We have a small dog.  In addition to all of his other household duties such as napping, playing with the kids, sleeping, occasionally barking, chasing toys, and more napping, he has taken on the responsibility of licking people’s feet.  Ewww.  I know.  If you are not a “dog person,” the thought of that is probably repulsive to you.  So I won’t talk about the way he will lick faces and any exposed area of skin if given the opportunity.  He lives to “kiss” people, especially their feet.

I often work in the yard wearing sandals.  I was cutting lilacs to put in a vase, and knowing how our dog likes to savor the flavor of feet, I didn’t even look down when I felt him licking the top of my foot.  I knew he was around my feet, because he is always underfoot, so I wasn’t concerned.  Until the thought occurred to me that his tongue felt unusually cold.  And just when that thought occurred to me, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him several feet away from me, not anywhere near my foot.  I looked down, and this was slithering across my foot!

I screamed.  I am not normally a squeamish, screaming-type person, but there is something about seeing a snake, especially when it is unexpectedly touching me, that makes me downright squeal.  And jump around.  I think it’s the slithering movement and the fact that you can never tell in which direction they are headed.  It is some innate reaction that I have and although I am aware of it, I cannot stop it.  It happens every time I see one unexpectedly, which seems to be at least once a week on warm, spring days.

My son picked it up…

I was okay with that, as long as I didn’t have to hold it.  And then it stuck its little, snake tongue out and I was finished trying to like the snake.  Back to my lilacs because they look pretty, smell heavenly, and do not slither.

There are rattlesnakes in our area, but I have never seen one close to the house.  And I am thankful for that!  Whenever I have seen a snake in the grass, it was a harmless garter snake, which will bite if provoked but will not poison me with venom and, therefore, I will not die if one does bite me.  That I even have this conversation with myself about which snake bites are safe is not something I ever thought would be a part of my daily life in the springtime…I always thought my life would be more “springtime in Paris” and reasoning which flavor macaron to order from Ladurée.

One of the regular flavors, above, or a seasonal flavor, below?  How to decide?I would rather think about macaron flavors than snakes any day!  I would rather look at pictures of macarons than snakes any day.  Of course, I would rather eat a macaron than a snake any day, although I have heard that snake meat tastes like chicken.  But I will never know for sure.

And this spring, if I am not in the kitchen or out in the yard jumping over snakes, you may find me in the woods, day-dreaming of eating Black Forest Macarons in Paris.

Wishing you a day as delicious as the ganache filling between the two crisp, soft and smooth macaron shells!

Bebe