Guppies
My college dance buddy grew up on Marlow Avenue. We would visit her Mom and Dad. They had bowls of happy guppies on the front window like some people grew African violets or Philodendrons. The tanks were filled with water ferns, snails and squirming little fish. The front window faced south, toward the river, so the sun exposure was perfect heat and light without extra electric heaters for the broods that erupted frequently.
The house was the original house that their grand-parents lived in, with pebbles in the stucco, stonework on the porch, and wood handrails for the porch steps. A family has since put vinyl siding over all that, since it is too hard to keep that all clean and neat looking...or it is just too old-fashioned, but the house still stands.
I also recall a little black and white dog, a Boston terrier? I don't think his name was Buddy, but they called him that, because he would run up and jump and try to lick your face. "Stop that, Buddy!" Charlie would say, laughing, hoping the dog would get you in the nose anyway. Charlie never stopped laughing, or smiling. He reminded me the Dad from "Father Knows Best", which I loved to watch:
But I loved to watch the guppies in those bowls, and hear him lovingly tell about how he had to find another bowl for the newest batch of young ones, since they kept multiplying. And, of course, once he sent me home with a bowl, seaweed, pebbles, and some fish. I enjoyed taking care of them, it calmed me to see them swim around in their space. I think we all need to understand the peace that watching such fluid movement can transmit to us, instead of watching the rapid rush of the Television, the machine gun race of the crowd, the disturbances of heart shattering noise.
For the Fourth we visited some friends from when Weslee was a baby. We talked and got reacquainted. I saw a small guppy tank. I thought back to fifty years ago. I thought of Jan, Dorothy, and Charlie.
My friend fed her fish. She has a lot of fish in her tank, they keep multiplying.
"If you ever want to get rid of a few, I will be glad to take a pair off your hands," I suggest.
"Oh, I'll give you one that's ready to pop right NOW!", she says!
"You're kidding?"
"No, I have so many already, and I can't get a larger tank. It's all I want to take care of."
She gets a ZipLoc bag and chooses two pair, fully ready to give birth, the two male with flowing colorful fantails, and puts them into a bit of water. "Do you want some stuff, too?"
"Sure."
She brings out tubs of fish toys, and we laugh over the accessories she has, which she used for a huge aquarium she no longer has. She now changes out the toys from time to time, but still has too many. I get a pagoda, pebbles, water conditioner, food, small bowl, and a few other things.
My dancing buddy,Jan, danced all over Europe in her quest to become a professional dancer. I visited with her family from time to time. She returned to Cincinnati and taught high school. She died in a plane crash at an early age, and then I returned to Cincinnati in 1971 and took her teaching position. It was very sad.
This morning I looked on Craigslist for a small aquarium for the new guppies. I may get one for a few dollars, and put it in my front window, like Charlie did.
I am totally surprised by the guppies. There are about twenty babies in the ZipLoc bag with the four adults. I quickly separate them, since I know moms can be cannibalistic.
Not just guppies, a lot of memories for me!
P.S. So I return from a trip to Kroger's, and Weslee is yelling at me that the babies have escaped! Sure enough, a shallow puddle of water seeped onto the black stove, and about ten tiny baby guppies are swimming around on the top of my stove. I cannot figure out how to get them back into the bowl, but Weslee has a plan. He will take the flat edged measuring spoon, scoop them up one by one, and put them back into the bag. I can hardly see them, but he patiently and slowly gets them back into the bag floating on top of the bowl, which we then dump into the bowl. Our losses are few thanks to the fast thinking and careful work of the fish rescue team!
The house was the original house that their grand-parents lived in, with pebbles in the stucco, stonework on the porch, and wood handrails for the porch steps. A family has since put vinyl siding over all that, since it is too hard to keep that all clean and neat looking...or it is just too old-fashioned, but the house still stands.
I also recall a little black and white dog, a Boston terrier? I don't think his name was Buddy, but they called him that, because he would run up and jump and try to lick your face. "Stop that, Buddy!" Charlie would say, laughing, hoping the dog would get you in the nose anyway. Charlie never stopped laughing, or smiling. He reminded me the Dad from "Father Knows Best", which I loved to watch:
 |
| Robert Young as the Dad |
But I loved to watch the guppies in those bowls, and hear him lovingly tell about how he had to find another bowl for the newest batch of young ones, since they kept multiplying. And, of course, once he sent me home with a bowl, seaweed, pebbles, and some fish. I enjoyed taking care of them, it calmed me to see them swim around in their space. I think we all need to understand the peace that watching such fluid movement can transmit to us, instead of watching the rapid rush of the Television, the machine gun race of the crowd, the disturbances of heart shattering noise.
For the Fourth we visited some friends from when Weslee was a baby. We talked and got reacquainted. I saw a small guppy tank. I thought back to fifty years ago. I thought of Jan, Dorothy, and Charlie.
My friend fed her fish. She has a lot of fish in her tank, they keep multiplying.
"If you ever want to get rid of a few, I will be glad to take a pair off your hands," I suggest.
"Oh, I'll give you one that's ready to pop right NOW!", she says!
"You're kidding?"
"No, I have so many already, and I can't get a larger tank. It's all I want to take care of."
She gets a ZipLoc bag and chooses two pair, fully ready to give birth, the two male with flowing colorful fantails, and puts them into a bit of water. "Do you want some stuff, too?"
"Sure."
She brings out tubs of fish toys, and we laugh over the accessories she has, which she used for a huge aquarium she no longer has. She now changes out the toys from time to time, but still has too many. I get a pagoda, pebbles, water conditioner, food, small bowl, and a few other things.
My dancing buddy,Jan, danced all over Europe in her quest to become a professional dancer. I visited with her family from time to time. She returned to Cincinnati and taught high school. She died in a plane crash at an early age, and then I returned to Cincinnati in 1971 and took her teaching position. It was very sad.
This morning I looked on Craigslist for a small aquarium for the new guppies. I may get one for a few dollars, and put it in my front window, like Charlie did.
I am totally surprised by the guppies. There are about twenty babies in the ZipLoc bag with the four adults. I quickly separate them, since I know moms can be cannibalistic.
P.S. So I return from a trip to Kroger's, and Weslee is yelling at me that the babies have escaped! Sure enough, a shallow puddle of water seeped onto the black stove, and about ten tiny baby guppies are swimming around on the top of my stove. I cannot figure out how to get them back into the bowl, but Weslee has a plan. He will take the flat edged measuring spoon, scoop them up one by one, and put them back into the bag. I can hardly see them, but he patiently and slowly gets them back into the bag floating on top of the bowl, which we then dump into the bowl. Our losses are few thanks to the fast thinking and careful work of the fish rescue team!
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