A Ten-Minute Discovery

Today my schedule was chock-full of errands and preparations for a class. I thought there wasn't time in the day for drawing, but I tucked my nature journal under one arm and toted it along, as I often do.  During one of my stops, I took 10 minutes to breathe under an inviting pine forest, and found this huge, orange slug slithering gracefully over the forest floor.  It appears to be the Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus), a European species.

I was mesmerized by its graceful transport over the pine needle-strewn forest floor, and by the way its slimy body accumulated short, spiky spruce needles, especially at the tail end. Watching the slug twist and turn back on itself so smoothly and elegantly, like a dancer, rivaled my delight in watching its antennae-like tentacles shrink and extend as it sensed the ground it passed over.  Fascinating!