Wednesday, August 4, 2010

82 - Mantis


The rain last night soaked the canvas floor of the common area, so my friend and I had to move it out into the sun so it could dry. As he was pulling the floor out from under the carport, I spotted something small and green tumbling around the canvas. I immediately told him to stop what he was doing.

I went over to inspect the little green object and discovered it to be a praying mantis that was currently struggling to right itself from it's upside-down position. I put my hand out, gently scooped up the insect, and helped it get upright. Then it just sat there in my palm. I just stood there, fascinated. It would tilt it's head one way, then the other. It would wiggle its forelegs and then retract them into "praying position". But it made no move to leave my hand.

I eventually had to return to the task of pulling out the canvas floor, so I carefully deposited the creature onto the side of my tent. I held my hand against the fabric and the mantis walked onto it. For the rest of the day, the mantis hung out on my tent, rarely moving.

Periodically I would stop whatever I was doing and just sit there and watch the mantis. I had no thing that I needed to do and no where that I had to be—just sitting and watching. It was a beautiful thing to behold.

No comments:

Post a Comment