Katydids for Nader

Concerned about climate change? The Katydid's are. That's why this one is clearly indicating a preference for Nader. Nader is the only candidate who openly recognizes and is willing to go against corporate interests to change our reliance on fossil fuels: http://www.votenader.org/issues/environment/

I digress....


According to Warren Uxley, a Katydid expert from Crawford County, Ohio; this is a female True Northern Katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia).


Surprisingly, the Katydid stayed on the sign a long time. Long enough to get the camera, long enough to get a couple of shots, long enough to get Reid and Bing to look at it and try to touch it.... One reason why this was possible may have been that True Nothern Katydids (unlike other Katydids) are unable to fly! Eventually, she hopped away on the grass.

Wondering what that spur-shaped thing is extending out from under her wings? That's an ovipositor (egg laying organ). She will force it into a tree to lay her eggs. If you go back up to the first picture, you'll see a River Birch (Betula nigra) in the background. Maybe there's eggs up there right now waiting for the right time to hatch....

Males of this type of Katydid are the noisy ones in the trees at night. The calls of this species gave rise to the term Katydid - Ka-ty-DID. Click here to listen to this Katydid's call.

Did you hear it? Now, go outside (at nighttime) and listen again. These Katydids are quite common, so you're very likely to hear it!

Again, a big thank you to Warren Uxley for all the Katydid information!

Finding God in Nature

I have been reading a lot of 'spiritual literature' recently. One of the books I've read is called "The Eternal Promise" a compilation of writings by Thomas R. Kelly. Kelly was a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) as I am. He last wrote in 1941, so, if necessary, forgive the masculine language. Consider this quote:

What direction shall we run, if we would run away to God? Some of you may say, "I shall seek Him in nature, in its beauty and its power, in its storm-tossed fury and the quiet of the forests and the golden glow of sunsets."

And I should reply, Yes. He comes upon us many times, in these settings, on a mountain top, at twilight, and His Presence seems very real, in those precious moments. But He is more than nature. And He whom we find in Nature is He who is behind and beneath and upholding nature.

And remember, we are part of that Nature, and he is equally behind and beneath and upholding us, as well as the mountains and the stars. We are led back behind nature to the Source and Fountain of Nature, welling up within us, welling up beyond us in the sunset. And it is because He is within us that Nature beyond us is revealed as a companion of our inner souls.

For we and nature go back into the same creative Life. Immediacy, vivid immediacy in that Life of the Universe, is what we seek. Not in the earthquake, not in the whirlwind, not in the fire, but in a still small voice that we all have heard within us is He most immediately to be found.

Pretty Flowers

Since late June, a number of flowers have bloomed. I'd like to share them with you.

Here the Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) is starting to open. I've seen a couple of hummingbirds visit it.

Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) is the most interesting flower to watch. The disk darkens and the pollen becomes available from the base to the tip of the flower.

A single flower of Maximillian Sunflower (Helianthus maximilianii) doesn't do it justice. The plants are about six feet tall right now and loaded with dozens of these.

The flower of Maypop Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) is my favorite. I love the polka dots, textures and dimensions.


Common Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) is the most weedy looking flower, but you can quickly overlook that for the deep purple blossoms.

My Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana) isn't very tall because it's leaning over on the ground. The blooms are pretty no matter where they are.

Hope you enjoyed the show!