I've been less than inspired on the blog lately, and I know it. Unfortunately, I don't predict a change in the general trend today. Maybe we should all just put our faith in July.Tomorrow's Calendar Flipping Day, after all.
And no, I'm not going to explain the significance for those new to the program.
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Today's pointless photo features the rocks that surround my father's pond. Oh, and there's a spider in there somewhere as well. A Thin-legged Wolf Spider of some sort or other. She's carrying an egg sac, if you're wondering about the odd-looking abdomen.
You were, you know. I could just tell.
I like spiders (I bet you couldn't tell). I think they're great, and they make for good pointless photography. Erm... if there is such a thing as good pointless photography.
You've probably noticed that I like to take photos of flowers and plants in general, but I like the photos even better if they include spiders or, failing a convenient spider, insects. It's added interest, as far as I can tell. I mean, a person can take countless pictures of neat-looking flowers or leaves (and Whomever knows that I certainly do) and admire the shapes or patterns (that's what you're meant to be doing, by the way), but if you take a shot of the same flower or leaf with a spider on it you've got yourself a story.
Well, you do. Don't you?
An animal on a plant (and, incidentally, one of my pet peeves is when otherwise intelligent people say "animals and insects" as though an insect isn't an animal. It's not a warm, fuzzy animal, true, but it's still an animal. If you mean mammal when you say animal, then fergodsake SAY mammal) is on that plant for a reason. It might be hunting, it might be looking for shelter, it might just be sitting there for a moment... but it's there doing something. Seeing an animal on a plant reminds you (ok, reminds me. I honestly can't say what it does for you) that there are more things going on in the world than we often realise. There are systems. Dependence. Activities that we're altogether too good at ignoring.
Plus, it looks nice.
There's a very attractive functionality in your average spider or insect sitting on your average plant. You can tell things about how the animal works just by looking at its body part shapes (hooray for comparative anatomy!), and if the plant's a wild plant you can tell what it's looking for in a pollinator by looking at the shapes and colours in the flower.
In the case of a cultivated plant, you can see how much we humans can eff things up for our own amusement through selective breeding. Not quite the same ecological message there, but it's still entertaining.
Ok, so I realise that not everyone's going to look at one of my pointless photos and see all of that. I call the things pointless for a reason, after all. And really, the photos don't always have that much going on in them anyway. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a pointless photo is truly pointless. There's a pretty high percentage of gee, that looks kind of cool in what I post here. Every once in a while, though, I sneak in something that I think has a little bit more than that.
The trick is in finding that little bit more.
And it's not like I give hints or anything.
Hey, I'm allowed to have some fun, aren't I?
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As is boring normal for me, I (and my farmer tan from yesterday. I generally get a pretty good farmer tan from work, but yesterday's excursion has made it a real doozy) won't be anywhere near a computer for the stat (that'd be tomorrow, for those not of the Canadian persuasion). Try not to miss me too much.
Poke the Toronto office with a stick if you're desperate for new reading material.
Just don't tell her that I was the one who said you could do it...
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