The velocity of the ill, however, is like that of the snail.
~ Emily Dickinson
(Letter to Charles H. Clark, April 1886)
of the snail
The velocity of the ill, however, is like that of the snail.
~ Emily Dickinson
(Letter to Charles H. Clark, April 1886)
Really, that image is from AI? Welp, what do you know!
I was pretty astonished with what the AI app created at my suggestion!
I’m not terribly fond of snails, but that’s a great photo … and Emily, as usual, never fails to impress!
It’s not a photo, Debbie! I described a scene to an artificial intelligence app and this is what it created for me. Pretty close to what I was imagining in my mind…
Really?? That’s practically scary, isn’t it?!
I find it pretty magical but I suppose, like any other technology ever invented, it can be used constructively or destructively.
Your Emily Dickinson quote matches your subject, which subject looks very realistic. NOT a snail at the botanical gardens, but much more! Clearly my tech skills are lacking Barbara!
It’s kind of ironic, later on the day I posted this we took a walk in the botanical garden and happened across three snails climbing up a bare rock. (They will be in my next post.) No tech skills needed, Linda, just tell AI what you have in mind and it takes it from there — amazing!
That is amazing Barbara – I had no idea it was that easy to create a picture like that. I will look forward to seeing your walk with real-life snails. I thought of you this morning. I went grocery shopping and while at the store, there was a huge display about the solar eclipse next month, including the special sunglasses. I was thinking the sunglasses were more fitted like a pair of sunglasses, but it was just a long piece of lightweight cardboard with the two darkened areas where your eyes are. I wear glasses, so I’d have to practice a bit I think. I ended up getting one for $2.00 but I’m not sure I’ll drive to Monroe for the viewing (I’m sure there will be a crowd and it’s a 60-mile round trip) but would try here at the house. I know this is it until 2044.
Now you’ve got me wondering where we should go to observe the eclipse. There are so many tall trees around here… Maybe the farm where we get ice cream in the summer and sit on the porch to watch the sunset. Wonder if others will have the same idea.
I’m thinking people will flock to those spots hours beforehand, kind of like our big fireworks show in Detroit every year. People go along the Detroit River early in the day and claim their space and won’t budge. The farm would be great because you don’t have trees or wires that will obstruct your vision.
The farm has shop there where they sell their own ice cream. It has a huge porch with lots of Adirondack chairs lined up facing west, so you can enjoy your ice cream watching the sun set. So it should be facing the right way for the afternoon sun. And kids will be in school so maybe it won’t be that crowded…
I hope you get there then and also the weather is perfect for the viewing Barbara. It sounds lovely how you describe this farm and ice cream shop. We have a little ice cream shop right at Heritage Park. It is an old house, right on the property, but does sound much nicer than ours.
Your little ice cream shop in the old house sounds lovely, too. We wanted to celebrate the summer solstice sunset at this one last year but it was pouring rain. Maybe this year… Our special glasses arrived yesterday and for some reason I’m having second thoughts. Tim put them on and went out to look at the sun. He wasn’t impressed and said the sun appeared the size of a small dot. Doesn’t seem worth the trouble, maybe. He suggested we do that old trick with letting the sunlight shine through a hole in a piece of cardboard to see the shadow safely on a flat surface. He thinks a lunar eclipse might be more fun to observe. With our luck, it will probably be cloudy that day anyway.
It seems we always have clouds or rain every time there is a unique event – even the space station traveling overhead. It never fails. Did you think the glasses were a bit flimsy Barbara. As I mentioned to you, I didn’t look for them, but saw a huge display of them at the grocery store. So I got a pair, but I thought that solar eye protection would be sturdier too. Is your son using the cardboard-type glasses? I remember seeing how to make the safe viewing cardboard trick, maybe for the last eclipse. The moon might be more fun and safer to view.
Same here, Linda. We’ve missed so many spectacular full moons and lunar eclipses over the years because of clouds! Yes, I think the glasses look pretty flimsy and wonder if they can be trusted. The older I get the more precious my eyes are to me and I don’t want to take any chances. I’ve already got two floaters, one in each eye, and suffer from blepharitis and dry eye. Sigh… I like my new optometrist down here. There is a new technology called OptoMAP retinal imaging she used to get a picture inside my eyes without having to dilate them. What a game changer! She says I have the eyes of someone in their 50s and no sign of cataracts yet — yay!
