Snakes in the Trees at the Richmond Vegetarian Festival!!
E and I decided late in the afternoon to take a jaunt over to the Azalea Gardens and see what the Veggiefest was all about as neither of us had been before. We parked on Bellevue and walked from there, making our way thru the greenery, following the sound of music. A band played on a nifty stage with rows of folding chairs in front of it, children were running about, leashed dogs panted, strained and sniffed, and we began to explore. As expected, there were plenty of yoga/massage things, Buddhist stuff, all-natural this and that, a tent that apparently showed explicit videos inside...of farm animals, and I expect not sexy stuff with farm animals. There was a warning of graphic nature and no children. We proceeded the other way thru a variety of smells in the air from patchouli, to incense, to good food smells, to burnt food smells, to barnyardish smells. E got food from the Indian place, I got yummies from Ginger Thai. We sat in chairs under a tree near the general picnic area. Kids chased each other around and around. It was all quite pleasant.
We finished up and decided (by "we decided" what I mean is that I asked imploringly, since I had no cash...) to get a funnel cake. It had to be done. And what it was was a funnel cake. We walked around more and noshed. We had just passed thru the storytelling and face painting areas, and were heading back to the food area when E passed in front of me from my left to my right and then we were both startled by a THUNK sound and we looked to the ground and saw what initially appeared to be a rubber snake. We looked up at each other dumbly, or perhaps quizically, and then up at the branches way above us and then back down to the ground. Closer inspection confirmed that the snake was in fact not made of rubber but of snake-flesh and had the requisite flickering tongue and snaky movement. We then realised that it had fallen from the tree. Or perhaps the sky. But probably the tree. At that point an older woman carrying something mysterious inside a large opaque plastic box, took an interest and expressed concern that someone would run over or otherwise harm the snake. She suggested one of us pick it up by the tail but then withdrew that suggestion. She left. I found a stick of suitable length and strength and nudged the tapered end underneath the possibly endangered reptile and airlifted him/her into the safety of a tangle of bushes and poison oak.
Damndest thing. Though I was raised a Southern Baptist, there was never any snakehandling in any of our services that I recall. However seeing that I am currently an ordained minister, I may now add snakehandling to my list of credentials. Or at the very least snake-sticking.
