Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy

The Walking Stick above was on my screen door and he was about 3 inches long. When Cyndi and I came out of the movies yesterday, people were looking up at a light fixture on the outside of a building. It was a praying (or is that preying?) mantis that was about 5 inches long. I have never seen such a huge bug!

Well, I googled it and it is a Praying Mantis. Look at this from Wikipedia: Females sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, eating their mates after copulation. Occasionally, the females decapitate the males just before or during mating.

I had heard this, but I am wondering about the "sometimes." Would she refrain from eating him because he was particularly charming? Or did she think he would not taste good? Maybe she wanted him to pick up the kids from daycare ...

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We went to see "Florence Foster Jenkins" and I liked the movie a lot! It was about "Madame Florence" who had more money than sense and she was determined to sing at Carnegie Hall. Of course, neither she nor her husband seemed to notice that she was an awful singer, usually flat and many times shrill. Meryl Streep was great in the leading role accompanied by Hugh Grant.

Her pianist played by Simon Helberg (who plays Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory") quickly realizes the truth about her singing. 

When he does, his facial expressions are priceless -- and hilarious.

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I spent Friday evening to Sunday afternoon dog sitting for Brownie, who lives next door.

Mostly, he was bored with me because after I threw his rabbit a few times and took him for a short walk, I sat and read. He missed his "sister" who is Sophia and lovely chatterbox of a child.

Those are Cyndi's feet on the right and Brownie is asking me if he can go for a walk with her. Of course, it was o.k. and they took a long walk with much drama. (There was a barking german shepherd who wanted to play and a little girl stuck in a rut on her tiny trike.)

I was thrilled to welcome the family back home and I got a lovely gift from Sophia. I now have my own jewelry maker!