The Wind In The Bamboo

Call me silly but one of my favorite books is, Wind in the Willows.  I remember a high school English teacher who, I think, taunted me one day with the book. He wanted to know if anyone thought it a worthwhile book to read. He didn't think much of it. To me the book is about friendships among a group of gay men that Kenneth Grahame must have known intimately. They are all males, Mole runs away from house cleaning and meets Ratty and falls in love with river life and, apparently, Rat. They live together, quite cozy and meet other friends of Rat's. One being Toad, who at one point escapes prison by going in drag as a wash woman.

Women in fact are practically missing from the entire story, except for the old wash woman and some silly field mice, I think they were. How queer is that?  And a sleep over at Badger's, he was a bit of rough wasn't he? Maybe even a tad on the leather side.

Well, the bamboo is going to make way for more area for the vegetable garden. But it comes with a loss because there are families living in the bamboo. A large toad for one, an opossum and a number of birds. They will lose their homes in the thicket of black and golden bamboo and I'll miss them. I'm hoping toad comes out okay, the gardener is bringing a crew this weekend to remove and dig up the area.

And even though there will be sunflowers and string beans to grow up their stalks, tomatoes, squash and melons, I will miss my glimpses of toad and the possum.  I'll miss the chirps of chicks snugged in their nests and their parents bathing in the birdbath before teaching them to find bugs.

I'm sure they'll find homes, I hope so at least, I don't know about toad though, if he is in the ground when they come to chop up the roots of the bamboo, he may not make it but then, who knows, the river isn't far, I could get some tadpoles and put them in the cistern dug into the corner of the garden. Maybe one of the little guys will take his place. I hope so.