This week's Monday Listicles topic is just too cool to do only one list on it, so I give you TWO lists!
Thank you Stasha for picking such a fabulous topic!
Now I know two lists are a lot to read,
so grab your cup of coffee (or smoothie in my case)
so grab your cup of coffee (or smoothie in my case)
and settle in to my animal kingdom.
Ten Wild Nights
(from when I lived in the rainforest)
1. First night in the bunkhouse - A bat lands on my bunk mate's face in the middle of the night. Thank God I was in the bottom bunk.
2. First night (one hour later) - A scorpion crawls into bed with me, causing utter horror among everyone sleeping within 30 feet of me.
3. First night alone in my hut - A cockroach the size of my thumb is attacked on my ceiling by a scorpion, while I laid huddled inside my sleeping bag, watching it with owl-struck eyes of fascination and fear.
4. Two days after a full-moon night - A mountain lion devours its prey on top of my hut, crunching on bones and clawing my aluminum roof.
5. A black night with only clouds - A local man (unidentified) creeps about my hut outside, stalking me or the capuchin monkeys, I do not know.
6. A night when sleep was needed - A swarm of daddy-long-legs covers an entire wall inside of my hut, the wall that my bed laid against.
7. A night full of drinks and discoteque - A tarantula awaits my arrival on top of my pillow, which I don't notice until I am reclining backwards in a buzzed state of mind.
8. My bladder infection night - Women of the valley come to my hut with a tea made from medicinal plants of the rainforest, which gave me enough relief to crawl out of my hut and into a ride to the hospital five hours away.
9. My worst night - I trap The Mother Rat, after she has pooped and crawled all over me for weeks, and plan to kill her the next morning because she keeps returning to my hut after I release her each time.
10. My last night - I cry, knowing I will miss the rhythm of nature I have become a part of and the instincts I have finally discovered. On my final morning I wake up to six snakes dangling down in my face from my ceiling.
Are you still here?
If my wild nights didn't scare you off, here's a second treat for you:
10 Whoots to My Bloggin' Beasties
Whoot Whoot!
Whoot Whoooooo!
1. Stasha of The Good Life - Stasha encourages her readers to dig deep and get in touch with our soulful animal through her writing, her photography, and her comments.
2. Kat of Mama's Losin' It - Kat's weekly writing prompts and her own personal posts bring out the Mama Bear in me, making me feel the need to protect children all over the world.
3. Alison of Mama Wants This - Alison's heart and soul is poured into her blog. Her posts make me want to stand on top of a mountain and say, "I am She-Ra!" or something like that.
4. Germaine of Kiddothings - Germaine's blog is a treasure trove of richness that inspires the creative wild side of me.
5. Abby of Abby Off the Record - I miss my connection with nature, and Abby's blog and her former blog, both keep me connected to the rhythms in life.
6. Angie of Angie Mizzell - The woman inside of me has been encouraged to set herself free and to know that my life is waiting and I need to keep moving forward with change.
7. Jen of Runner Mom - If blogging doesn't get you out of your seat to get outside, Jen certainly will do the job. Every time I read her blog I feel my feet twitching to get moving!
8. Adriel of The Mommyhood Memos - Adriel's beautifully written posts connect me deeply with the experiences of being a mother and a woman.
9. Kate of On The Go Momma - Kate's posts on this blog and on her second blog, Mothers Central Blog, always help me to see the big picture of our whole world and how we step through it each day as women, as mothers, as wives, as citizens.
10. Mother Nature - Okay, I know she doesn't necessarily blog, but she is right there with my children and husband for inspiring me to write daily on my blog! And in case you missed it, she also inspired me to publish these four issues of The Motherhood Muse, just some light literary reading for you now that you've finished these two lists!!
22 comments:
Ack! Kimberl, your rainforest 'pals' would have kept me awake all night.
Great list of bloggers! Some of my favs also!
