Beautiful snail and grass

I usually hate snails; grey, beige and yellow colourschemes don't appeal to me, and they eat plants and they slime silently about the place. But I do try not to stamp on them when they are crossing the pavement. One day it had been raining and I saw one on the front path with its horns out and glistening in the sun, which was shining right through its body, making it gleam like a translucent gem; its head was up and tilted as it sniffed the air. Its shell was wet and sparkling and looked like a boiled sweet, brown and black stripes. It looked like a lion, or that painting of the Monarch of the Glen. I was taken aback, I tell you.
Speaking of rain, I'm furious that it's raining today as my waking reverie was to write 'WATER ME' in water on the grass out the back in exactly the same place every day for five days, so that the grass words grew long and green and juicy and contrasted with the parched background. I could then take a photograph of it, and it would be Art.
That's nature for you- surprises you one day, scuppers you the next.