Arachnid

Whilst out removing tangled fishing line from trees overhanging the lake today (wildlife hazard), I was lucky enough to get close to this fishing spider.

NOT OKAY

What part of taking away people's rights to make decisions for themselves is okay?

From the TV series The Handmaid's Tale

The supreme court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade is going backwards to the Middle Ages! Before christianity, most cultures had their own way of ending a pregnancy, using abortifacients such as herbal infusions (e.g. pennyroyal and silphium), teas, pessaries or deliberate, heavy manual labor. It's not new. It's an individual's choice, not a societally prescribed ruling. 

What's the point of giving the supreme court sovereignty to establish the laws of the land and constitutional rights if it's there to be revoked?

I'm really struggling with this maniacal, patriarchal turn our country's taking. It's scary. Where will it end?

Fragrant Waterlily

I always think of an egg when I look at the yellow center of these fragrant waterlilies, Nymphaea odorata. 

Magnificent! Paddling through them is a feast for the senses.

 

Magnificent Mayfly

 

This beauty spent the day against the glass of my sliding door, so I was able to take pics of it from all sides - lucky me!

Its common name is the giant mayfly, widespread in, and native to, the United States. Their larvae eat mosquitoes. This is its underside:

These insects are bioindicators: gauges of ecosystem health; they cannot tolerate polluted/poor waters.

This individual was stationary (and not dead) the entire day on a vertical sheet of glass, and I was able to get right up close to its wings without it startling.