Tag Archives: digital photography

day 223

Spotted Lantern Fly
Bramlett Mountain Foothills in August 2025 ~ kat
dead spotted lantern fly

it’s so beautiful
deceptively destructive
marked for swift slaughter

~kat

At first glance, finding this insect filled me with awe. It is so colorful…so beautiful. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a spotted lantern fly. I was relieved that it was already dead. The park service has deemed this beautiful bug invasive, a threat to local crops and trees. Those who find them are advised to eliminate them swiftly. At least I didn’t need to squish it under my shoe. I hate that feeling, and the sound. I might be tempted after finding a live one to leave it alone.

Who am I to decide that this bug should not exist. After all, their favorite vegetation to devour are trees-of-heaven…an invasive, fast growing tree, abundant in the woods where I live. They have a shallow, but vast widespread root system that makes them hard to uproot. It would seem as if nature knew what she was doing by placing these formidable invaders in close proximity to each other. The issue is that the spotted lantern flies have an expanded diet…decimating other trees and plants. Meanwhile the trees of heaven flourish unabated. And humans, being the control freaks that we are with an affinity for cultured lawns and pristine landscapes, make it our mission to control nature. Sometimes I wonder who’s invading who! No need to answer that. I already know the answer. I learn a new thing every day. How magnificent and efficient the natural world is. That’s my glimmer for today.

Rest in peace little spotted lantern fly. You were just living your life to the fullest doing what instinct and evolution informed you to do. Even in death you are beautiful. A glimmer even!

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you.

~kat✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


day 222

high ground 

when storms come, head to high ground
it’s not wise to wait for the water to rise
a fool tarries long, and many have drowned
when storms come, head to high ground
one tidal swell can take a whole town
look for the signs, dark clouds in the sky
when storms come, head to high ground
it’s not wise to wait for the water to rise

~kat

I live away from the city these days. Far from neighbors, crowds, traffic. You know everything civilized. When we moved here people would ask, “Won’t you be scared to live so far away from the world?” I didn’t have to think about my answer…”I love it here.“ I would declare. In fact, I feel quite safe here. Just me and the wild critters, a few rescue cats, a bird and a dog. And neon tetras.  And the trees…lots of trees.

I was thinking about this today. Thinking about how I might be able to wait it out; to live in peace under the radar. I’m not  bothering anyone after all. But I know it’s unrealistic of me to think I am immune to the scourge coming. Eventually all of us will feel the sting of democracy dying. Of systems and safety nets crumbling. And down the rabbit hole I go…

Oh well. Can’t blame me for wishing  I could avoid the inevitable. But this sort of thinking does waste precious present moments. I do have a choice.  I can choose to embrace the moment or wish the moment away.  For today I choose the former…just in time in fact. Look! the deer are holding space for me…a doe and her twins, a young buck and the strong resilient tripod doe who started coming around again this week. She inspires me more than she knows.

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you. 

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Todays poetry form:

triolet:

A (first line)
B (second line)
a (rhymes with first line)
A (repeat first line)
a (rhymes with first line)
nb (rhymes with second line)
A (repeat first line)
B (repeat second line)


day 221

accountability 

they spit this word
at wide-eyed apertures
to the invisible throngs
of loyal lemmings
as if words matter

like thoughts and prayers
mumbled post mass-slaughter,
canned comfort facilitating
a contemptible exit,
accountability averted…

for, or as penance,
it rolls off the tongue
like salty retch
but their putrid hot
breath, reeking of bile,
reveals their vapid souls

accountable to none
impossible to hold
to or for while stripping
away autonomy
tipping liberty’s scales
drawing lines in the sand
encroaching decency
rendering those seeking
to hold them accountable
voiceless, vulnerable, voteless…

accountability is just a word

~kat

I had written this yesterday morning, tweaking it a bit, but had not managed to get photos of the most wonderful glimmers…a half dozen or so young turkeys running circles around the deer and older turkeys in my yard at the woods edge…and the emergence of an old friend…a lame doe who has wandered through for several years now, with a fawn in tow. There was also a glimmer from my youngest…a few actual snapshots of her youngest heading off to preschool!

