On the way to the Park

"Hey June, remember me?" a large grasshopper seemed to call for my attention. When I wanted to take a picture of it before, my camera had run out of battery. I snapped plenty of photos this time, and made a drawing of my six-footed friend at the very front.

The background? Last year, I'd felt drawn to do a quick sketch of the entrance of one of the neighborhood homes, with a bicycle parked in front of the door, steps, and postbox--I could use that. And to add interest to the picture, I'd add two of my black feathered guardians, the crows.

I WONDER IF THEY MISSED ME

It's the 19th, the day to go back to Iwatsuki, but I thot I'd load a few more reference photos before going home.

The first is probably one of my favorites. The baby grasshopper on top of a disintegrating dandelion flower--I didn't know how to draw white without using acrylic paint, so altho' I was thrilled to get this photo, I just did my best in composing the illustration for the previous post (June 22).

My second pic is of Pelle of the Pellucid Fly (July 22 post), This is another one in which the real thing was much, much prettier than what I could draw--but you can see it by seeing this photo. I only wish it showed you how big it was tho'. There is nothing in it to compare its size; but it was HUGE!

The last photo? I didn't have room for a drawing of a carp "flapping its wings" in the water "trying to learn to fly" in the story of "black carp" (Aug. 17 post), taken again this year at carp walk. Silly feller. He's at it again.

Hope you enjoyed the photos. I wonder if the critters at the park missed me at all or even noticed I was gone?

DANDY THE BABY GRASSHOPPER

I'd been taking pictures of turtles in the pond when I saw, in the grass nearby, a baby grasshopper trying to stay on top of a dandelion flower. I could see it was slowly disintegrating under him. When those dandelion seeds fly away, I hope, like his name, he'll just hop down onto the grass.

I'm not a grasshopper. I may be in for a hurtful landing if I'm resting in the wrong comforts.