I feel the same way about my eyes and those glasses Barbara – you only have one pair of eyes. I don’t see them staying on your face properly, plus I wear glasses. I probably should have saved my $2.00. I love OptoMAP and have not had the dilation drops in years. But my former opthalmologist, who retired due to health issues, used the drops. One day my mom and I went for our eye exams – we had the first appointments in the morning. I had taken a vacation day so we could do some enjoy the day after the appointments. But, I had a bad reaction to the drops and my eyes were very fuzzy. My mom didn’t drive and we sat at the office the entire day and the doctor gave me “reversal drops” twice and it did not correct the fuzziness. I was getting very scared. The office closed at 5:00 p.m., so we called our neighbors, a husband and wife, then waited for them in my car. He drove my car home and parked it in the garage for me. It took until the next day to see properly and I vowed not to have drops again, but he closed his office and this office has OptoMAP, so that worked out. The doc shows me his computer screen – he can compare my eye images year to year for the past 15+ years and show me how my eyes look. I have a few floaters, but no cataracts yet either – yay!
I wear glasses, too, and after Tim told me the sun was a tiny dot when he looked through a pair it just seems like it won’t be worth the trouble or the risk. I can’t believe OptoMAP had been around for years! Why did my old optometrist not have that option??? That was a terrible and upsetting day you had waiting for the effects of the dilation to fade. The effects would linger for me, too, but Tim was always there to drive me home. I would always go to bed that night with my vision still blurry. On the other hand, Tim recovers quickly and has no problem driving himself home with the sunglasses. It was fun looking at the pictures of my eyes on the computer screen with the optometrist. Those floaters look like big splinters!
I agree with you about the eclipse viewing. The glasses are flimsy and not safe. I have a 60-mile round trip to go see it as it is the closest total eclipse and there will be a big crowd. I will watch it online later. Maybe that OptoMAP is very expensive so your old optometrist didn’t have it? My original opthalmologist who shut down the entire practice (an optical center, optometrist, two opthalmologists, a specialist and a contact lens doctor) because he could no longer practice due to health reasons was once the head of the Kresge Eye Institute and Chief of Staff at a local hospital. He absolutely did not like “newfangled things” and always warned me not to have laser eye surgery (I was not interested anyway) due to bad side effects. He would not do an eye exam on me unless I had gone without wearing my contact lenses for 48 hours. He was a stickler about that. That was the first and only time I ever had a reaction to the dilation drops. It was very scary. Wait til you have a few years of Optomap and he puts all the images lined up on the computer screen and can compare your eye health year to year. The floaters do look huge … black “sticks” in the red eye. I think it is a wonderful device!
The way AI sees it, a snail has beauty. Now I see beauty in a snail also. I experimented with AI graphics also for my post tomorrow. Going down that rabbit hole …. but it’s darn fun. 🙂
Going down a rabbit hole is a great way to describe the experience, Pam! 🙂 I took a peek at your post and found the whimsical suitcases delightful to look at. It’s so nice to know another blogging friend is having fun with the technology. 😉
Thanks, Barbara. Yes, who knew it was so fun *and easy) to create a “beast” smiley-faced suitcase with a red tag?
Perfect illustrations on demand. Who could ask for anything more? Perhaps the most useful thing since sliced bread. 🙂
Snails are so cute. Isn’t it a shame they like to munch on my garden though?!
Everyone has got to eat! I suppose they are part of a garden’s natural ecosystem, unless, of course, the population gets out of balance. Do your snails munch on the leaves or the flowers or both?
I was thinking more of my veggie garden, Barbara. That’s where they do the most unwelcome damage. If I see them in the flower garden, I just move them and they don’t seem to do any damage there. 🐌
Interesting… I googled a little online and found that most of the snails Australians find in their gardens are not natives. If they are invasive pests it’s no wonder things are out of balance. 🐌
I didn’t know that, Barbara! But really, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s noted online that most snails here are not native. There’s a huge push here about everything being either “native” – which is protected – and “exotic” – which can be got rid of. I don’t like killing snails when I see them, they are too cute! But now I am curious and will investigate what the difference is between native and imported snails! Perhaps those that eat my leafy greens in the garden are “exotics”. 🐌 😅
Just this fall a harmful invasive aquatic snail was found in North Carolina, a relatively large “apple snail” from South America. They’ve been introduced in Europe and Asia and other states here, too. Sigh. It will be interesting to see what you learn about the snails found in your garden. I had no idea there are so many different kinds of them.