the password I’ve chosen or some such detail.

"I have thus never left a comment on a google blog. They are idiots making it so hard. If you can get through to that blogger, Brady, pass on my appreciation. Mike the Helper."

3:33 AM  
Blogger joared said...

I was talking about the quote from Mike which followed what I wrote you. You can trash the messaage, now, if you like, because I found Bob's email address and will send this message to him directly. Blogger still won't let me comment on his blog which I mentioned to him.

11:17 PM  
Blogger AnotherHumanHere said...

I live on Delaware Ave, Albany, am an amateur naturalist hope to find one of your Salamander's progeny. What was your address on the Ave if you don't mind saying?

9:30 AM  

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