Fragile Beauty

Dragonfly

Damselfly

Damselfly

Dragonfly

And no, when I say "fragile beauty" I'm not talking about myself. Even though many consider me to be quite a beauty, I'm not that fragile. What I'm talking about is the fleeting beauty of the Summer season with it's tremendous burst of life. Every plant and animal is intensely focused on accomplishing their reproductive business before Winter returns everything to the deep freeze. It is obviously this reproductive business that gives us the flowers and fruits of Summer, but it also gives us the wispy, fluttering, buzzing beauty of the insects. I exclude all deer flies, black flies and biting midges from the ranks of the beautiful even though I'm sure that in their respective communities they have their equivalent of beauty queens. As a tribute to the fragile insect beauty of Summer, I offer the photos of dragonflies and damselflies above. My daughter-in-law tells me that what distinguishes the two is the way they hold their wings when not flying. The damselfly apparently folds its wings back along its body whereas the dragonfly holds them straight out. Dragonflies and damselflies begin life as eggs in a body of water, hatch to become nymphs and eventually emerge as the zig-zagging insects we are familiar with. Once they emerge, they have only a few weeks to "hook up" before they die. It's the sort of situation that gives great urgency to your dating activities. Reminds me a little bit of our single-minded focus in high school.