Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Mother Knows Best



The whole of life lies in the verb seeing.
-Teilhard De Chardin

My cousin shared with me recently of a moment with his mother many years ago. He had just been on a visit to Dublin Zoo and had brought to his mother a small black and white photograph of two young penguins.
Thinking that he would have a little joke with his mother, whose sight was not very good, he offered the picture and asked, "do you recognise anyone there?" She was at that time in her life very proud to not wear any glasses. She looked carefully at the paper before her and a moment later declared that she did.
"Of course I do. I'd know that nose anywhere. That's John!" said she, referring to a friend of theirs with a rather prominent nose. How funny the human eye is- she genuinely saw a familiar face in the shape of the bird. My cousin was not long in putting her straight about the matter.
They laughed about it for years afterward and never told their friend of his being confused with a baby penguin.

2 comments:

Tarie Sabido said...

The picture for your blog header is beautiful! Really thought-provoking. :)

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Thank you, Tarie! I'm glad you like the picture. It really is my Spouse and myself- at least our shadows, with a different perspective! It was taken in Ireland in Springtime.

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