Category: Everything Else

I don’t think much of a man
who is not wiser today
than he was yesterday.

-Abraham Lincoln

This is my newest friend. He’s a skipper.

I didn’t know skippers existed! I thought I’d come across some mutated moth.

Because his wings are weird–

I spent some time flipping through my insect guides, researching skippers and trying to figure out which one my buddy is. Because, you know, I like to know the names of my buggy friends so I know what to call them when I run into them again (otherwise it’s awkward, don’t you think?).

I figure it’s the least I can do after chasing them around the yard and sticking my camera right in their poor tiny faces.

All these darn skippers look alike, with very small size differences, and it seems very rude to be taking measurements. I know if someone was taking my picture and then busted out a tape measure I’d pop ’em one for sure. I was on the verge of giving up…

Ah, but what’s this? The stirrings of young love—

A lady skipper to snuggle up to—

Based on the lady friend’s size and markings, I am making the call and saying that this is a pair of Zabulon Skippers.

A lovely name for the lovely couple.

Once upon a time, a caterpillar wandered into a spiderweb.

Thrashing wildly, flailing for freedom, it tore the web from its moorings.

The spider who reigned there, alarmed by the wreckage, dashed in to deliver a killing blow before any more damage could be done.

I took pity on the caterpillar and set him free.

I know that it is best to not meddle in the affairs of the wild, that I should allow nature to take its course, but I’d seen enough carnage for one day.

People, it’s a jungle out there.

Most of us walk unseeing through the world,
unaware alike of its beauties,
its wonders,
and the strange and sometimes terrible intensity
of the lives that are being lived about us.

-Rachel Carson

If you would not be forgotten,
as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth reading,
or do things worth writing.

-Ben Franklin

If only you’d remember before you ever sit down to write that you’ve been a reader long before you were ever a writer. You simply fix that fact in your mind, then sit very still and ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world [you] would most want to read if [you]had [your] heart’s choice. The next step is terrible, but so simple I can hardly believe it as I write it. You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. I won’t even underline that. It’s too important to be underlined. Oh, dare to do it! Trust your heart.

-J.D.Salinger

I’m all riled up.
I want to do things worth writing. I am having trouble sitting still. It’s all I can do to type out this post.
I crave the scratch of pen on paper, the gloss of wet ink.

The photo is of a bearded robber fly, which is such a great name.
Jacob volunteered that he looked like Ben Franklin. I don’t know, if you’re a ten-year-old boy you see such things.

Hence, the quote. Which reminded me of the above passage from Seymour: An Introduction, which is akin to my own personal bible.

Which got me all riled up, as it always does.

Maybe later I will settle down, come back, finish the post I started last night.

I hope not. I hope I never properly settle down again.

What gets you all riled up and dreaming of greatness?
What things will you do this weekend worth writing about?