Portals

When I did the Solar Walk (it was back in November), I first walked through the woods for a bit, before deciding that it was unsafe for myself, my little dog, and the critters around us.  (I nearly walked into a spider web that housed a tiny black widow.  I like nature, but I also like it better from a distance sometimes.)  While I was walking through the spider-infested woods, I saw some interesting things:

An interesting looping branch

Were vagrants trying to build themselves a house here?

I had to climb up something like this…

This thing looks like something from Lost, but it’s probably just part of the sewer system. Yeah, we’re talking about sewers again.

After managing to step out of the spider’s lair onto a more civilized sidewalk, I continued walking, my new and improved plan being to walk along a boardwalk further down on 8th Avenue that I’d driven past countless times in the two and a half years I’ve lived in Gainesville.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, really) the first boardwalk was shut down due to unsafe conditions as they are conducting repairs.  Fortunately for me, there was a second boardwalk further east that I could explore.

The second boardwalk…

This interesting, abandoned looking house was on the edge of the woods.

Unfortunately for me, the boardwalk ended all too soon on a rather ordinary-looking cul-du-sac, the one point of interest being the rather abandoned looking house on the edge of the woods.  There’s always that house in every neighborhood…

I returned to 8th Avenue after taking a few photos, and decided to continue walking until I was in line with the end of the Solar Walk, then cross to the South Side of the street to take it in.  But before I reached that point, I had to stop several times to capture more of those “Tiki” looking spiders that I find so interesting.

I know it’s probably a “Banana Spider”, but I think it should be called a “Tiki Spider.”

During one of my photograph-taking pauses, I noticed a spot where the air itself seemed to shimmer.  It only lasted for a moment, but it was a sort of “Matrix” moment.

What if, cloaked in ordinary objects, there really were portals into other dimensions?  What if the creepy-crawlies of the world were placed to guard the entrance against mortals?  What if stepping through those portals could take people to a different place, or time, or reality?

I started to think of some of the random things I’ve seen that have caught my eye.  It’s rather delightful to let yourself believe, for just a moment, that things like this:

could lead to another world.  Less delightful would be if this:

were an indication of another realm.

The human race has ever been fascinated by the possible existence of “mythical creatures.”  We look out to the heavens and imagine the existence of a Creator God, who may or may not be benevolent, and may or may not be interested in the affairs of the earth creatures.  Or perhaps we envision a visit by an intelligent alien species that will either terrorize us or befriend us, depending on our level of xenophobia.

Legends are woven around the Loch Ness Monster, Yetis, Maera, Djinn, the Mothman, and countless other creatures that plague or bless mankind.  Every culture has its own brand of superstition about how to ward off things that prey upon us, or attract the things that befriend us.

Many of those creatures were most likely invented to explain things we couldn’t comprehend, to give rules and boundaries to help us feel more in control when something went “bump” in the night, to empower the powerless.  Other creatures were invented by some to obtain power over others.  While we can’t exactly disprove such creatures, we have no evidence that these creatures exist.

Then again, there are so many wondrous things that do exist, and we are discovering new species and creatures on our planet, in rain forests or in the depths of the oceans, perhaps belief in the unknown is not so illogical as some believe.