All fine glimmers. All much needed glimmers on a foreboding day of unsettling events…our leader announcing Marshall law in essence in the capital city over a trumped up declaration of urgency employing a fantastical skewing of the facts. He is dictator itching to deploy troops to a city, a state, the country to terrorize the people into submission. I am late to posting, not because I ran out of daylight this time, but because I needed time and a few winks to make sense of it all.

There were such wonderful glimmers presenting themselves to me. They drew me in and held me…searing a memory into me that perhaps was not meant to be captured by a photograph. The young turkeys who I had feared gone, lost to predators, seem to be alive and well, full of life and joyful mischief. I hope you can imagine it. It was a delightful sight to see. And then my dear tripod doe with fawn in tow…hope, joy, resilience…relaying just a few messages, very much needed messages, to snap me back from the edge.

To witness the stunning unraveling of this country at the hands of a madman and his growing army of miscreants, with seemingly no end in sight and no one to stop them, feels like a nightmare…if only it was just a nightmare. Destruction amidst a growing number of people going through the motions of normal, working, playing, shopping, laughing feels a little crazy. It is a little crazy.

While I will have fond memories only (and no photos to burn up memory on my phone) of the visitors to my peaceful oasis…the turkey teens and the doe and her fawn, there were photos captured of my youngest grandson, full of joy, excitement and life! I’ll leave you with a glimpse of those here as a reminder. This is why we can’t give up trying…why we can’t stop fighting for justice.

First Day

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you.

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


day 220 ~ weekly ReVerse

our resident raccoon left his signature on a chair cushion on our back deck… he likes the peanuts we leave out for the squirrels…yes, little fellow. We see you too!
a ReVerse poem ~ 10 August 2025

there was no music playing
no reapers to sow
a thousand suns faded to black
a brood to fledge before the fall
Gabby, my dog, rolled in deer shit today
teach(ing) patience

~kat

There is nothing like a reality check to keep you balanced and grounded. I grew concerned at the trend of this week’s ReVerse poem…my favorite lines decidedly grim. Enter my little angel dog, Gabby who illustrated perfectly to me toward the end of this week how allowing the chaos and craziness of the world to stick to me is exactly like rolling in shit! And this, while all around me the wonders of the thriving natural world and the goodness of people being kind elude me, sort of. 

As evidenced by the glimmers I did notice it’s clear that I gave them at least moment’s thought. It’s like lifting one’s head out of swirling, deep, rough water to catch a breath before being pulled under once again by the undertow. As if the universe hasn’t been on overtime of late throwing me safety line after line, I have fallen into a whirlpool of worry. 

It took a cute little dog covered in ick to snap me out of it…and of course this week’s ReVerse retrospective to see that,  like Dorothy from Oz, I have had the power to click my heels back home all along. I had always believed that it is a rocky, winding road to get there. At least that’s what I had been told…but I am realizing home is not somewhere out there, or even over the rainbow, as lovely as that sounds. Home is inside of me. My heart and soul know the way back to center. That little voice inside is starting to break through the noise. It’s as profound and simple as that. 

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


And in case there was any doubt, here’s a snapshot of this past week of glimmers gently screaming at me to get a life…my life to be more specific….thank you universe!


day 219

first bloom

violet
blooms
teach one patience

~kat

Today was one of those long days. We attended a midday funeral to celebrate the life of a young man, our friend’s brother. I am not surprised that the universe provided several glimmers to see me through. Starting, of course, with my first African Violet bloom. It was waiting for me when we returned home.

Long and challenging days needn’t always result in roadblocks to peace. Although I have found that detours and roadblocks don’t always come with a map or instructions I do learn from them and if I am open to it, there are always glimmers to light my way. A few of those are illustrated below. Yes it was a long days, but it was also a full day, like the moon tonight, illuminating the darkness.

much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