Beauty IS the Beast

You see them on sugary-sweet stationary…

Dainty doilies…

And cutesy cards for Valentine’s Day.

Swans.

 

You’d think that they’d be sissy-birds.

Think again.

They’re big…

Six feet long from bill to bottom BIG – with an 8-feet-of-awesome wingspan.

They’re fast…

Eighty – yes, 80 as in EIGHT-ZERO – miles per hour fast.

And they are, without a doubt, very, very BAD…

Rumor has it that university rowers in Ireland cancel practice if there are swans on the river. And just last May in England, a swan dubbed “Mr. Asbo” had to be whisked away in the dark of night after three weeks of battering and biting boaters on the Cambridge River.

Kinda makes you want to re-think that sweet, swanny Valentine, doesn’t it?

But hey, I love these contrary and contradictory birds.

And I’m lucky enough to live in a place where they while away their winters.

So, I am happy to report that the trumpeters arrived this week with their customary raucous ruckus…

That doesn’t sound anything like a band of trumpets –

but more like a clarinet combo with a really bad case of the hiccups.

Hmmm…

I guess it’s time to put up that boat.

 

PROMPT: It’s all about paradoxical picture books today. We’re talking Bad-A bunnies, pushy pandas, uptight unicorns, and tantrum-throwing teddy bears. “Go ahead,” says cranky Koala. “Make my day.”