James Bay Culture Blog #5

Dear James Bay-ophiles,

If you are anything like me, then you have probably taken sweet pleasure in a golden James Bay afternoon...

Do you recall the fresh sea air mingling with the scents of a thousand varieties of floral blossoms? Can your envision the easy sunlight tinting green trees with an aura of pure treasure? Surely, you must recollect the gentle hum of yard sales, spilling from the quaint driveways into picaresque streets, decorated proudly with... horse dung.

We are lucky, in James Bay, to have this plentiful opportunity to experience the fertility of Mother Nature. Acting in my capacity as the Voice of our Community – only thanks to your kind permission, dear reader -- I am overjoyed to offer our gratitude to the many local operators of rustic horse-and-carriage tours.

When I spot a fresh heap & puddle, I simply cannot restrain myself from rushing into the road with wild abandon and bending down to inspect this precious pile of symbolism. In fact, though you might not believe this, the first few times... I even had to prod the warm stuff just to assure myself that I wasn't dreaming.

Our visitors are occasionally perplexed. They do not immediately comprehend our great love for manure... but they will learn. When you actually think about it, it makes perfect sense -- after all, isn't it exactly what the exquisite painters of the High Renaissance period did? Into each scene they placed a human skull, just to remind people about death & decay. The Italians called this “memento mori” -- a memento of our ever-present mortality. Here in the Bay we do the same thing with equine feces. It helps us to remember that the fertile earth is only a few feet below the hard, lifeless pavement -- and not so many years ago all these cafes and apartment buildings were functional farms and gorgeous dirt roads through the forest.

Life rises out of decay. It's the organic way. Today's filthy offal is truly tomorrow's prize-winning roses! We are so blessed to have plenty of these reminders of fecundity – these “memento manuri” -- everywhere we look.

It is not out of place – it defines our place.
It is not ugly – it is the image of Nature herself.
It does not stink... unlike the undigested gibber-jabber that this horse-and-carriage operators spew at the bovine, faux-interested touristing families. Oh, really? You say the lieutenant governor's third cousin lived here very briefly before it was partly repainted in 1973? -- Tell me more...

Now THAT (BLEEP) is disgusting!

Your local cultural explorer,
Pascal.

Value's Test: Is our local tour guide drivel worse than horse manure?
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