Drama on the Deck

I didn't mean to make this Praying Mantis so unhappy.

I have had this planter for years and it never crossed my mind that the design on it would become such an issue....

 She tried to climb the side of the planter and reach the smaller images of her kind. This poor Mantid was so frustrated that she finally collapsed on the porch deck and then,resting for a minute, she looked up at the drawings on the planter one last time. I could just hear her saying, " It's hard enough trying to find a mate around here without cave drawings that look real. I have business to take care of. I have needs."
I watched her as she walked across the deck and climbed onto the rose bush. She looked so tired.

This morning she was on the Chrysanthemums in the planter near the porch steps. She looked better. Must have found what she was looking for...
I think she is a Pacific Ground Mantid. Do you know that the female often devours the male while mating? What a dilemma that must be for the males.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday night after three tries.

Autumn Sunset

Blogger did it again. I posted these photos last night and Blogger left all of it as a "draft" so it never showed up on my blog. This morning I tried to publish the post and I got this message that said I waited too long to publish. WHAT? Sometimes I feel like it's a blind study and someone is logging my response for some future book on "The frustrations of Blogging" . Why these things happen, I have no idea. When you ask them, they don't have an answer in "known issues" but they refer you to other people out there who have had the same problem...., AND NEVER GOT AN ANSWER. So I did the whole post again even though it's Thursday....,

..., and now the writing is centered as if I wanted to write a poem. So in honor of this "program", with a mind of it's own, I will include a poem, hoping that the photos will magically appear.

"Listen...With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd,
Break free from the tree

and fall."

~Adelaide Crapsey, 1878-1914, November Night~


...,and again Thursday night. Third time's a charm?