“under the sea, in an octopus’s garden in the shade” (https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/octopuss-garden/). I don’t know how it started or why it’s been octopi that seem to be following me. Or is it me following them? It started sometime late last year during our outstanding Art Week (see 1/24/2022 and 11/30/2021 posts), then continued as the months in sundry locations around town as time sped by (see 5/4/2022 post).

In the last month or so, the doors opened and Hotel California was left behind. Who would have thought so many octopi would be out there? At a recent meeting of museum professionals from all over Florida, one woman wore a dress covered by the eight-legged wonders, just swimming across the field.

Another participant snuck paid homage to the undersea gardens with a shrimp dress.

Our group enjoyed an fun-filled evening at the local children’s museum. A giant two-story abstract sand castle purported to represent the beginning of the voyage of adventure and imagination is front and center upon entering. It was designed by local artist Carlos Alva in collaboration with school children who made sea creatures out of clay. Who was responsible for this very happy octopus?

Another day, Constant Companion and I were driving somewhere and this truck in the express lane carrying seafood caught my eye.

Gretchen Scharnagl, another local artist, uses mostly found and repurposed materials in her work to express her environmental interests, social concerns, and personal narrative (gretchenscharnagl.com). A huge piñata was the centerpiece of her recent exhibit, “Terra Ephemera,” at the Coral Springs Museum of Art. Among the creatures hidden in its recesses was, yes, an octopus. There it is, toward the lower left corner.

Then a range of artistic renditions of the cephalopods started appearing all over the place.

They even followed me (or found me) on my recent trip overseas. On Day 6 I took a cross-country bus. Along the way, we crossed over the Corinth canal – sadly too far away to see any sea life. On another bus trip, however, this young man with his octopus t-shirt was seated right behind me. How serendipitous.

During the obligatory gift shop stop at the end of  one of my many, also obligatory, museum visits in Athens, squids joined octopus on children’s book about the oceans.

I know another octopus lurks in an oversized wall mural that we’ve passed by several times. Maybe next time I’ll stop and get a photo to my growing collection of octopi! As the annual Art Week season approaches, who knows where they will appear, eight legs and all. Or perhaps another creature will catch my eye this year.