Searching Through Tears

 The lack of blog posts this last week is due to my having been out of town again. I returned last night, and was pleased to hear the singing of spring peepers when I got home. It was a melancholy return, however; I was away because I was attending the funeral of my father, who died last week. My previous absence was due to my having been there to help attend to him in his final illness. Maybe I shouldn't be writing about this here, on my blog about bugs, but it is right now the thing that is foremost in my mind at all times. My most recent bug walks have been tearful, as I walked around my backyard and cried. I don't think that is why I had a hard time finding insects, I think there just weren't many bugs around, but it does make it difficult to see bugs when your eyes are brimming with tears. I miss him terribly, and about the only thing in my life right now that does not remind me of my father is the bugs in my backyard, because he was not interested in bugs, but he did once ask for a copy of one of my pictures, a nice shot of a green lacewing. I was surprised at the request, because, like I said, he was not interested in bugs, but he had seen the picture when I posted it as Backyard Bug of the Day on Facebook, and thought it was beautiful. He had never seen a green lacewing before, and was struck by its delicate beauty. He wanted the picture to use in the religion class he taught; I don't remember specifically the lesson he meant to illustrate with it. I was happy to oblige him. So that was an instance where what I am trying to do here worked: my father, who was not interested in bugs, saw beauty in a bug picture that I took, and was fascinated by it. I gave him the picture, and he gave me the gift that day of feeling like what I am doing was worth it.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Sawfly, I think. Or some other kind of wasp. I still get a lot of things confused.

There were only a few snow fleas on their usual rock.

Lady beetle on male flowers of the hazelnut tree. It rained a bit in the morning; you can see a little raindrop on the back of the lady beetle.

There were a few candy striped leaf hoppers on their favorite tree. It was not sunny today, but it was in the mid-50s, so warm enough for them.

Winter firefly crawling around

We went out in the evening, and when we came home there were a few moths (and a LOT of midges) on the porch, attracted by the light:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping Spider