Oh, the colors I see!

Everyone is driven or stirred by their senses. Yet there is always one sense that stands out for most. That one particular sense affects you emotionally far beyond the average experience. For some people it’s their olfactory sense and when they smell a particular scent, it will bring them back to a time, place and emotion. Some people, it’s their auditory sense, a mere note or two can affect them to the core. You get the picture.

Sure, I am affected by all my senses. I certainly love a good song and yummy food. But for me, I am deeply moved by visual treats.  I tend to notice colors before anything else. I remember sitting in an ecology class and noticed that five students across from me were wearing maroon shirts, not all the same color but variations of maroon. It was visually appealing how their shirts complimented each other and worked well with the walnut furniture in the classroom. Of course, I had to say something, but Not One Other Person Had Noticed! It was so obvious, how could everyone simply miss it?

Autumn is a wonderful time for colors. We went to the farmer’s market last weekend and it was absolutely visually exhilarating! This year’s bounty definitely makes up for last years deficit. Not only were the vegetables vibrant, so were all the crafts and prepared foods. Unfortunately, my camera battery died half way through the market but I think you see what I mean.early morning farmclothesshroomspumpkinshoneyrootsflowersproducepotterypeppers

I wasn’t the only one that noticed this time; there were a lot of people taking pictures too.

You will never guess what I saw this morning while hanging our laundry

During my morning ritual of hanging laundry before driving Mathew to school, I had a wonderful surprise! Two walking sticks were hanging out on the clothesline. If you have ever come across walking sticks in the “wild,” it always comes as a surprise, mixed with a little confusion. First, you think it’s an old stick or stem in a weird place. Then when you look closer, because you always have to take another look…and you are like “Oh MY GOD, THERE IS A WALKING STICK,” and then “NO THERE ARE TWO WALKING STICKS!” Believe me it happens every time (just not very often).

walking sticks Of Course, I started screaming, “MATHEW! COME HERE RIGHT NOW! MATHEW!” He thinks something awful has happened, so he runs outside and I tell him, I found two walking sticks. He runs faster and tells me that they are very rare. I tell him, it looks like they may be mating as they are a bit connected. He claims that is was probably mating season. After a little googling, I found out that Mathew was right. They do tend to mate is the fall and over winter their eggs. I also found out that they have been known to mate for a long time – some have mated for 1400 hours. I know that sounds unbelievable, but that’s what some people claim. So of course, after reading that I needed to check on our little walking sticks in the afternoon, but they were gone. Perhaps they started 57days ago and I never noticed them before. Another interesting fact is that Stick insects can reproduce parthenogenetically, in other words without the need for males. Stick insects are able to reproduce almost entirely without males. Unmated females produce eggs that become more females. When a male does manage to mate with a female, there’s a 50/50 chance their offspring will be male. I love the dichotomy of these strange insects – mate for 1400 hours or not.

walking sticks 2Well, I just had to share.