A question can be a fragile thing.  A shy, first-step-out-of-shelter-and-into-the-meadow thing. A troubled, I-don’t-want-to-look-stupid-but-I-want-to-know sort of a thing. A query that slipped out when the mind’s gate was only open a hairsbreadth. A rogue furrowing of the brow in an unguarded face.

And when the question is a delicate one, you have to be quick to answer, or the question will slip away. You can’t be too forceful. Sometimes you have to pretend that you aren’t surprised that the question has appeared at all.  That this question at this time is the most natural of all things; exactly what was wanted; yes, of course, how interesting. We should think about that without delay. Because a question, answered immediately and in kind, will live and grow and venture out again.

There are no answers without questions. No real answers without real questions. No new answers without new questions. The insistent inquisitive may be easier to see, but wild, timid wondering, coaxed from the shadows, may one day lead us to discovery.

Did you happen to see the ads they mailed out for the new Threshold line at Target?  And did you happen to notice the source of some of the inspiration that appeared at their door?  The ad is quite lovely. The beauty of the wild outdoors and the order of the domesticated indoors are brought together in glorious, if fanciful, harmony.  Note for example, the swan swimming in the footed bathtub (that “little special something”).

But it was the images of women that caught my eye and made me wonder about the message that was being conveyed, because these women are taking their cues from Walt Disney.

Let’s take a quick look. First in the bedroom…

IAnd then in the kitchen:

Now, if there’s already a swan in your bathtub and a bird in the bedroom, there’s nothing strange about a deer in the kitchen.  But look at this woman’s feet:

The way she’s standing and the dark soles of her shoes make it clear to me that she is becoming one with nature in ways that don’t make me entirely comfortable. On the other hand, maybe if she’s clever, she can get some help cleaning the house.