Love this little one – Photo: L. Weikel
Skulk, Leash, or Earth
I feel like the title of this post would make a great title of a book. Skulk, leash, or earth. It’s difficult to conjure any kind of visual representation of what this possibly could mean. At least, it is for me.
At best, I could imagine – perhaps – Spartacus needing to be placed on a leash if I caught him skulking around somewhere on the earth. You know – skulking where he shouldn’t be skulking. If you ask me, skulking always engenders suspicion, so a leash could definitely be warranted.
At worst, I feel like these three words have absolutely no cohesion to them at all. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were haphazardly harvested by opening three disparate books at random and plucking the first word that jumped off the page.
Yes, actually, that feels like the most likely scenario of how skulk, leash, and earth came to be hanging out together.
I look at these three words and think, “Nope. I’ve got nothing.”
And Yet…
All three have a common denominator, a shared connection that links them all together. What is that connection? FOX. And no, not the television network, either. Each of those words is how one might refer to a group of foxes.
Then as I was sitting here contemplating what I was going to write tonight, a fox yipped a loud, sharp howl just outside our front door. One single yip – so who knows whether there’s a skulk out there. But it did remind me of the tab I’ve had open in my browser for days. The tab with the link to the Wikipedia entry that references these three words.
I’ve wanted to write for weeks about the leash of foxes that live across the road from us. Now is my opportunity. If only they stayed as cute and fuzzy as this little one.
As I wrap up tonight’s post, I have to share a rabbit hole I unexpectedly fell into as I attempted to close with one last reference to an earth of foxes. A light bulb went off somewhere in the recesses of my brain and I wondered if there could possibly be any connection between a group of foxes being called an earth and Eartha Kitt’s name, given that a baby fox is often called a kit. Was there some sly, foxy connection here?
Hahahaha – just as I wrote that, another fox has started yipping.
Close up – Photo: L. Weikel
The Eartha Connection
No, there’s no actual connection between Eartha Kitt and foxes – other than perhaps her foxy demeanor. BUT – interestingly enough, just in doing a quick search, I discovered that her daughter, Kitt, just published a memoir, Eartha and Kitt: A Daughter’s Love Story in Black and White* that was released this month.
I love the genre of memoir. And considering the state of racial awareness (or collective realization of the lack thereof) in our country at the moment, I have to wonder if my musings were breadcrumbs leading me to discover this book for a reason.
It was certainly a circuitous route. Then again, why did I leave that tab open all this time, with the vague intention of writing this post?
*affiliate link
(T-191)