This is what I picture when I read Kafka's Metamorphosis! It's a cicada....the insects that make so much noise around here during summer! The cicada noticed me stalking it with my camera, and peeped around the dead stalk of garden Phlox...


And really, the cicada doesn't look all that different from Kafka himself!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Kafka1906_cropped.jpg

I was moving slow this morning, partly from the cocktails last night, and partly because I have some stiffness when I wake up...possibly lingering from the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but it's difficult to tell. So, I decided to give myself today to totally hang out, relax and feel the world go by :)

I have a couch surfer arriving tomorrow for a night's stay. Usually interesting to have couch surfing guests...

Cabbage White --


I love the waxing crescent after New Moon --

After I cut hedges on Saturday, I needed a more fun day, so I went to the Napoleon exhibit at the museum yesterday --



And then took the camera down to Byrd Park to hunt for some damselflies. I think this one may be an Ebony Jewelwing? The bugs were eating me alive (a phrase I taught my Brazilian friend yesterday, lol)...so I could not stay in one place long enough to get more pics...



And then a meal w/ my Brazilian friends and their church friends...to celebrate the upcoming baby!

Visit

Visited Deege at their beach house yesterday. Here are a couple of animated gifs of a carnival in the town --




And here are some beach scenes --

Hollyhock

The only hollyhock I've been able to get to live in our humid climate is blooming this year. They are biennial, so any one plant would only bloom every other year. And since I can't seem to get any other started, this is my every other year treat!

Charlotte VI

Introducing Charlotte VI....the latest Orchard Orbweaver that I have found in the yard!


Lunch with Nh today to hear about his new apartment...and w(h)ine with J made for an enjoyable weekend!

My Flickr feed is turning into the bug and hummingbird show...I need to get out and take some different stuff!

I believe this is a hickory tussock moth (Lophocampa caryae) -- it is outside eating my geraniums :) I think the hair is intended to irritate your skin if you handle it, but otherwise harmless. As long as he doesn't completely strip my geraniums, I don't care if he eats!


In other news, couch surfer #2 is coming back this week for another visit, as he makes his way around the US -- an extended move that will end up on the west coast. I don't know where he's planning to land, but I know he visited Portland a while back, and I can totally see him living in Portland -- he already has that vibe to him.

I had a nice weekend -- hung out with the 21 year old friend Friday night, when we walked around the river and then had Ethiopian food for dinner. And another night, dinner with a couple of friends from undergrad - pizza and ice cream!


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One thing that happened lately surprised me...I think some of my friends had "assumed" that the 21 year old and I were aiming towards something romantic...but....um....he's still at university! And the difference in our ages is more than his age, lol!

I try not to judge someone else who might be in that sort of relationship, but for me there's WAY too much age difference in our ages for me to date him! Basically, when he and I get around each other, I go into "uncle mode", and we jabber about our lives for hours, and we text a lot. But romance? Not in the plan...

I was actually thinking about why - and I think it's because he is not on his own yet - he's still a student, and he has to decide what his life will be, so I would be interfering with that. I think he's planning to stay in town...and I do hope he and I keep in touch, but I don't think a physical relationship would qualify as "right action" (read "right action" as "ethical conduct"), in the Buddhist sense, lol

But I like hanging out with him....and I'm gonna keep doing it, as long as he wants to! Young gay men need older role models -- the AIDS epidemic took a whole generation of folks my age and older, so I think some younger gay men have never interacted with a stable older gay man. Not suggesting I'm hanging out with the 21 year old because of altruism -- I really do like him...but I also like being "Uncle Bart"...or "Pops" as he called me the other day, lol!


....Another thought about when something similar happened -- I remember when I tried my hand at nude photography back during my last Sabbatical, where the model was like 27 or something. It was a totally professional, legit thing.

But at least one guy I knew totally assumed that the model and I had had sex -- even when I explained that it was just a modeling session, I could tell he didn't believe me. And I don't know why -- because if the model and I had played around, I would have said so!


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Fast forward to the other end of the age spectrum, and my book club (the one I attended a few weeks ago for the 1st time) is coming up again, and I still have to read the book! In this club, I am the young one, where everyone else is about 10+ years older than me!


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I haven't been out too much with the camera -- mostly sticking close to home. Here's a photo of a dragonfly in the garden. I took it with a 70-200mm lens with a 1.4x extender. And I cropped the result

Basically, I did a macro shot with a zoom lens -- it's not like dragonflies want you getting up in their face with a macro lens!



I like how the yellow Coreopsis flowers show up in the bokeh blur in the background. I like how blue his eyes are (he's a "Blue Dasher"). I like that I can see detail in his wings, and also patterns in his eyes! And I like seeing the hairs on his legs, lol!

It was a really nice dinner with friends the other night this past week...the restaurant had a great vegetarian option -- that's unusual for burger place -- and just really nice conversation.

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Wine with a friend tonight, who has bought a full frame sensor camera -- and wow, it worked really nicely with my fisheye lens! It really is tempting me to trade up from my crop sensor to a full frame!

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I met a guy for coffee today...I knew he was young...but OMG -- so young, lol! I immediately went into 'uncle mode' because he is so young -- he's 21...There's more difference in our ages than he is old! I can totally hang out with him -- and give him some support as he 'grows up' as a gay man. He was pretty painfully shy -- which brought out my Uncle mode even more!

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I was taking pictures of a Goldfinch munching on my Coneflowers today...I never realized that birds would 'squat' before they took a dump, lol! But this finch totally did a wing and leg thing and took 2 dumps -- I didn't catch the actual dumping in my photo, but you can see the pose he took, lol!


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Speaking of Uncle mode...one of my great nephews sent me a text today...he's 8. So I texted a few things...and sent him some pictures. He seemed to like the picture of Milkweed Bugs on my Swamp Milkweed plant --

The painter painted the porch, and it looks really nice!

But I got home and noticed a dragonfly had gotten stuck in it! You know I like dragonflies a lot!

And he's still alive! But I can't get to him. And even if I could get to him, I think I would end up pulling off a leg or wing or something.

☹️

Update

I emailed the painter about it -- not because I expected him to do anything, but just as a personal note. He felt bad for the dragonfly, so he came by the next day and used a long stick to free him! And as far as I know, the dragonfly kept all his wings and legs!