August - September

These are my numerous observations of animals throughout the months of August and September.


August

6/8/2011 - I laid in a patch of purple blossoms and watched the bees flying from each one. There were two types of bees, hairy ones and teeny tiny smooth ones. I fell asleep in the grass as they buzzed around me.
6/8/2011 - I was meditating when I looked up and saw a solitary pink rose blossoming on a vine covered wall. I thought about love, and then a bat began swooping low over the pool. Two bats flew in swooping patterns over the pool, probably catching bugs. I found a dead dragonfly in my bathtub.

6/8/2011 - giant shiny blue/black flying beetle flying close to the garbage cans while I cleaned up angry, after my boss yelled at me.
6/8/2011 - shiny green beetle sitting on the ledge of a vine covered archway where I sat to draw flowers, blue/black flying beetle again today buzzing around the same spot as I drew a picture.
11/8/11 - mosquitoes have been driving me crazy for the past two weeks. while I was on the computer today one was feeding on my left pointer finger. I swatted at it and it continued whining around me. It prompted me to look up mosquitoes, and then she magically went away. I found out some interesting facts. Mosquitoes are eaten by dragonflies, dragonflies are eaten by bats... go figure.

13/8/11 - I saw a pheasant for the first time. It flew up into a tree when I arrived. I was talking about something that I wanted, but in a tone of dissatisfaction with what I already had. Then I got something close to what I wanted, and I felt ungrateful. I prayed to the great spirit/universe to forgive me and a grasshopper landed on my shirt, and then hopped away.
14/8/11 - While driving through the country side with my boss I saw turtle doves. I was very delighted because I don't see them in the city.
16/8/11 - I saw a hoopoe. There is a fig tree in the front yard with a net draped over it, the hoopoe was caught in the net, but he made his way out of it.
22/8/11 - The bats put on a show for me this evening. It amazes me how close they fly next to me. Inches away from where I'm standing. I feel like they acknowledge that I acknowledge them.

Hoopoe

23/8/11 - I saw a hoopoe fly over my head this morning. Before that I saw a turtle dove perched on a lamp. Every day I see swallows doing aerial acrobats. I wasn't sure what they were called, and today I thought while I was watching them that if I didn't find out the name of them they would feel neglected.
24/8/11 - a cute little green caterpillar was crawling on my shoe today in the park while I was stretching. He was the sweetest most innocent looking thing. A woman with her baby was feeding crackers to turtles, and they ate them excitedly, I would have never thought that turtles liked crackers. Pigeons sat together in the grass, I thought they were all females because of their size and the shapes of their bodies, but I could definitely be wrong. I asked the parrots for one of their feathers today. There's a bunch of them in this one spot before I arrive at the park they're always making so much noise, today I told them they sound like monkeys. Those aren't the same ones I asked for feathers, I asked the ones in the park for those. I saw a bunch of crows gather to feast on something, I think it was bread, I watched them flying away with something white hanging from their beaks. There's a moth sitting in front of me on the wall, I think she's watching me talk to myself about the feelings of love and fear that I have for my eagle friend.
25/8/11 - I went outside, at my favorite time of day, sunset, and watched the swallows perform their show. I was thinking about people who annoy me, and mosquitoes buzzed around me. Then I thought about their good qualities, and a crow flew overhead, silently. Then I thought maybe I already love them, and they already love me and two turtle doves appeared sitting on the lamp overhanging the wall covered with vines.
27/8/11 - a mosquito bit me on my lip while I was sleeping, it woke me up. I killed that sucker, and splattered my blood all over the wall. I killed another the day before, and I felt such a great sense of satisfaction. I hate that I let them bother me so much, but they are so annoying! Why not just silently bite me and get it over with? Is it really necessary to buzz in my ear letting me know it's going to happen?

September

1/9/11 - While I was helping out my boss I saw this strange insect, it hopped and fell back into the grass and then it flew into a tree. I opened the glass doors and on the window shade was a lady bug, it made me feel very joyful. I was thinking about how marvelous it was that I maintained my good mood throughout the day, and I stepped outside to answer the door and a hoopoe flew over my head, it made me even happier.
4/9/11 - I was upset because I felt like me eagle friend was avoiding me. A fly came to sit on my lap and I told him all about it. He sat and listened to every word, and then flew away shortly after I finished speaking. While at the beach I was standing next to a canal. There were rocks at the bottom and I saw about five crabs climbing on the rocks. They were the same color as the rocks so it was hard to see them at first. A white crane flew overhead as I left the beach to return to the center of Naples. Pigeons stalked the beach all day and sea gulls flew silently in the sky. I thought about my eagle friend the entire day.
12/9/11 - A parrot's call first thing in the morning. Lizards darting to and fro while I did my chores. While I was sweeping there was something small and dark on the ground, as I swept it up I saw the mental image of a wasp lying on its side. When I looked down there was in fact a wasp there. It was lying on its side, curling up, its legs in a flurry. It was dying. I felt bad because I thought I had killed it, but then I remembered what I saw in my head, he had been dying beforehand. I swept around him, and he did die. I came back later to place him in one of the potted plants. A bat let out a shrill loud call as it swooped down to take a drink from the pool.

