(no subject)
this evening Bethany happened to find a newly unearthed cicada crawling around our lawn. it was meant to happen, clearly, because she was following a baby bird that ran under the yew bush, and then her eye fell upon it. tonight was thus gripped with cicada intrigue.
cicada nymphs are very dirty. ohhh, yes, very dirty. incidentally the cicada's in my hand in this picture, and on another point of interest, Cuppy actually cleaned it up in the bathroom prior to the molting.
then right before dinner they put the nymph on our maple tree out front, which is where Bethany discovered it hatching afterward.
kind of freakish. but then, KIND OF REALLY COOL, TOO. its little wings were these limp sea-green affairs and as it pushed out of its husk it kind of shivered off and on to pump them up.
the finished product! wow, are those wings beautiful. I mean, seriously. screw dragonfly wings, if I were ever doomed to roleplay cliche "fae" hell, I would be one with wings like that. at this point they were still kind of limp and flabby and when I held the cicada they dragged across my hand like pieces of a plastic bag.
after night had fallen Bethany and I went outside with flashlights and spun them around the maple tree branches 'til I discovered it was dangling by one leg from a branch. is that how cicadas sleep? I sure hope so. we'll have to peek again tomorrow morning.