The Grasshopper and a needing a new camera

I was cleaning out a flower bed the other day and I noticed a grasshopper watching me.  I like insects, bugs, and especially grasshoppers.  As quickly as I could, I ran into the house to get my camera, asking the grasshopper to please stay until I returned.  He did.  I'm sure that I looked like a one-eyed monster to this tiny creature as I crept up ever so slowly to get the perfect shot.  When I was done, I told him thank you and went inside.  Isn't he lovely?  

My camera has died.  And it did so while I was in the middle of a photo shoot yesterday.  It is time to bit the bullet and get a new one. I tried to see if it could be repaired, but it is very old and the manufacturer said that the model is no longer fixable.  The thing is I didn't want to do it right now.  Things are starting to look up for me with a new job and a raise and I didn't factor a camera into my immediate plans.  But, I cannot go without being able to take pictures. It is something that I absolutely love to do.  I don't mind standing on ladders to get the perfect shot or laying on the ground either. Things look differently now.  I look at the world and all it contains and see a picture, a beautiful picture in my mind. I want to capture the essence of it. I feel driven...I want to create an infinitesimal moment of beauty so that I can leave my mark in this world, even if it is a small one.

Grasshopper
grasshopper
all day long
we hear your scraping
summer song
like
rusty
fiddles
in
the
grass
as through
the meadow
path
we pass
such funny legs
such funny feet
and how we wonder
what you eat
maybe a single blink of dew
sipped from a clover leaf would do
then high in air
once more you spring
to fall in grass again
and sing.

Conrad Potter Aiken

Red Admiral: The Regal Buttlerfly

When I arrived home this evening I saw this butterfly in my yard.  I ran into the house as fast as I could to get me camera hoping that it would still be there when I came back outside. Today was my lucky day.  After chasing the butterfly around for a little bit it decided to stay put long enough for me to get a shot.  Oh how I love this time of year!  I wish that somehow it could be July all year long, well, at least the wonderful temperatures we have been experiencing lately all of the time.  I hope that you are having a wonderful summer.  

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun

and find your shoulder to light on, 

to bring you luck, happiness, and riches

today, tomorrow, and beyond.

an Irish Blessing

A Moth that Looks like a Poodle?

Arthur Anker Via Flicker

A week ago or so a picture went around the interent about a Poodle Moth.  Oh it is cute and fuzzy, almost cuddley. To me it looks like a Gremlin. Is this thing possibly real? Arthur Anker took a picture of the Poodle Moth in Venezuela a few years ago. 

Then I saw this picture.  Ok, I can see that this is on the tip of someone's finger.  So it has to be real.  Here is a link that will take you to a blog that has pictures of all kinds of Moths. 

 

Here is a very short video, about 1 minute, talking about the Poodle Moth and many other pictures of moths.