September 25

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Lots of interesting sky, on the 25th.

It always gives me pause, when some clouds are going one way, and the rest are going another way.  The puffy clouds were moving rather briskly from east to west, and the jet trail and high clouds were moving more leasurely, but from west to east (as is usual for winds around here).

My observant better half noticed this critter on the screen door.  I didn't have much hope for a clear pic, but since the bug was so close to the screen, and the camera was willing to focus on the screen, we got a pretty good look at the underside of this little one.  It was less than an inch from head to tail.

I think it's weird enough that two pairs of its legs come out of its chest while another pair comes out of its collarbone (or where it's collarbone would be, if it had a collarbone!), but what about that chasm in the middle of its chest!?!

Let's also pause to be amazed by its antennae.  They seem to have rather large segments.

With teeny tiny little joints.......  Wondering if those are actually joints.  Wondering (if they are joints!) about what those joints might look like through a microscope.  Wondering what on earth insects use for muscles.  

In the mindfulness class I'm taking, one of the teachers made the contention that while children are curious about everything, adults lose their curiosity by the day.

"WHICH adults?," I wondered, thus putting the lie to his statement...............

How can anyone look at this bug and not think of a million questions.  What is it?  How can you tell a beetle from a not-beetle?  How do its legs work?  Joints?  "Muscles"?

I'm sure I could find the answers to at least some of those questions, but I've got a bunch of blog posts to write.....

Baffled that anyone would actually say out loud that adults are not curious....................... 

Moving on.



Later in the day.  Walking.  A beautiful gorgeous evening, after a beautiful gorgeous day.  We have had the most beautiful summer................................

Cloud, and jet trail.

Lest you think I live in paradise, I am compelled to show you some wire-y reality..........

I don't like the wires; I work to leave them out.  This is the sort of crop of the above that I would usually show you.

I was looking at the longer jet trail when I took this pic.  I never saw the one at the bottom, until I had this up on "the big screen"......

It was too dark out to take a pic of these leaves, so I brought 'em home and put 'em on a piece of printer paper, in incandescent light.

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