Green and black cicada

Newly emerged Linne's Cicada, Tibicen linnei. Looking pretty spiffy, especially considering the dirt nap.
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I think that this is Linne's Cicada, but as you can see here, the Tibicen cicadas are very similar.
Go here to hear some of the songs.
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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

Pretty In Pink

Some of my favorites from last night ...
The first two - the top left because they're primping, getting read to race, fixing knee socks and adjusting straps.
The top right - Mike, Morgan and Paul because for Mike and Paul it was their first cross race - Mike a endurance mountain biker racing on a single speed and Paul a cat 2 road racer, borrowing my old cross bike.

The left one because of the pink rocklobster. The right one because of the housecoat that reminded me so much of my granny.

The left one, because of the billowy scarf. The right one because as the coconut man was being lapped by the strong ones, he remarked out loud to me that he'd forgotten that this was supposed to be serious racing.

The left one because, well, because it's perfect with the dejected shoulders. The right one because of the sexy legs and low cut blouse.

The left one, because it was Lulu's favorite outfit and the right one because Hans looks so cute in his white, silky, chiffon. Although I think it's a curtain.

Ok, time for lunch now.

It doesn't Rain often, but when it does, Slippery When Wet

So, drive careful

Goodbye Teacup Header

As much as I loved my tea cup header, I felt that it was time for spring to show up, so I changed my header photo to apple blossoms. I took this image last year in our fruit orchard. This year the trees have already bloomed and leafed out. We've had an early spring. Good thing we didn't get a late killing frost. It would have wiped out all fruit for this year.
We have several varieties of apples and peaches, a fig tree, two pear trees, a plum tree (maybe two), and a row of blueberry bushes. And there's raspberries next to the blueberries.
Around the property we also have muscadine grapes, persimmons, blackberries, crabapples, a mulberry tree, and lots of pecan trees. We are blessed to live in a place where the growing season is almost year round. I'll try to remember that this summer when it's 102 degrees in the shade and 100% humidity!

Solar Shock Wave

There were AWESOME northern lights last night! It was an unexpected (for me, anyway) occurrence as Earth passed through a region of south-pointing magnetism in the solar wind. I didn't know there was even a chance of northern lights until I looked at the Aurora Soft Serve News website late in the afternoon and saw that the aurora was "Active". I kept checking the site throughout the evening and the kp index kept creeping up until eventually it was at "Storm" level! We had quite a few clouds at sunset which had me discouraged but not long after the sun went down the sky cleared and stayed that way the entire night. I left the house at 11:00 PM and returned about 4:00 AM. This photo is my favorite out of the 300+ images that I shot last night. I was even lucky enough to capture a shooting star in the top left of the photo! The feeling that you get as these waves of aurora wash through the sky is indescribable. Let's just say you feel very humbled and fortunate to be able to witness such an awe-inspiring phenomenon!

Palm Canyon Trail

The Palm Canyon section of Balboa Park. In this picture, I am standing in a grove of king palms (Archnotophoenix cunninghamiana).

PERFECT day on the Pigeon River!

We went paddling on the Pigeon River today and the conditions couldn't have been more perfect! We saw barely a ripple on the water the entire time we were out there (well, other than the ripples created by our paddles and kayaks!). Here is a picture of Jessica enjoying the incredibly calm and beautiful water of the river today.