13/9/11 at this very moment while I'm typing a fly is buzzing around me. He's crawling on my skin, in my hair and in my face. I feel like he's playing with me. I fancy it's the same fly I saw earlier. I got a good look at him because I was talking to him, and he flew away when I started complaining about my eagle friend. His body was narrow and his head smaller than I've seen on my most flies. He keeps crawling on my right hand. This morning I found a spider's web in this bush with bluish black berries. It was very intricately draped over and around the berries like a canopy. I was impressed. I didn't see the spider though. Today while I was meditating on lessons of forgiveness and working to refocus my energy a hoopoe flew overhead.
14/9/11 - Parrot's call first thing in the morning as I was distracted, falling into the same pattern of thinking I don't receive enough. She snapped me out of it, and I meditated on the beauty and unconditional loving of motherhood, and reminded myself that I am PMSing. A beautiful small black and white bird was trapped on the patio. She kept trying to escape but instead continuously collided into the plastic canopy. I was just happy it wasn't glass. I knelt beside her and watched the rapid thumping her of heart in her small chest. She was so beautiful. I wanted to touch her, but I was afraid that that racing heart would explode in her chest if I did. I opened the door, then went to the other side of her, and slowly inched towards her, without looking at her. She began to move away from me and then finally flew away once she saw that the door was open.
15/9/11 - I went to the park today. While I was walking there was this bug that jumped, and then flew, I think it's a grasshopper. I just read about locust/grasshoppers and it blew my mind, I didn't know it was the same insect undergoing transformation due to overcrowding. That is brilliant! A single parrot flew overhead screeching. After my jog, while I stretched under a tree, a wasp buzzed around me, it kept landing on me and crawling on me, which was so weird, I never had a wasp crawl on me before. Its presence felt very loving and I told it I love him.

17/9/11 - I was jogging in the park and I came across these giant aloe plants completely covered in spider webs. It looked like a whole spider community could live there, but I didn't see any spiders, only dead bugs. There were so many cats in the park today. When I was leaving there was a giant black cat close to the exit of the park, he was just sitting there looking like the boss, it made me think of a panther.
18/9/11 - This morning, the first thing I saw when I woke up was a giant moth. She was beautiful. She was trapped in the plastic canopy like the bird was. This time I just watched. She kept moving towards the source of light and pausing. It seemed like she was confused at first but as she got closer she grew calmer, until she finally flew free. Che bella.
23/9/11 - A white moth on the wall when I was fixing up the rooms. I blew at it to see if it was alive. It was. Later, at night, I went downstairs for water, and there was a huge dark brown/black moth on the table, facing the direction of the door (North). It was just sitting there, just like the previous. They're telling me to still myself so I can feel what's going on around me.

 25/9/11 - I was walking in the park and I noticed crickets hopping around on the trail in front of me. One stopped right in front of me. I bent down to have a closer look at it. He was beautiful. Especially his legs. There was a sliver of green under his wings and I was wondering if he was a grasshopper who had turned into a locust. When I thought that I heard a chirping noise. To my right was a green cricket, that answered my question, they were clearly different. He was sitting on a stalk of grass. I put my face close to him, and we watched each other. When I moved my face to the left he moved his whole body to the right, and vice versa. I spent a good two minutes doing. The cricket was silent and stayed in the same spot. I ran around the park and stopped in the grass under a bunch of pine trees. A cricket leaped from the ground into my face. While I stretched flies crawled on me drinking my sweat. I returned to that same spot from earlier and the cricket was still there. I wanted to pick him up, but thought it was disrespectful. I held my hand out to it and it just sat staring at me. Then when I moved my hand, he hopped away, startling me. After I noticed a tree that seemed to have fallen over. I wandered over to it and there was this large very beautiful orange and white cat sleeping underneath. I watched him sleeping, and he partially opened his eyes, I thought he was looking at me, but he must have been still sleeping, because suddenly he jumped up and took cover under the branches and watched me. I left him alone and tried climbing on top of a palm tree with its head cut off. Then I examined different types of plants that had aerial seeds. When I was leaving the park there was the large black panther cat again, sitting in the same spot, an elderly lady acknowledged him, and so did I. As I exited the park there was a slender orange and white she cat, she was really cute.

28/9/11 - I was touring the garden and I came to a flowering lime tree. Previously I didn't know it was a lime tree, until I saw the little lime buds growing. As I sat by a more mature lime tree a giant bee-like insect appeared. It was huge, black with iridescent blue wings. I was amazed and crept in for a closer look at this magnificent creature. I just thought that every day I see lizards scurrying about, and I never give them mention. I wonder what they do for the winter.