JULY 20th: Germy Feather

IMG00654.jpg, originally uploaded by Kikigill.

When did it become germy and gross to play with feathers? I remember finding feathers as a little girl. It would be a rare treasure, a real find. I would feel the soft down against my lips (YUCK!). I would run the feather the right way and the wrong way through my fist (YUCK AGAIN). I clearly remember the feeling of pinching a feather between my fingers and feeling the fibers twists sideways. It's hard to explain, but they are like a series of flat strands that are all lined up on the center vein of the feather. If you squeeze and roll gently enough, they all tip, just so, and you can feel them click sideways. Weird memory. Gross memory.

Anyhow, I found a feather and the only way I would pick it up was to gingerly between two fingers, like I was holding a piece of rotten food, and immediately put it down and scrub my hands with soap and hot water. Far different from the loving caress I used to give it...YUCK!