For Rebecca

When I saw this wraith-like praying mantis in early September, I thought she was at death's door. After all, once the female is ready to lay eggs surrounded by a special protective mass for hatching next spring, her work is almost over.

Her swollen abdomen, full of next year's offspring. seemed to portend the end of her life

But weeks later, I saw a female mantis in my butterfly bush, all the more gravid.

So this is the latest news of the mantid world in my back yard, something Rebecca claims she considers an attraction to Plaintalker II.

Whatever.

--Bernice