Katydids, Matydids - I'd Never Seen This Before

One thing I learned about katydids is that the male has brown markings (on his "back") that the female lacks.

Thursday evening I went outside at around ten thirty. Saw these two lovebugs. Ran for the camera and yelled for Chris to come look. He did.

They were in the same spot for nearly an hour, only a couple of feet off the ground. I had to tell the dog to leave them alone a time or two. We were not the only spectators. (Daddy longlegs came to view the show.)

Quiet time outdoors relaxing, thinking. And I wanted to know how long they would be.

After an hour or so, he began to push her up and around the trunk of the tree. This lasted at least thirty more minutes.

Some time while I was waiting, I did see a rather large opposum on the other side of the fence at the back of the lot. No time, or enough light, for a picture.

At midnight, they were twelve to fifteen feet from where they were when I first saw them. No signs of stopping. I got tired, went inside.

When waves cross each other,
they could continue their ripple,
eventually reach the shore
without much change in flow,
or they could send each other,
even a part of each other,
flowing backward
in the direction from which they came.
Such is the nature of waves.

Night

Tawny lions and crimson dragons
claw and slash their way
across the horizon.
Their reign is short-lived
as the Goddess unfurls
silken veils of black pearl
smocked with
the dust of oyster shells,
wet and sparkling,
wave upon layer
as the grain of sand
looks over its shoulder
toward the ever deepening
onyx ocean above
until all life is submerged
in her depths