Breakfast for Two :-)

Master Po: [after easily defeating the boy in combat] Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Young Caine: No.
Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?
- from Kung Fu


We had very bad thunderstorms in the night, with thunder and lightning flashing all around. The storm woke us at 3 am and there were crashes so loud they set the windows shaking. The power went off and then back on. It was lit up outside like daylight. The storm eventually passed, but I admit that after that we didn't sleep much.

The alarm didn't go off; I thought I had reset it, but maybe the radio station I had it set to (wake up to music) was off the air. So I awoke disoriented, scrambling. Hot already in the morning. A couple of scorching days ahead.

In search of some peace, I grabbed my camera and paid a quick visit to the Arboretum's pollinator gardens on my way to work - one of my famous fifteen-minute photo shoots. No butterflies yet, but plenty of bees! They just adore the echinacea. I admit: so do I.

And here is where I reveal the truth of the matter: that my eyes were only focused on the honeybee when I was taking this photo. I've taken numerous bumblebee shots, their little fuzzy bodies covered in yellow pollen. But this is the first honeybee I think I've seen among the flowers there yet this summer.

Then I got back to my computer and downloaded my images, and I discovered the wee grasshopper on the left, looking right at me. How could I have missed him!!??? It almost looks like he's . . . winking! ;-)

He looks so pasted on, so unreal, that it seems as though somebody photoshopped him in. But *I* took the picture! I could have sworn he wasn't there when I took it, but apparently I missed the obvious.

A lesson to be learned there. In looking, looking, looking, do we really see?

I am sitting here looking at this little guy - laughing, still laughing - and suddenly my day has taken a turn for the better.

I may not hear the grasshopper, old man, but I can finally see him. Oh yes, I finally see him . . .