Tag: insects

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I have already stormed through Brene Brown’s latest read. And when I say stormed I read like Gen Sherman marched through the South.

I need to lay down my torches and read it again. I so want to be the man in the arena, and even more so desire to be the man who rises strong to finish the battle.

My first read makes me feel that I may lay too long and languish with my face in the sand seemingly that I am not rising at all. But I find that we rise strong at different speeds. I am just not one that quickly arises with sword in hand ready to lay siege to the castle

I find that even with tattered and torn wings, I must just hold strongly awhile until my heart, mind, soul and body find ways to do battle that will end with me truly rising strongly.

And even knowing all of that, there are some battles that I cannot win.

So hold tightly today and prepare your body to rise strongly!  monos en theos ††† jas L

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So part two of the Metamorphosis thing. The whole process just takes my mind to places I cannot quite put into place. I am sure the caterpillar has less of a thought process than me. But I got to figure when he goes into the cocoon thing, he has to figure this it it, I’m one dead bug. And then after a few days, weeks months whatever it takes, he awakes and emerges a whole new and different creature.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
― Helen Keller

Enjoy both the closed and newly opened doors!   monos en theos †††† jas L

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Okay, I admit this guy is a little scarey now but little does he know what he will become. Oh that we could experience such a metamorphosis.

Yeah I know we can all make major changes but to curl into a cocoon and a few months later come out a whole different creature just rocks my imagination. Stay tuned for the morphed version……..monos en theos jas L †††

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #906 – r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r

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r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r

E. E. Cummings, 1894 – 1962

                                     r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r
                           who
  a)s w(e loo)k
  upnowgath
                       PPEGORHRASS
                                                       eringint(o-
  aThe):l
               eA
                    !p:
S                                                                        a
                                      (r
  rIvInG                              .gRrEaPsPhOs)
                                                                         to
  rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly
  ,grasshopper;


Edward Estlin Cummings is known for his radical experimentation with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax; he abandoned traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression.

I just saw a pretty creature amongst the johnson grass. E.E.Cummings saw much more than me. Oh how we are never too old to learn.

monos en theos  †† jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #900 – The eyes have it

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This cooperative  little beauty sat (do butterflies really sit?) and posed away for me a good fifteen minutes. I was allowed the time to get close and play with my lighting. He was busy preening himself as if trying to make sure to be groomed and presenting his best side.

May we all look so good! monos en theos †† jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #898 – Beauty and Da Beast

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On my return to the house from our morning walk I stopped to pause at our Rose of Sharon bush. It has a number of mostly identical blooms. Outstanding in color and form but one does get bored with the same view. One bloom stood out with this praying mantis eating his breakfast of a little Skipper butterfly. Of course my macro kit was sitting inside the house and not even all together. So a mad scramble to make my return and see the last tastee’ morsel disappear.

It is all about timing and being ready. Your ship always arrives while you are waiting at the bus station!  monos en theos ††† jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #895 –The cry of summer’s heat- The Cicada

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Ah yes, along with the oppressive heat comes the ear piercing cry of the cicada. More info than you probably want or need:

Although only males produce the cicadas’ distinctive sound, both sexes have tympana, membranous structures by which they detect sounds. They are the cicadas’ equivalent of ears. Males disable their own tympana while calling, thereby preventing damage to their hearing this is necessary partly because some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB (SPL), among the loudest of all insect-produced sounds. The song is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in humans should the cicada sing just outside the listener’s ear. In contrast, some small species have songs so high in pitch that the noise is inaudible to humans

To the human ear, it often is difficult to tell where a cicada song is coming from; the pitch is nearly constant, the song sounds continuous to the human ear, and cicadas sing in scattered groups. If a singing male becomes alarmed on the approach of a possible enemy, it softens its song so that the attention of the listener gets distracted to neighbouring louder singers, creating a confusing ventriloqual effect.

In addition to the mating song, many species have a distinct distress call, usually a broken and erratic sound that the insect emits when seized or panicked; at the same time it is likely to squirt waste liquid from the sap that it had been sucking, possibly distracting certain classes of attacker. Some species also have courtship songs, generally quieter, and produced after a female has been drawn by the calling song. Males also produce encounter calls, whether in courtship or to maintain personal space within choruses.

A pray for cool and quiet!  monos en theos†††jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #892 – Straight on, Head first, Right on!

DSC_6493 I am always reading about and wanting to see things in a different way. Yet, like most photographers I expect to  see the open wings of a butterfly. I often find myself waiting on a butterfly, thinking, “I wish he would open his wings.” Heck, the butterfly is sitting there almost yelling at me “hey, I got a face too you know!” So in the interest of trying to see things as they come to me, and to not judge by how I want things to be, here is the face side of the afore posted butterfly. Introduce yourself properly and enjoy the view you are presented. Find something nice to say, like “my what a nice shade of purple your eyes are!” monos en theos †††† james L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #891 – A Restful Glow

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It is most alway fruitful when I decide to take a mindful stroll around my small grounds. On a casual glance, I will not see. When I don my macro kit and keep my eyes open it almost always becomes a seek and you shall find proposition.

With the oppressive heat, it is not until around 8:00 pm before the temp drops to a tolerable level. I spied this wonder about a foot higher than eye level. It became obvious that he was at rest for the night. He sat in the same place waiting imperturbably while I found something to elevate myself to his level. I was able to hold one of my lights back behind him to send light through his wings. It gave the heavenly glow to the photo that I felt in my heart.

monos en theos ††† james

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #864- Green Headed Skipper

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“The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”
― George Carlin

A skipper or skipper butterfly is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. They are named after their quick, darting flight habits. More than 3500 species of skippers are recognized, and they occur worldwide, but with the greatest diversity in the Neotropical regions of Central and South America.

Skippers have the antennae clubs hooked backward like a crochet hook, while the typical butterflies have club-like tips to their antennae, and moth-butterflies have feathered or pectinate (comb-shaped) antennae similar to “moths”. Skippers also have generally stockier bodies and larger compound eyes than the other two groups, with stronger wing muscles in the plump thorax, in this resembling many “moths” more than the other two butterfly lineages do. But unlike, for example, the Arctiidae, their wings are usually small in proportion to their bodies. Some have larger wings, but only rarely as large in proportion to the body as in other butterflies. When at rest, skippers keep their wings usually angled upwards or spread out, and only rarely fold them up completely.

enjoy the beauty in the little things!…†…monos en theos…jim