I was sitting on my deck enjoying the cooler temps when I looked over and saw this gargantuan thing crawling (errr, podding?) along on my deck. Its huge – about 5 inches when walking and stretched out. Thanks to my trusty Butterfly & Moth identification guide, I determined that this alien was the larva of the Cecropia Moth.
Star Thought
By Frances Shaw
I SHALL see a star tonight
From a distant mountain height;
From a city you will see
The same star that shines on me.
’Tis not of the firmament
On a solar journey bent;
Fixed it is through time and weather;—
’Tis a thought we hold together.
I’m home after several terrific days in Colorado. Thanks to the kind folks of Boulder for a great weekend at OpenArts Fest. Here’s a few pics from a day spent in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Joy
By Carl Sandburg
LET a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere—
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.
I spent the weekend at Art Fair on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks to everybody who came out! It turned out to be a great show! Making my way home Sunday night, I caught the moon… not quite the full super moon from the night before but certainly super in its own right.
Or not so itsy bitsy.. I owe this fella one (or two) after walking through (and destroying) its web across my front porch steps on numerous occasions.
I took a break from summer work to paddle the Kansas River with some friends on Tuesday. We saw an abundance of wildlife this time around – including a yearling that followed us down river along the bank for quite awhile, and then proceeded to find a shallow enough spot to cross to the other side. So many birds were out – blue herons, a green heron, terns, cliff swallows, a kingfisher, seagulls, adult and juvenile bald eagles, the ever present turkey vultures, sandpipers, etc… Lots of fossils, old animal bones & teeth, and neat rocks collected too. If I can figure out how to make artifact and fossil finding my second career, I will. It was a terrific day.
“The earth never tires;
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first—Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first;
Be not discouraged—keep on—there are divine things, well envelop’d;
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.” -excerpt from Song of the Open Road, Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
A long hike on a long trail is always a good thing. Especially when the weather is optimal. Clinton State Park, May 3, 2014.
