Slow and Steady



Slow and steady wins the race...
"I like your pin. What is it? A turtle?"
"She wears turtle pins. Have you heard the story behind it?"
"No, I haven't."
"Tell her the meaning behind your turtle pin."
"Nursing school is really tough. In class, I repeadedly told my students not to give up, that slow and steady wins the race. The students started giving me turtle gifts as a reminder, and now I have a collection of turtles."
"That's a great reminder."
Persistence, no doubt, is an admirable quality but I've always wondered if the slow turtle actually wins the race. He crosses the finish line but does he win the trophy? I read that box turtles travel no further than one mile in their life time--slow and steady.
At Callaway Gardens Discovery Center, visitors can feed fish, and theoretically feed turtles, from the bridge. The fish quickly snatch whatever hits the water before the turtle slowly turns his head. But, obviously the turtles are surviving and healthy. And they keep trying. Every now and then, the pellet lands just right.
Slow and steady wins.
~ LowTide explorer, Carolyn Fjeran


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"War of the rubies ..."

Image
LowTide Morning - August 25, 2018 "War of the rubies ..." On my deck, a cherry tomato is climbing, clinging to life inside a wire cage. The vine looks like sin, but the hummingbirds love perching on the top of the cage as if they are king of the hill. Male hummingbirds are aggressive and territorial. I wonder, do birds have testosterone? I have a couple of ruby-throated hummers going at it in my backyard. "Your mama..." "I know you are, but what am I?" The fight is on. They dart, dive, twist, and smack talk. I just refilled the feeder yesterday. There is plenty of nectar for all. For now. But they don't understand that there is an endless supply. I suppose they fight for what they fear is expendable. I was about to say there is no need for all this fighting. But who knows what tomorrow will hold; I might forget to refill the feeder. Yes, that has been known to happen. Don't judge. Just as children fighting for love and attention, hummers don't ...
Read more

PIECES OF A PUZZLE

Image
January 31, 2016 Ann Crammond, second executive director of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, was looking forward to a post-retirement trip to the Antarctica. The trip was scheduled one year after her 11 year tenure as executive director. She was an avid horticulturist featured on Atlanta's WXIA TV "Noonday Gardener." In her lighthearted style, she quipped that she was looking forward to the Antarctica because, "No one would ask her to identify any plants." Understood. There are thousands of plants in cultivation and exponentially more in the wild. Gardeners are prone to share bits and pieces of a plant hoping for a positive ID. Horticulturists can be like a dog with a bone if they cannot immediately provide an answer. Plant keys are an old tried-and-true method, but slow and laborious. Today, one of my favorite gardeners presented a lovely clipping of a shrub neither of us could name. Next came an internet search for a plant key. In the process, I found an intrigu...
Read more