Pied Beauty

and why I should carry my camera with me.  I saw a most fascinating caterpillar on the sidewalk in front of my office today.  It had the body shape of a tomato worm  and  - Heimlich from Bug's Life notwithstanding - I find these to be the most disgusting little things.  I saw one in my yard when I was about 5 years old and ran screaming into the house to find a parent to dispatch the "monster."  But today's caterpillar was different.  No ugly colored warts...just a smooth back with a pattern that was accurate camouflage for sitting on leaves.  He looked like the center of a leaf, all the way to the two lines that converged at his - I guess you'd call it the tail end - to look like a stem.  No camera.  So I convinced him to climb on a finger and went back to show some of my friends.  Mixed reviews on that.  One let out a small, controlled scream.  And the other looked, found him fascinating, but didn't mind that I quickly put him on a shrub near the door.  Glad I didn't bring him in.  But I kind of wish I'd found a jar or something to bring him home.  He was just..."counter, original, spare, strange."  At least I should have had my camera. 

I certainly was toting it during the move so I could detail the unraveling of my office.  The neon pink labels on my stuff did not offset my dark mood.  They should have been blue...and I should have just flowed with it.  Today would have been a better day to document.  He looked like a leaf!  And then there were the iridescent little mushrooms growing on the parkway... Wow.  Woulda, shoulda, coulda...