Locking Eyes

Annie Dillard famously locked eyes with a weasel and for an instant felt herself weasel! The thrilling essay that resulted from her transformative experience urges each of us to become like the weasel, to find our necessary focus, grasp it and never let go, to "Live like Weasels."This afternoon, a morning-suit-clad grasshopper calmly lay in the middle of my door sill, as if waiting for me instead of leaving a calling card and hopping off. I hunkered to the floor, camera in hand, and made eye contact with him. I felt no transfer of energy or being, only fascination with his stillness and calm while I, a giant, stared and stared.Only when I downloaded and looked at his photos did I realize I had capture what looked like a meal. Click the picture and look closely: something sticks out of his the area that might be a "mouth" and something lies squashed under him. A friend has explained that his mouthparts are composed of a number of hard structures. How does one turn plants into sustenance, I wonder, with parts like these, shaped so like spider's legs.

I know almost nothing about grasshoppers, but this about this one: he was complicated and calm, only one of which I was today.