Pic of the day

September seems to be mantis season.

Of all the insects in the world, these harmless giants (unless you are another bug) seem to be the most intelligent or the most sentient, at least to me.

This one was sitting by my porch light the other night. Probably saying, "Who the &&^% is that dude with the camera?"

Photographic frustration

I was sitting at my desk, half-dressed, finishing up the weekly column I write for a local paper, when I saw something outside the window that brought me to my feet in excitement.

Not twenty feet away, perched on the raspberry canes post, was a hawk, a big, grey hawk or falcon. Naturally, my camera was in the car. In the ten seconds that it took me to dash out the door half dressed and barefoot, retrieve the camera from the car and get back to the study room where I could take its picture, the majestic bird had already gone.

For ten years, I have been sitting in this chair, looking out at this view and I have never seen such a sight. And today it happened and I wasn't ready for it.