Turtles could teach us a thing or two.

These shelled oracles have inspired much advice. Australian athlete Bill Copeland advised us to “Try to be like the turtle — at ease in your own shell.” Wise Dr. Seuss observed that “All the turtles are free – As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.” And a Jamaican proverb rightly notes that “Sleepy turtles never catch the sunrise.”

Don’t fritter away opportunity.

I never pass up the prospect of a perfect picking or forgo a chance for a floral feast. This week, black locust trees are in bloom, and with the appearance of their flowers comes more than just a snazzy scent.

It is everywhere. Clouds of pollen have coated the entire Island. We are in danger of sinking under the weight of the zillions of grains of male tree dust.

Well, not really, but it is driving us all a bit crazy and putting many into a sneezing frenzy.

There’s been a lot of talk about breaches on the Island: in the great ponds, at Norton Point, and at the Cape Pogue gut, for example. But this column is about a different kind: Dutchman’s breeches.

Ben Franklin was chockful of advice; in one famous saying, he encouraged behavior that would make us healthy, wealthy and wise.

Early to bed and early to rise is not the only way to get there. One could alternately seek out the water-loving plant, horsetail, which fills the bill on all three counts.

Life is full of contradictions. So are plants.

Vinca, that evergreen vining groundcover that is currently blooming with blue-purple flowers, is a case in point.

This plant has been described as “moderately” invasive, is recommended as a sexual stimulant and also is known to be a portent of death; it is offered up as a healer and yet is known to kill. One must weave through the tangle of incongruities to discern the truth of this twining creeper.