This is "Herbert the Snail." At least, that's what I named him. Some of you may remember listening to The Music Machine tape (yes, I mean cassette tape) with your kids in the car -- or, as a kid in the car. One of the memorable songs was Patience (Herbert the Snail). Click here to listen to the line from the song that inspired this photo. It starts with Herbert singing in slow snail-speak, "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry...."
Indeed, snails don't hurry. Kathy and I came across Herbert while we were walking around the lake in Vernonia last Saturday. He had just emerged from a shadow, and was ponderously making his way across a patch of sunlight on the lakeside path:
I wanted to get to know Herbert better, so I took some photos at his eye level. He stretched one of his eye spots to the fullest to greet me -- or or maybe he was just looking for obstacles. (It's hard to read a snail's emotions.)
In any case, Herbert provided a vivid example of being unhurried -- a trait it would be good for us all to consider in the midst of our fast-paced lives. :-)
