Saturday she appeared
after the rains.
To lay her eggs among new growth on the rose bushes
where there will be aphids aplenty for her nymphs come Spring.
Or is it merely that she is tired
and too heavy to fly, to fight against the end.
There she hangs suspended, gravity seduced,
like a plane falling out of the sky
on its last journey to Earth.
Soon enough the Frost will take her.
But not before I have said goodbye,
my finger stroking her sun-warmed wings,
as I wish the angels would stroke mine.
#BlogofAugust #MantisMania
October 16, 2013 at 10:52 pm
Che bella immagine e poesia Giselle Minoli mi hai scaldato il cuore:)
October 16, 2013 at 10:54 pm
Ah….Ciao pio dal cin. Ci sono le ‘mantide’ a casa tua in Italia?
October 16, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Very much so Rogue Fire. Don’t tell anyone but I’m compelled to talk to them. I mean, after all, they do look right at you. I have quite an ego about them…I like to think they visit only my garden. Shhhhh….
October 16, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Wow, great pictures. I don’t think I’ve seen a mantis that big.
October 16, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Hi, Chad Haney She’s huge…. about 5 inches long and so big with eggs she barely moves. I have seen massive ones these last two years…because of the mild winters and hot summers there are lots of bugs – like caviar I imagine for mantids…
October 16, 2013 at 11:17 pm
Ci sono Giselle Minoli si vedono di tanto in tanto nel giardino
October 16, 2013 at 11:19 pm
What pio dal cin said! Prego!
October 16, 2013 at 11:20 pm
As for me, I cannot remember seeing one since childhood.
October 16, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Jack C Crawford I feel like Sally Field at the Oscars: They like me. They really, really like me. I’m surprised they’re not inside my house. I think they follow me around. what does that mean???
October 16, 2013 at 11:23 pm
LAURA PAUSINI – EL VALOR QUE NO SE VE
October 16, 2013 at 11:26 pm
Che peccato Jack C Crawford! pio dal cin 😉
October 16, 2013 at 11:28 pm
But through the magic of G+, you have brought her back to me. Giselle Minoli
October 16, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Tanya Grala I have never heard of a totem animal. I’ve heard of spirit guides of course, but this is new…it isn’t even remotely my Chinese Astrological sign…but now I’m intrigued…
October 16, 2013 at 11:49 pm
For you Tanya Grala:
The Praying Mantis teaches how to still the outer mind and go within ourselves.
Through this, we can draw upon greater power —
physical, emotional, mental or spiritual.
That stillness can be simple contemplation or meditation or even dreaming.
Healers often have Praying Mantis totems — for they use
their inner stillness to focus their healing power.
The greatest lesson this totem teaches is patience.
Learning to wait for the right moment before striking.
….sigh…I am not a patient person…
October 16, 2013 at 11:59 pm
It’s uncanny the chord this has struck…but my life is so stuffed I could sit in one place for hours without moving myself. I don’t fancy hanging upside down though. Seriously, your words are spot on. I am patient when I write and when I fly. I can be impatient when I can’t fly because the weather beats to its own drummer and doesn’t care about anyone. So…that this mantis is “grounded” so to speak, with her own burden, as am I, often, is quite thought-provoking. Thank you so much Tanya Grala…There is a lot to think about here.
Nature does that, doesn’t it? If you let it…particularly nature in NYC. I walked by this outside planter stuffed with flowers and I was struck how perfect every leaf was…there were no bugs at all. In the middle of NYC…no pests whatsoever. It was sort of magical.
October 17, 2013 at 12:08 am
I have always been fascinated by mantids and dragonflies. Something we learned as we began delving deeper into martial arts is that all of nature imparts lessons on many paths and levels. I love learning new aspects like this 🙂
October 17, 2013 at 12:26 am
Giselle Minoli “Il nome del genere deriva dal greco “Mantis”, cioè profeta, indovino, e fa riferimento alla postura delle zampe anteriori che ricorda un atteggiamento di preghiera.” That means that you are a “prophet” in some way, just find out how trough prayer then act accordingly. That is what I gather from your photos and words.
October 17, 2013 at 12:41 am
Oh, dear pio dal cin… It’s funny….I’ve had a thing about them and for them all my life. Maybe they like roses. My mother grew roses, which is a tricky thing to do in the desert. And somehow mantises found them…and her. She spoke about them very tenderly. I think that she related to their solitary life in a way…after my father died…seems perhaps strange to some that a woman would relate to a praying mantis but that was my mother. She was very affected by nature, as am I.
