The 17-year cicada spends most of its life as a larva underground, sucking on tree roots, when miraculously at 17 years of age, all the members of that particular brood come to the surface to mate, lay eggs, and die over the course of many days. How they synchronize their emergence is still a bit of a mystery. Brood IX will be emerging this year in NC, VA, and WV. I'd love to witness their mass emergence and subsequent chaos as they cover every available space and loudly declare their arrival. It also got me thinking, 17 years is a long time...where was I 17 years ago? Looking back that puts us in early 2003...I was in college and that same year I took a course in entomology. I was working at Petsmart and living in my first solo apartment in Casselberry. I was obsessed with anime and wasn't yet a vegetarian. I had a 1-year old nephew [who is graduating high school this year]. I had two orange fur babies, lots of reptiles, a newt, and some fish. Also, so much strife over t...
I make mini lino block prints, watercolors, and ink drawings mostly featuring cats, insects, reptiles, and amphibians...tiny art and life!