Hmm... where did the 'y' go, Kimberly-with-a-y? Sorry about that. :)
LOL, I didn't even notice :) Our eyes get a little tired after reading blogs!
I would've been awake all night too in your rainforest, wondering what critters done lurked out there in them woods. (-:
PS: Congrats on being featured on Blogher. I tried - and failed - to leave you a comment up there as I've forgotten my Blogher login info. probably until after I wake up and grab a coffee tomorrow.
Okay, now I'm feeling all itchy! I'm impressed you survived all that without running screaming into the night. (Although I guess that would have been out of the frying pan and into the fire!)
It's funny, but out of all of those animal encounters in the rainforest, the one that scared me the most was the stalker. It happened several nights. I think generally it was men out hunting the monkeys (they stole food and caused problems; though hunting them was illegal), but I did run into a couple of men and older boys who did try to see inside my casita and the casitas of other female naturalists, at night. Not fun :(
So you and Scorpio became allies in the end... What a great list, I love reading your rainforest adventures. I went to Kenya on a mission and lived out pretty wild but I don't think wetlands are my thing. Very busy out there...think I would rather be chased by an elephant then a scorpion.
You second list made me cry. Thank you Kimberly. Your blog is my feeding ground for beautiful writing and story telling. Truly.
PS As for that man, scary! But I think I am reaching a point in my womanhood where I would be a bit disappointed to find out the only reason a man was outside my hut was to catch a monkey...
Aw, thanks for the mention! I'm glad I bring out the 'wild side' in you...hahah!!
Your 1st list is truly a treasure - how many of us would ever get to experience that!! Priceless! Thank goodness you survived it to blog about it today.
I must check out some of the blogs in your 2nd list. Thanks for sharing them!
I'm so glad you ended this post with the second list. I was slightly freaked out after reading the first list.
Well, you almost scared me off with your first list, I think I would have crawled into a suit of armor for the next year and never moved. Yikes!! The first time I found a scorpion in my bed or anywhere in the room, I would have been booking the nearest Hyatt.
Loved the second list and have checked most of them out and now have a good reason to see a few more. Really amazing women.
Oh, man, your wild nights would've driven me insane! You are one brave woman, you truly are.
LOL, I like the idea of a suit of armor. I think my "suit of armor" during that time period was my pseudo-belief that I was invincible in my early-20's, that and the fact that I found it all rather fascinating yet scary, like a big funhouse that you want to go through but know you're in for a scary time.
I am NOT commenting on the rainforest part. You are one brave lady! Also apprently an over-acheiver with your TWO lists. Nice!
The scariest among the beasts is the stalker! Who knows what he would have done! A close second would be the R.A.T!
Thank you, Kim! You're awesome.
Oh my goodness..thanks for the shout-out! You're so sweet :)
And I really should have taken your advice and NOT read your first list. There is NO WAY I could ever endure living in the rain forest...I wouldn't have survived one night. I'm trying to erase this from my memory, but all I keep seeing is bats on faces and snakes dangling from the ceiling...gross.
Can I be honest here? Just reading about all those animals during your time in that cottage makes my skin crawl!!
I love the list of your bloggers. There are a quite a few I nodded in agreement.
Two lists! Though those jungle pals are going to have me checking my bed for snakes, bats, and critters, oh my! :>
Jen, I had to tease my mom NOT to bring her can of Raid with her when my family traveled to the rainforest to visit me. Unfortunately, they observed a huge green vine snake slithering into their cabina room but to my mom's credit, she stayed for the whole time we had planned for their visit :)
Kim, Thank you SO much for listing me and both the blogs I write for. I'm so glad to have happened upon your blog and always look forward to reading your posts whenever I get a chance to catch up with my Google Reader :)
Aw, thanks friend!! Means a lot to me. <3
Wonderful lists...your first list tells me that no way on god's green (and creepycrawly) earth am I designed to be an explorer. I wish it were otherwise but after the first night I would've been headed for the airport. Or the Hilton, whichever was closer. I am the creature known as "sissy." Alas.
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