Thank you pio dal cin for the Italian…it is so nice to read/hear it. Qui, non c’e nessuno con cui posso parlare. Un giorno, Pio, faremo una grande passeggiata dappertutto Venezia…
October 17, 2013 at 12:51 am
che bella storia Giselle Minoli quella di tua madre e delle rose e mantidi. Forse è proprio lei, tua madre che ti manda un bel messaggio da lassu’..chissà. In ogni modo è una cosa molto bella.
Non vedo l’ora di fare quella passeggiata a Venezia:) con Jack C Crawford e Emma Crawford
October 17, 2013 at 12:57 am
Anche io Pio, non vedo l’ora. Vorrei andare in Italia l’estate prossima per un mese…ci vediamo…una donna può sognare, si?
October 17, 2013 at 12:58 am
Italy … Giselle/Brian + Pio/Francesca/Aurora + Emma/Jack
Heaven …
October 17, 2013 at 1:01 am
really Jack we make a great group of people:)
October 17, 2013 at 1:03 am
Now, Jack C Crawford that is a plan. And a great one! I want to go to spend some time writing and finish some research…and, let’s face it, to spend some time alone in beautiful Italy…then Brian could come over. We’ve talked about it. I know you aren’t crazy about Genoa…but it’s a must for me. And I want to do Cinque Terre…Oh boy. As I said, a girl can dream, can’t she?
October 17, 2013 at 1:11 am
Don’t forget me! Giselle Minoli pio dal cin Jack C Crawford !!!! ;’)
October 17, 2013 at 1:12 am
You are unforgettable Meg Tufano. Of course you will be there. I think we will have to rent a villa pio dal cin! But only if there are many, many many praying mantises!
October 17, 2013 at 1:48 am
I’m inclined to scoot up to Monte Carlo while you guys are admiring the insects.
🙂
October 17, 2013 at 1:48 am
By train, of course.
October 17, 2013 at 1:56 am
How odd…I just noticed that my mantis’s little head is cut off in the post…but not in the uploaded photograph. How disappointing. And this sort of thing can’t be fixed. Sorry you lovely lady…it wasn’t intentional…
Jack C Crawford trains, planes and automobiles!
October 17, 2013 at 1:58 am
And Vespas!
October 17, 2013 at 2:12 am
Jack C Crawford Jaaaaaccccck. You know my husband will not go along with that…
October 17, 2013 at 2:54 am
The Incredible Mr Ripley Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow. :). Lots of Vespa riding among other exploits.
October 17, 2013 at 3:18 am
we could rent a seventeen century’s villa for a month and host the first European HIRL (Hangout In Real Life) between USA Gplussrs and Europeans. A masquerade in the Villa with Seventeen Century’s costumes and music.:)
October 17, 2013 at 3:22 am
You didn’t post shots of egg cases… did you see them? She is magnificent! I adore them… and do my best to make the space more habitable… they like my mesquite tree, my desert willow.. Lots of activity!!
October 17, 2013 at 1:09 pm
It took me a while to find her this morning. She had made her way to the interior of the bush I photographed her on yesterday. Melody Polson there is an egg sack on a branch nearby…I ought to have photographed it but it presumed it was another mantis’s. It would be great to capture that moment on video but I’d have to set up camp and it seems such an invasion of privacy.
October 17, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Eve A odd I didn’t name her. But now that you’ve made me think of it I rather like ‘Matilde.’
October 17, 2013 at 2:34 pm
Dearest Eve A, when I extended your greetings, she turned her head and whispered, “Eve? Eve A? Oh….I shall never see her again…please tell her to fly safe, for me…” Sweet…
March 6, 2015 at 8:13 pm
I am posting this Baby Mantis video, quite selfishly, on all my own posts of Mantises because I think the science behind it is so amazing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/praying-mantis-jump-video_n_6809920.html
March 6, 2015 at 8:25 pm
Hey Eve A. Don’t you wish you could jump like that? What boggles my mind is that this is a BABY mantis…figuring…what the Heck…I’ll give it a jump! And off it goes. Boing. And Boink! Nature is astonishing. Stuck indoors in snowed in New York today. Too afraid to venture out onto the slippery sidewalks (I clearly don’t have the courage of a Baby Mantis). How are you????
March 6, 2015 at 11:35 pm
Winter is a great time to catch up on rest Eve A. In preparation for Spring, Summer and Fall…when I never want to go to sleep! Warm and safe. Yes indeed.