Warning!

This cute, fuzzy, little critter is a Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar. I found it crawling across our lane yesterday morning, under the walnut tree (or "the hard hat area").

I'm glad I saw it before my kiddos did. Apparently, they are poisonous. (It's true! Snopes said so.)

Symptoms are usually a skin rash (poison ivy-like) and sometimes severe itching followed by a painful burning sensation. Individuals, especially children, should be cautioned about handling or playing with any colorful, hairy-like, fuzzy caterpillars since it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between harmless and venomous insect larvae. Never handpick these hairy, fuzzy or spiny caterpillars except with heavy leather gloves if necessary... (from the Ohio State University Entomology Department).

When I worked as a Children's Naturalist, I used to pick up our Tarantula all of the time (without gloves). She had prickly hairs, fangs, and a poison sac, but she never gave me any grief.

It just goes to show you, you can't judge a bug by its cover.

This has been a public service announcement.

Thank you.

I Have a Camera

A friendly letter to the people who just moved into the house next door to me...

"Hi, new neighbors! If you are wondering why I just walked past your utility trailer and randomly took a picture of it, it's because I liked the wood grain, and I thought it might look nice with some words on it...

 

I know that might seem strange, but you'll get used to it after a while. Soon you won't wonder at all why I'm lying in the middle of the road, or why I'm walking around aimlessly; staring up at the trees. It's for "the shot". When it comes to that, I don't have much pride...You'll get used to it."

My kids are used to it. Thank goodness.

They don't run away from me anymore, or call me the paparazzi.

As a matter of fact...

I went out with Macy, over the weekend, to take some photos of her riding her new "grown up" bike...you know, for historical purposes, when she got off of her bike and said, "I know what you should take a picture of..."

(Where is she going???)

My girl is so silly.

(I love that about her.)

I think she's pretty happy with her kooky, shenanigany self, as well.

XXOO

(Yes, I just made up the word "shenanigany".)

There are more silly photos involving a fuzzy, tube scarf, that I was forced to take, but I will save those for another day.

I did meet my new neighbor. She came outside not long after I paparazzied her trailer, and asked me a question I wasn't really comfortable answering...

She asked me if I was a photographer.

I just laughed and said, "Well, I have a camera."

I don't know...when are you allowed to call yourself a photographer? When you get paid for it, or you have a business card that says so? What if you just use your camera regularly, and obsessively?

I don't know the answer, but I do know that I have a camera...and I'm not afraid to use it.

Namaste

Butterfly School

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." - Rabindranath Tagore

If you are the quote police, I surrender.

I've been working on finishing up my 365, which I now affectionately refer to as my 365-ish, because I didn't necessarily take a photo EVERY DAY, like I intended, but I did take a year's worth of photos, so I'm okay with it.

Yesterday, I found myself stalking this butterfly, and if you've ever stalked a butterfly, you know how beautiful and fleeting that experience can be...a metaphor for so many things in life.

Hence the need to find the perfect butterfly quote. But, I found out that quotes about butterflies are a little bit like potato chips...you can't have just one...especially if you're hungry.

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." - Author Unknown

I'm hungry.

I'm suppose to be thinking about how I want my life to look from here on out, another project I've imposed upon myself, but instead, I've been watching too much HGTV and enjoying the rainy, gloomy weather (kidding).

I'm afraid I like the caterpillar phase way too much...

And, now that I've mentioned it, I'm really hungry for some potato chips.

That's not the right kind of growing and changing I should be thinking about, is it, when I'm trying to capture my beautiful life?

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Err...Hello

This is hard...coming back after being gone for so long...

I feel like I should say something profound, exciting, or enlightening...but I've got nothin'.

I just really wanted to say "Hello", and that I've missed you.

It was a long summer, but, somehow, over too soon.

We are back on the road again, thanks to my wonderful parents, who bought a new car and gave us their old one...{I would like to insert a mental image here (and a message to my parents), if I may, of the little green aliens from Toy Story saying, "You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful!}

The kids are all back in school now, and things are starting to feel normal again...if there is such a thing.

I feel like I've missed a lot, and I have a lot of catching up to do. I have to figure out how to fit this blogging thing back into my life again.

So...Hello, and I've missed you, and I hope that you're doing well. How are you doing anyway?

A Break Break

I'm taking a break from my break. Does that sound wishy-washy? It is.

So much has happened since my last post. Some good...some not so good.

The biggest thing...the thing that has turned my world upside down is...we lost our car. Not lost, as in, we misplaced it, but lost, as in, it died.

I don't see a new car anywhere in our near future.

Thank goodness it's summer (or almost summer).

Things always have a way of working themselves out. So, I'm sure they will. I just have no idea what that looks like right now. I do know that things are going to change.

I'm talking blind faith here people.

Please forgive me, from now until whenever. I feel like it's going to be a bumpy ride.

I know it seems silly to mention it, because I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, but I started a photoblog. Check it out right here if you like.

I guess what I'm trying to say, in my wishy-washy way, is that I've lowered my expectations of myself for making this a success or that a success, because I don't really know where the road is going to lead me.

I'm going to try on different hats, until I find the hat that fits me just right. I need to find a way to get my little family and I back on our feet again (or, more specifically, off of our feet and into a car.)

So, I might be here, or I might not be here.  I just don't know...but I will be somewhere, doing something.