Sinister looking, yet harmless... to us

Hi everyone! I hope your summer has been going well so far. June was very busy and very hot month for me. I think I'll be blogging more this month. It feels good to be back!

As it happened, some blog material flew into my life a few minutes ago. I was outside taking photos of flowers when I saw a small insect fly near me. At first, I couldn't even see its wings. It just looked like a bug body hovering in the air. This insect was nice enough to land for a photo shoot. I joke that the bugs around here know they'll be famous on the internet if they'll pose for a photo.

Well, what a surprise I had when I enlarged my photos and saw what this insect really looked like! You can see it's pretty small, in relation to that rose thorn. I actually think this is a scary looking bug. I wondered if it was safe to be near. After posing for a few pics with its hind end straight back, it curled its "tail" (or whatever we should be calling it).

This time I think the bug took on an almost scorpion-like appearance.

Well, of course I headed to google to find out what I saw. I feel pretty certain that I found an answer. I believe this is a Ichneumon Wasp.  I'm still not sure if it was any danger to me. It seemed nonaggressive. But I wouldn't feel at all safe around one of these if I were a caterpillar. These wasps are the kind of bugs that insert their eggs inside a host (in this case a caterpillar) so when the babies hatch, a meal is right there. If you get my drift... It's pretty nasty - like a horror story for the bug world.

OK, I just read that these wasps are not at all dangerous to humans. They aren't interested in our blood and that stinger isn't meant for hurting us. I think it's purely for inserting eggs into whatever unlucky insect will be playing host. It's always good to know you don't have to be afraid of a bug, even if it looks menacing.

So have any of you seen one of these wasps before? I have a feeling they go undetected most of the time. They're small and fast moving! 

Getting Acquainted with the Bugs of Summer

Last summer, I really got to know the local insects. It turns out that we have more varieties of insects in Wisconsin than I was aware of. After taking notice of a few different bugs, I decided it would be fun to photograph everything that crawled by. Taking the following photos and studying them turned out to be a great learning experience for me!

Closely viewing these insects is going to be a little like watching the movie Them! So if you're at all sensitive to creepy crawlies, especially spiders, you might want to close out of this page.

One insect I learned a lot about was the firefly. Believe it or not, I didn't know what they looked like in the daylight until last summer. I told some of my friends (who are from more rural areas) about my discovery and they thought it was funny. I guess this was common knowledge for them! For my part, I was glad to know what those "funny looking beetles" were on my plants.

Check out his feet! They look like little hands.

If you look closely, you can see some yellow near this firefly's butt area. I assume that's what we see light up.

I also learned that if I stood still in the dark of night and flashed my camera, lots of fireflies would approach me. It was a magical experience to be surrounded by these little glowing bugs in an otherwise dark space. I learned later that the fireflies interpret glowing as a mating signal. So I guess I came across as a giant bug giving them the wrong idea!

Another new bug I learned about was the cicada. I first got to know these guys when I found one of their shells. As anyone who's seen a cicada knows, they're quite large. At first I thought the shell was a giant bug, then I saw the slit where the cicada had emerged.

Yeah, that's its shell! To give you an idea of how large a cicada is, I flipped the shell onto a tissue and placed a quarter next to it.

Do you see the slit in the back area? That's where he came out of his little cicada coat.

I later came across a cicada who was in the process of shedding his shell! The cicada is sort of sitting on the shell he just emerged from in this picture. I guess I'm the first thing he saw in his new form. What lucky timing!

 
They really are beautiful and not at all dangerous. Look at these wings!

There are many videos online of cicadas who are in the process of molting their shells. I found a quick time lapse video that will give you an idea of what I witnessed:



After my cicada and firefly experiences, I was ready to photograph more local insects. I was familiar with all of the next ones already, but it was interesting to see them up close. There are so many beautiful details that you might not have noticed. We're used to brushing these things away or swatting at them, but you'll actually be able to observe them in these photos.

This one is the Japanese Beetle. They came to Wisconsin in droves last year and tore through many people's rose gardens. They're nasty bugs who tear holes through rose petals and leaves. They're beautiful in their way but very destructive. For the many I saw last year, I haven't seen one this summer! My guess is that it's been too dry for them.

If you look closely, you can see the little hairs on this one's legs. I suggest clicking on these photos to enlarge them, if you can take it!

I know this one is just a boring old ant, but it's still interesting to see it up close.

Honestly, I was kind of scared as I photographed this next one. I don't know what kind of spider this is, and you never know what's poisonous.

I actually feel creeped out even looking at my own photo! I swear I just now felt like something was crawling on my neck. That must be the psychological affect of looking at creepy spider photos! Here's another view of him:

I like the Daddy Long Legs spiders, but there's something about these big, squishy looking ones...

This dragonfly is a little more innocent looking. He nearly blends into the environment with his iridescent wings.

Next we have a closeup view of a hornet who was safely on the other side of a window. I never realized that their legs have stripes on them. Then again, I never wanted to study a hornet closely. I'm usually just hoping not to get stung.

These I always thought were cute, but I've been told that Chiggers can bite and hurt a person pretty badly.

I know that fuzzy white caterpillars are lethal to plants, but aren't they cute and soft looking? Check out those little legs!

This grasshopper really blended in to the sand and wood around him. Looking closer, I saw a cool zigzag type pattern on his hind legs.

