Flamingo!

Actress Allison Janney inspires me to think of shrimp.

Actually, this is a very logical thought process —for me, at least.

Friday, among other chores I cleaned my pipes. A few weeks ago Donald gave me a beautiful set of churchwardens he bought on E-bay and I had not taken time to clean them.

For me, pipe cleaning involves an elaborate ritual with a box full of specialized probes and tools and blades arranged in a specific order. Along with a bottle of Scotch whisky.

It’s a task only to be done outside because it generates a lot of trash and debris.

No, I don’t drink the Scotch.

I use the whiskey to cut tobacco residue in the stem and bowl of a pipe..

Thursday night Ginny and I watched a dvd of West Wing programs. This, now canceled, tv series starred Allison Janney as C.J. Craig, press secretary to the President of the United States.

Ms Janney proves that a grown woman can be intelligent, powerful, human, romantic, alluring and sexy — unlike the brainless, pre-pubescent jiggle bimbos featured on most tv shows as sex symbols; they have no idea what it’s all about!

Ms Janney does!

Anyhow, in one of the West Wing episodes we watched, the Secret Service gave C.J. Craig the code name Flamingo.

A couple of years ago, our youngest daughter, Patricia, gave us a pink plastic flamingo for our garden.

No Florida yard is complete without one.

Naturally we placed the lovely yard ornament at the base of a flamingo plant. We have a dozen or so of these flamingo plants spotted around the yard.

As I cleaned my pipes a few feet away from the plant thinking pure, noble, Christian thoughts about Ms Janney, I remembered a trip to the zoo.

We were looking at a herd of real live flamingos when the ornithologist explained that flamingos are actually white birds — but as they eat shrimp, some chemical in the shrimp turns the bird’s feathers pink

Over the years shrimp have played a major roll in my life, both physically and spiritually. Our family would have died without them. This importance is reflected in my journal entries over the years. Here is a link to a few selections from my journal showing how God has used shrimp in my life; these selections tell of grueling poverty and hardship underpinned by deep joy.

You can also find it in the right-hand column of my website (www.cowart.info)under the title Shrimp & Dog Days Of Summer.

Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp. Shrimp turn pink when dropped in hot water — and speaking of pink and hot, here’s another web photo of Ms Janney at an awards ceremony: