Explanation and Change

A while back when I changed the name of my blog from Web Abode to Interstitial Space, I probably meant to explain what the name means. I’m sure I meant to. The problem is that sometimes my memory really sucks. So I forgot. And all this time, folks have been wondering what the title means. Or, if not wondering, at least reading the title and not really caring what it means.

It does have a meaning. But the word “interstitial” caught my fancy first. Hubby and I were watching a show on television about extreme building engineering, or how stuff is made or something like that when I heard the term used. Hubby, being a plumbing engineer by trade (architects design buildings and plumbing engineers design the plumbing systems to make the buildings functional), was more than familiar with the term. He could even use it in a sentence.

Not a sentence like this: “My wife wastes her time on writes a blog called ToadMama’s Interstitial Space.”

A sentence like this: “Tell Bob to find the interstitial space above the number 12 operating suite to see if the installers remembered to connect the oxygen piping.”

Interstitial, like many words in the English language, has more than one meaning. So does interstitial space. BUT, if we’re talking about interstitial space as it relates to architecture, which is where I got the term, there’s a sort of easy to understand literal explanation with illustrations on Wikipedia – interstitial space (architecture). I’m using the term more loosely than literally. To me it’s just sort of an out-of-the-way place where all sorts of different stuff can appear. Or where a wide variety of topics can be discussed, various photographs shared, stories told, etc.

Does that make sense? I hope so, because this explanation is already WAY longer than I intended for it to be. Now for some fun stuff. Maybe “interesting” is a better term here.

Sign of the Times

STOP… if you like looking at pictures, do yourself a favor and click on each shot so you get to see the full view. The images look so much nicer when they fill the screen.

The leaves have begun changing colors already.  I’m not about to give you all of the scientific reasons behind why, when and how the leaves do this every year. I will tell you, however, that we’re a couple weeks ahead of schedule. I’ll also say that many trees and even a bunch of grasses are going right from green to brown. So if you do see any vibrant colors this Fall, it’ll be short-lived. Depending on where you are, of course.

Just in case, get out there and enjoy it while you can.

The Grass Ain't Getting Greener

If you can’t get out there, just come here every few days to look at my pictures. I LOVE watching the colors change.

Riotous Color

Even though Fall is my favorite time of year, I’m actually sort of sad to see it come so early. Because that means it’ll be short and not nearly as pretty as it has been in recent years.

Quiet in the Forest

You can’t tell in the picture, but that “quiet” log was pretty big. I’d guess it to be about nine feet long and two feet across. It was a stretch for me to get over it and I have pretty long legs.

Attention!

I love meandering in the woods near dawn and dusk when the sun is cutting through the trees at an angle, which results in the selective lighting effect that I just love. Where some things are still in shadow while others get the sun’s full attention as it bursts through the trees.

My Favorite Tree Image of the Day

The next shot is the one I like best. The fallen maple leaf was stuck at the very end of a pine bough, waving gently in the breeze.

Yellow

Lighting is important. And it isn’t always easy to get it right. Heck, it’s hardly ever EASY to get the light right. That’s where Photoshop and other image editing programs come in handy. Some shots need just a little bit of tweaking to really make things pop.

Cool Bug

Last but not least, I finally got a shot of this cool bug. I have no idea what it is. It sort of reminds me of a stink bug on steroids. I think it’s pretty neat looking. I’ve seen it, or other bugs like it, many times over the past couple of weeks, I just haven’t been able to get in a good position to catch a shot of it. The funny thing is, I’d never seen it from the top. So I had no idea it had such interesting color patterns around its rear end. I just liked how it looked quietly menacing as it sat nibbling away amongst multitudes of fornicating soldier beetles.

How many signs of Fall have you seen in your neck of the woods?

It’s Only Natural

One cool thing about this time of year is that there are butterflies everywhere.

Caterpillars, too. We can’t forget that four-inch-long green guy that is still, six days later, happily munching away in our Charlie Brown pine tree.

Shades of brown.
Much happier-looking colors.
This one is only about 1 1/2 inches long. Look hard to see which end is the front.
Spread 'em!
Still munching, six days after re-homing.

Now it’s time to plan another motorcycle ride. We have to get some miles in since the season is winding down.

You Capture – Morning

I’m not a morning person in the sense that it takes my brain a bit of time to start functioning properly after waking. But I AM a morning person when it comes to photography. Like any self-respecting photographer, I LOVE the morning light. Although I haven’t participated in You Capture much recently, I have been looking at and enjoying many of the pictures captured by other participants. S0 I decided it was about time to get some images of my own back into the rotation.

The focus on the above shot is nowhere near as sharp as it should be. I decided to share it anyway because it’s a very good example of the morning light peeking through the trees AND the softness of the light.

While the light is soft, it is often very direct, too. Maybe “selective” is a better word. As the sun rises and pokes through the trees, its rays break through in clusters illuminating individual plants and other things nicely.

Another example of that selective spotlighting I mentioned. Notice how some leaves are lit up nicely while most of the forest remains in shadow.

Every now and then, the sun surprises me as it rises. Here I was trying to capture some other leaves being illuminated when the sun jumped out from behind the leaves and hit me directly. I sort of like the way the shot turned out though.

This next picture isn’t specifically a “morning” shot. I did capture it this morning, but the reason for sharing the image is just to let everyone know that my caterpillar is still hanging around. You’ll have to read more about that caterpillar if you want to know more.

He’s in the exact same tree I moved him to four days ago.

And I just have to share this shot of the caterpillar from last night, which I took right after Hubby said, “Your caterpillar is still in that tree.” (I’d been away for three days.)

Hop on over to Beth’s blog, I Should Be Folding Laundry, to see some more brilliant morning You Capture photographs.

Caterpillar Envy

Last week one day, one of the blogs I frequent (The Old Nichols Farm) featured a post about a Monarch caterpillar. Jess, the brain behind the blog, is one of those people I met in cyberspace (aka the people in my computer) that I could totally hang out with. She’s funny. She loves taking pictures. She’s got three really cute kids. And a gun. She kills chickens. She likes bugs. And she’s got a great sense of humor about it all. I know I already said she’s funny. But having a sense of humor about life and being able to poke fun at oneself without being self-deprecating in a truly negative fashion is different than just being funny. It’s an art.

Anyway, Jess’s oldest child started school this year. On the first day, to keep the younger two occupied, she decided to go looking for a caterpillar. And they found one!

Later that day, she reported to me that it was already or in the process of becoming a chrysalis. I honestly don’t know much about the Monarch life-cycle, so I went looking for information. That’s where I learned that in only about 10 days, a Monarch butterfly would emerge from the chrysalis.

How cool for she and her kids to be able to see that!

I thought it was so cool, in fact, that I looked at the yellow plants those very friendly soldier beetles frequent to see if I saw a Monarch caterpillar. I did not. I didn’t really think I would. But one never knows.

Oddly enough though, as I was walking down Turkey Hollow Road under one very large pine tree, look what just happened to catch my eye…

The biggest caterpillar I have ever seen. It was at least four inches long!

That is not exactly what it looked like when I first saw it. That’s what it looked like when I returned. I love the way the sun is lighting up its hair.

This is what it looked like when I noticed it for the first time.

Caterpillar dangling from pine tree.

It was dangling pretty low. I walk under this tree every time I walk the dogs to the end of the road. The caterpillar was low enough that I could easily reach the branch it was hanging from.

How could I NOT take it home?

Hubby, who usually thinks my interest in critters is weird, was even impressed. Here’s a picture of it in front of Hubby’s hand to give you a better idea as to the size of the thing.

Hubby showing off our caterpillar.

It actually looks shorter in that picture than it did at time of capture. Here it’s a bit contracted . Can you blame the thing?

At first glance, I thought it was a Luna Moth. The only really big moth I knew about. So I looked it up on the Internet. It is actually an Imperial Moth caterpillar. One reference I read said it could get as big as a 6 7/8-inch wingspan. That’s bird-sized!

Unfortunately, I also learned that when it’s time for this one to make its little cocoon, it burrows underground. AND, even worse, it doesn’t re-emerge until June. No watching that metamorphosis. My luck, I’d put the thing in a jar, under some dirt, and forget about it. Then next summer we’d have a house full of bird-sized moths. No. Thank. You!

So I set the thing free.

Newly-liberated Imperial Moth caterpillar.

I released it in this little pine tree at the edge of our driveway.

Our Charlie Brown pine tree.

When I stopped by later to check on it, I got this really cool picture.

Imperial Moth Caterpillar (upside-down and facing camera)

Click on the picture if you want a full-screen view.

Speaking of really cool pictures, I also had to share this one I got of a grasshopper. Of course there’s also a soldier beetle in the picture. Those things are everywhere.

Grasshopper

I can’t wait to return to the WV place to see what other critters I can find.

Bugging

This day, like this blog post, started off innocently enough.

Well, sort of.

We drove to the WV place last night after a hectic day of work. I did some more work when we arrived, so it was after midnight when I went to bed. We haven’t been here for a couple of weeks so the girls were extra-excited. They forced me out of bed at 5:45 AM.

It was still dark.

I started the coffee brewing and got to work.

Did I mention that today was supposed to be my day off?

Around 6:30, I decided to take the girls for their walk down the hill. Temps were in the 50s. I was wearing my flannel house pants. You could see the steam rising from my coffee.

It was a bit “froggy” as my Dad would say, but quite serene. And cool! Yes, cool. Hubby actually described it as “almost cold.” (He and I have completely different body thermometers.)

A foggy morning at the WV place.

Hot coffee tastes SOOO good when strolling outdoors on a cool, almost-Fall morning.

Notice all the weeds along the driveway? The place is starting to look overgrown and abandoned.

Until you look closer. You know, stop and look at the flowers.

I wasn't the only worker bee awake.

I could not resist this early morning shot of a bumble bee and some soldier beetles. I have no idea what this yellow plant is called, but we’ve got LOTS of it. And it’s quite popular with the critters.

Plant with a cold?

This plant wasn’t looking very healthy. I don’t know what that snot-like substance is, but I’ve seen it hanging off of other plants before and even some trees.

Some of these bad boys are about eight feet tall (~2.66 meters).

I was just thinking about getting the weed whacker out and knocking back some of this overly abundant vegetation when I remembered the soldier beetles.

Those of you who’ve read this blog for a while may know where I’m going with this. It gets a bit x-rated.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

It’s the time of year when soldier beetles show up by the gazillions to, um, frolic on these yellow plants.

Soldier beetles frolicking.

I don’t know why it’s just this plant. The plants don’t have to have flowers so it can’t be a yellow thing.

Soldier beetles getting "better acquainted."

Actually, it is a yellow thing. Apparently soldier beetles (there’s more than one kind) are most frequently seen on goldenrod and milkweed.

Group fraternization.

Bugs intrigue me. I took these pictures to illustrate this annual oddity. Not because the bugs are, you know, doing it.

Seriously. Every year around this time, soldier beetles show up by the gajillions to gather on these plants. Not grass. Not trees. Not clover. Not the ground. On these plants with yellow flowers.

More fun in a crowd.

What I find even odder is that they seem to prefer large, group gatherings.

I guess we’ll just have to learn to live with the weeds. I don’t want to be the one responsible for interrupting hundreds of bug orgies.

There’s bound to be some bad karma associated with a stunt like that…

I would’ve taken more pictures, but that brief foray into the wild was my one bit of freedom for the day. I worked pretty much non-stop from 6:00 AM to just about 6:00 PM.

Some day off, eh?

Superfly

Since I knew we’d be spending the week at the WV place, I decided to fill the hummingbird feeder. You know, it only took those little buggers about two hours to find the thing! But that’s another story. This post isn’t about birds. It’s about flies. Some very BIG flies.

The weather was actually rather cool for a change (that was LAST week), so I spent the better part of each day working in my outdoor office. It just so happened that I hung the hummingbird feeder about 10 feet (3.33 meters) from my chair, which meant I got to watch them frolic while I worked.

As I observed the hummingbirds, I also noticed that there seemed to be quite a few butterflies around, too. So on Monday or Tuesday, I placed some watermelon rinds on the back patio thinking the butterflies would enjoy a refreshing snack.

Well, it wasn’t until Saturday that I finally noticed a butterfly on the watermelon. By then, of course, the watermelon was half-rotted and nasty. And there was also a fly hanging around.

Not just any fly, either. A very big fly.

Superfly

For serious, this was a BIG fly. The biggest fly I am sure I’ve ever seen.

Yes, I zoomed in. But this is no photographic trick. Honest. It is simply a REALLY big fly.

Superfly II

A little while later, I noticed another one. Shortly after that, there were like eight of those big-ass flies chowing down on the putrid, slimy watermelon.

An entire flock of giant flies.

Weird, eh?

Superfly III

So just how big were these freakazoid flies? I’d say their bodies and wings combined were an inch and a half long. Those small black blobs in the background are regular flies. If I’m being generous, I’d guess one of the regular flies at about 3/8 of an inch long.

Wanna know how Superfly and Regular Fly would look standing side-by-side? I did. So I put this lovely little image together…

Superfly vs. Regular Fly

I told you it was a big fly.

The tip of my pointer finger, not including my knuckle, is an inch and a half long, too.

Just imagine a fly that size buzzing around and/or landing on you.

Ew.

I think we picked a good day to come home…