How is it that
We came to be
Living within
A calamity
Of epic proportion
A delusion grand
It’s really a struggle
To understand
Quite how it is
Here we’ve arrived
Stuck in a plot
That’s so contrived
With no escape
Or end in sight
As it all crumbles
To just sit tight
And let the ones
Who led us here
Continue to reign
With lies and fear
Is that really the new normal?
Rhyme and Reason
(c) K Wicks
Here is the next installment of mantis for you, the pale brown sandy coloured European mantis. This was the one we saw the most of, despite it blending in so well. Once you get used to spotting them my eyes would pick them out. Even seeing them when they weren’t actually there, lots of sticks and grasses got mistaken for one at first. All photos taken with my Nikon D5500.
They are very delicate and graceful, wonderful to watch.
They also have rather large wings tucked in neatly behind them, which completely freaked me out the first time one flew as I didn’t know. However much I like photographing nature, I still jump out of my skin when one of them does something unexpected.
And even weirder than I first thought, their eyes turn purple at night. Very cool.
(c) K Wicks
The garden grew, distancing her from the outside world. She sunk into the shadows of the wild growing roses and the tall, majestic trees. Something, someone, lurked between the branches, in the darkness behind the leaves. -What do you want? she screamed, breaking the silence. Soft wind far above was the only answer… (more)
Another Prey — Fictionspawn
But still there was this fear I couldn’t shake, I had determination, ambition, motivation, frustration but ultimately a strange fear that followed me through. Through all the changes, all the decisions, all the experiences, a dulling, numbing fear that controlled everything. A fear of dying that stops you living.
Were we meant to understand mortality? Is that what drives us to be more? Or is it why we live in denial of it, scared to face what is coming to us all, to live not despite it, but because of it. Because we are given the chance to know that it will end, to make of it what we can while we can.
Time is a strange thing, chasing us all yet stretching on forever before us, and oddly as I get older, there is less fear. It is what it is, I cannot change the defined parameters of time or death, so am at the mercy of them whether I like it or not. Instead of being haunted or followed by them, I have decided they can accompany me on this journey of strangeness, which is now a little less lonely.
(c) K Wicks
El Torcal de Antequera is a nature reserve in the Sierra del Torcal mountain range in Andalusia, Spain. We went for a day out there while in Spain and was certainly not disappointed. The geology was great, being a karstic landscape made of limestone and the views spectacular. You are so high up you actually looked out over the clouds.
It was incredible to see and is impressive.
(c) K Wicks
A beautiful addition to my garden last year.
(c) K Wicks
Despite my overwhelming and sometimes irrational fear of sharks as a child (thanks Jaws), I am fascinated by them, current and past. I guess I thought if I learnt about them then I would be less fearful. I am not less fearful at all, they are fantastic killing machines when that is their purpose, so I determined I should be fearful. If I am in the sea of course.
I did continue to watch the other Jaws films, deep blue sea and of course The Meg. I drew the line at watching The Shallows though, just the synopsis increased my heart rate to uncomfortable. My imagination was enough there, didn’t need to see it (thanks Hyperphantasia!). I am in awe though of the idea and reality of the Megalodon, the sheer size of it and to think it was potentially as abundant as other sharks are today. It really is a monster of the past, vastly scaled down for our time in the sharks we have today, but luckily we are left with the teeth as a reminder of what used to lurk in the deep.
I have two different Megalodon teeth in my fossil collection which are two smaller ones.
(c) K Wicks
Just taking a moment to enjoy the sunset.
(c) K Wicks
Beautiful and bright flowers, reminds me of my birthday being in the Spring so I always get excited when I see them. My grandparents used to have a meadow nearby which in the spring was covered in daffodils and summer covered in bluebells so they represent happy times. I can definitely see my love of nature started very young.
(c) K Wicks
One of the most amazing things about living in Spain for me, were all the mantises. Even though we weren’t near much foliage for the first year, I managed to buy a plant from the garden center which had not one baby mantis in it, but two! You can read about that little episode here – Bobby M the wild pet Mantis
But once we moved inland a bit and into the mountains, they were in abundance. I think I photographed about 3 or 4 different types and colouring, so will do a post for each as they are such awesome creatures and deserve a post each.
This one walked right through the garden one day, taking his time. They are very curious mostly.
They let me get up quite close and their photoshoots, which is lucky for me because I get so excited I usually scare things away.
They really are an epic display of nature.
(c) K Wicks
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