I haven't a clue about the following insects. Does anyone know what these are?

I found this next one to be the ickiest of the mystery insects. I was just sitting outside minding my own business, and this thing came trotting along.

I usually have my camera with me, so I was ready to photograph it. This bug was incredibly small, so I was surprised to see it in detail after loading this photo on my computer. It's just so weird! I thought it might be some kind of larvae, but it's walking.

This next one was really tiny and creepy. Do you think this might be a tick? That's my best guess so far. It looks similar to the tick photos I've seen online. As I remember, it was hopping around.

After last summer, I started referring to myself as "The Insect Paparazzi". Luckily, every little critter I photographed was well behaved and I wasn't stung or bitten while getting close to them. I feel especially lucky if the above photo is of a tick.

Speaking of semi-creepy things in nature, I observed something amazing yesterday and I just had to share it. Some of my snapdragons have gone to seed and here's what was left of them:

Snapdragon skulls! Look at these expressions. Some of them even have noses. For those who aren't familiar with Snapdragons, here's what their flowers look like:

If you managed to survive looking through all these creepy insect photos and flower skeletons, you deserve a treat! So here's a little music to go with the title of this post:



...and here's a little silliness to go with your music:



Update as of July 18! I just took a photo of this little guy today as he was lounging on a leaf. I took about ten photos of him and he didn't even seem afraid of the camera! He was maybe an inch long at largest. Do you guys think this might be a butterfly? He had a really fuzzy body.

Searching for the story behind this photo

Years ago, when Milwaukee was filled with antique stores, I used to do a little shopping and A LOT of browsing. My college was located in the very heart of these shops, and I spent many hours wandering alone through old forgotten things while wondering who once owned them. If I was feeling really brave, I'd pay a visit to the basements of these places. The shop basements were dark, damp and filled with old furniture. It always felt like someone was down there, ready to jump out. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was hiding down there. My main goals at the time were finding rhinestone jewelry, illustrated postcards from around 1900, and reference for my art. I bought this photograph as art reference:

I was rifling through stacks and stacks of old photographs, when suddenly I found her. I remember just staring at this image for several minutes. "Woah. What the heck is this?" I thought to myself. Here's what it is: American Gothic in every sense of the term!

The woman in this photograph wears a country house dress, sits in a chair and creepily glances up from a book. I'm going to make a guess (based on the hardware on the furniture and drinking glass behind her) that this image is from the 1930s. Although, her vintage Amy Winehouse hair is throwing me off. Who was still wearing their hair this long after 1920? Based on what she is wearing, and where I found the photo, I'm going to guess she is in a rural Wisconsin home. This woman is haunted, beautiful, and mysterious. She also reminds me of someone...

Remember Samara from The Ring? Well, I think this woman could be her older sister. They share the same hair, expression, dark circles under the eyes - they even have the same taste in clothes! I think Samara is rocking a gown from a mental hospital here, but close enough.

What is further mysterious is that this isn't just a photograph - it's a post card! Here is the back of the photo post card. It reads "This picture is pretty dark. It was taken in our kitchen."

So, the woman in the picture was sending this photo out to her friends? I have so many questions. I would be very curious to know when and where this picture was taken. The post card was never stamped, so I can't get a year from that. The handwriting doesn't contain any old school flourishes, so I'm pretty sure this is post-1900.

Take another look at her face. What kind of person do you think this was?

I'm interested in hearing the story that is conjured in your mind when you look at her.

I have a reason to think about old photos conjuring up stories. A few days ago, I was reading Kimbooly's Boo Spooky blog. There I learned about a fascinating new book: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. 



The book has an antique look and includes a series of haunting photographs. The author made a promo video for the book using photos of abandoned buildings in Belgium. You can watch that video on a Boo Spooky blog post by clicking Here. Kimbooly also posted a link to the author's Flickr page. If you're into decay at its finest, you'll want to see these beautiful abandoned mansions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martino_/

I had a fun time watching a full screen slideshow of these photos while listening to some spooky music. An eerie instrumental fits the mood of these photos perfectly!  I went with Mannheim Steamroller's Halloween album.

If any of you are like me and collect creepy old things, let me know! I'd love to see pictures of your antique finds.

I have an update since last night! My blog buddy, VainGlorySinner was nice enough to pass along another creepy photo postcard. This image has to be seen to be believed! Click HERE to see the ebay listing for it. Pretty funny, hey? I guess little girls were pretty tough in 1908. :) Anyway, if you take a look at the back of this postcard and mine, you'll notice some similarities. #1 Both photos were taken in the Midwest (no surprise there) and #2 both postcards have this mark in the upper right hand corner of the backside:

It turns out that this is the mark of the CYKO company. (Sounds like psycho if you say it out loud) Anyway, the CYKO mark can be found on postcards dating from 1904-1920s. So we know my postcard was made during that time. Also postcards were not divided down the middle (for writing addresses) until 1907. My postcard has a dividing line on the back. So this lady was photographed somewhere between 1907 and the 1920s. I learned all this postcard history here: http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/post_card_history.html
There's more on that page for anyone who wants to learn about vintage postcards.

Now that I've seen more creepy photo postcards, I'm tempted to start a collection! How great would it be to have a bunch of these images framed and on display for Halloween?