An Insect Kind of Day..........

The day started out  gray and, cloudy.  But It was the first Bonsai workshop since last year.  I was scheduled to go to the nursery.  I had packed the car the  night before.  Even though the weather said rain all day, I was hoping we could all be under the pavilion, stay dry, and enjoy the day.
No luck.....   we started ok, but by lunchtime the lightning was getting really fierce.  We all packed up and headed home.
        The forest was loaded with the caterpillars.  They were crawling all over us, dropping from everywhere's above us and being a miserable nuisance.
   The top photo is of the caterpillar.  It's a lousy photo . Unfortunately, I had several crawl on me and had a terrible reaction to the buggers.   Some say they have stingers, some say they have a caustic dust that when it rubs on your skin, the skin becomes inflamed, itchy,  burning.   I can tell you from actual experience it burns, itches, causes welts and rashes, and if you are asthmatic as I am, you can get an antiphilatic reaction where you chest and lungs closes down. Good thing I recognized the systemic response and always carry Benadryl with me.   
I packed up and headed home for a long shower, more benadryl  and an afternoon with rain, thunder, lightning and a long nap.
      The middle photo is of a cocoon that the caterpillars turns into to do it's insect change.
      The third photo is of a spider I found as I was hunting for a caterpillar around my villa.  The spider was hiding on the fire hydran,  the rain drove the caterpillars to find shelter and hide.   I finally found the top photo.   
Therefore, my bonsai day turned into an insect kind of a day with a whole lot of rain.  It's a darn good thing I am flexible and able to change directions in the middle of the road.