Wednesday, December 06, 2006

An ermine

...appeared outside my kitchen window just as I was eating my celebratory Cream of Wheat!


Yes, it was a great day in the studio. Anyhow, H photographed the ermine while I watched and ate. The ermine was not too popular with the birds. The chickadees and gray jays ganged up on it, but it was the hairy woodpecker that carried out the assault. The ermine raced around the yard, up and down the willows, attacking and being attacked, until it finally doubled back to the willow and poplar just outside the kitchen window. There it feasted on suet.


Certain this ermine was a sign, I consulted my trusty Dictionary of Symbols.

Ermine

Purity and chastity -- a virtue that it personifies in art. Apart from the white fur, the link with purity was reinforced by the notion that stoats died if their white winter coats (ermine) were sullied. Ermine trimming on the robes or caps of nobles, judges or teachers has the symbolism of moral or intellectual purity.

Hm. I wonder if ermine trimming on a blog carries the same symbolism. By the way, the ermine seemed to approve of my celebratory feast.

13 comments:

GM said...

Ailsa has gone positively feral with the cuteness of the nose-licking shot. I'm serious, she's practically rolling in it.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! :) Ya, it was absolutely adorable and fascinating and fierce and amazingly fast. I'm a huge fan of the weasel family and have seen my fair share, but never for that length of time. Thank goodness H was around. I wouldn't have been able to get a decent shot of it due to its speed. Only after it popped up from its hole did we notice all its tracks and holes around the yard. It's been here a while.

Anonymous said...

How wonderful! It looks a lot like our ferrets, especially our one little one who's almost pure white.

Bravo to H on the wonderful shots.

Anita Daher said...

So pretty!

Anonymous said...

Hey, nice marmot!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, Brenda. My compliments to H. So if cream of wheat gets you an ermine, what would Sunny Boy get you?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks, Amy! I'd love to meet your ferrets one day. I read your Christmas ferret post. I didn't realize they're that playful. I wouldn't be able to keep up to them.

Thanks, Anita!

Ha ha, Rhett.

Thanks, Leona! Sunny Boy! That just might get me a wolverine! Now that would be cool.

Mind you, I think that little ermine brought me good luck. Today was a mighty fine day in the studio.

Anita Daher said...

Very cool! Glad to hear it :-) Perhaps we should wish lucky ermines on all our friends this Christmas!

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks, Anita! Great idea. Lucky ermines to all!

Apparently Rhett's comment went over my head. To that I say huh? Heh? What?

Anonymous said...

I was referencing The Big Lebowski. There is a scene in the movie where some bad guys come into the Dude's (whose real name is Lebowski) house with an attack ferret and the Dude says "Hey, nice Marmot".

Phew, lots of italics.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Well. I'm not exactly known for my pop culture knowledge. I consulted a primer of popular movies recently sent to me by my pop culture mentor, but that movie isn't there. Hm.

Crafty Missus said...

thinking of an earlier conversation... how long would it take you to get out of your pants if an ermine ran up your leg?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! :) Let's hope I never find out. With my luck I'd end up in the paper. I can see the headlines now:

Poet fails to weasel out of public nudity charge

Town not over the moon

The bat and the weasel: Schmidt goes from Aesop to ass out