Below, Above, Through

Seeing below and above and what lies between, like that odd space between sleeping and waking, not quite dreaming and not quite thinking, when a sliver of light parts the curtains, blown just a bit by a breeze, or the cat's shadow as she leans in to my face and for a moment I think she's something else, just a shadow.

What I Learned Way Back When

Don't stand near water when you hear thunder.

Oops.

Don't stand under trees when you hear thunder.

Oops.

Don't carry metal when you hear thunder.

Oops.

Don't use electronics when you hear thunder.

Oops and oops.

I finally remembered and quick-stepped my way out of the area.

Azure Three Ways

I
The big pond on Day Lake Road teems with Azure Bluets. Look anywhere around your feet -- soil, fallen twigs, low foliage in forest or clearing or water -- and there they are: hundreds and hundreds. These small damselflies have earned their common name; their Azure and black coloration shines even in shadow like cut gemstones.

II
Azure gossamer-winged butterflies are something else entirely. This one isn't even blue, at least with its wings closed. Tiny, tinier even than the bluets, and thirsty, probing my hand from fingertip to palm, knuckle to wrist, and as friendly a little fellow as light in weight.

III
And then there's the sky, the glorious sky beyond the shadowed trees of a bowl of upturned lapis lazuli.

Another Sewanee Odonate Confirmed!

Hello, Vesper Bluet (Enallagma versperum)!

When I saw the bright yellow thorax and blue final segments on the abdomen, I was puzzled. After poring over my books and Odonata Central, I thought perhaps the light was so bad and my photos so poor that I was mistaken in my initial impression of Vesper. Orange Bluet, I decided.

I posted these to my Southeastern Odes group on Facebook and asked what others thought. Their response was astonishing.

Vesper Bluet at 11:30 in the morning! That makes damselfly species number 28!