Biophilia Babes

I love dictionaries, and word-of-the-day, and thesauruses, and Scrabble, and all things wordy, except people who talk a lot.

I am perfectly ok with being a word nerd and a misanthrope. They go well together.

The best word of the day from the last week was biophilia:
bahy-oh-fil-ee-uh, ‐feel-yuh] –noun
a love of life and the living world; the affinity of human beings for other life forms.
 
Note that this definition does not say an affinity for other humans. So I can safely say I'm a biophiliac and not lose my misanthropric status.
 
But maybe it could also be interpreted as the affinity FOR humans by other life forms, as evidenced by this close encounter of the armadillo kind by The Whee.
 

 
 
We were wandering down by the pond when six of these little critters came running by, causing waves in the grass and squeals from the Whee. Is he wondering where to get shoes like that? 
 
Regardless of what you think of armadillos in general (makes holes in your yard, pests, varmints, etc.), surely you can't deny these miniature tanks of nature are cute.  And they weren't at all afraid of us.
 
These instruments of lawn destruction were curious and energetic and such excellent life forms. This  is the type of moment I dream about for my child. We tend to categorize creatures based on their convenience to our modern, mostly urban life. I want the Whee to understand that every creature has beauty and value.
 
The Whee was in wonder that a wild creature came to investigate her. That they shared a moment. A biophiliac exchange.
 
And that's never, ever, a bad thing.
 

 
      Hey girl!  What that writing  on your shoes?  Do you speak 'dillo?