Sunday, July 26, 2015

good morning Jessicca

letter to my daughter
sunday, 26 july


Jessicca




Our local family medicine held an employee seminar the other day.





Touching base with teamwork just makes good sense.





Did you know how to transfer water using only paper plates?





Team Green celebrates their victory.





Doctor Jones demonstrates a successful pretzel toss.





Our team leaders.





Your balloon isn't touching both bodies, numbers three and four.





To no one's surprise the balloons soon became a problem.





Suddenly Doctor Smits wipes out Doctor Jones.





Then everyone cut loose.





Eventually good order was restored.





It's a bit like keeping hopes aloft.





The challenge is staying airborne.





One of our participants went rogue.





Feverish aggression showed no regard for friendship.





Events rose beyond the teachable moment and class was dismissed.


              Love,
                         Dad



©  Tom Taylor




Sunday, July 19, 2015

good morning Justin

letter to my son
sunday, 19 july



Justin



Saturday was a day for the coast.





There I saw Grackles strutting across the taxpayers’ lawn.





This Laughing Gull and his crew ate half my French Fries.





Here’s one of those smart alec Grackles dropping in for some leisure time.







This bug on the door finds white enamel as far as the eye can see.  
She’s thinking it’s become one of those days.





The Ibis here made the day feel like Florida.





Once one’s tummy is filled, it’s relaxation time in the tree roost.
  




Incidentally, a few gators lurked nearby.





Down the road a farmer planted some flowers





that were infested with butterfly.


Love,
          Dad 




©  Tom Taylor



Sunday, July 12, 2015

Good Morning Jacob

letter to my son
sunday, 12 july



Jacob…



Ebony Jewelwing
Damselfly

                    Darth Vader – all predator just like the larger dragonflies.  
                    As a meal you will be devoured quickly.  
                    Suffering will be brief.





Green June Beetle
                               
                    Clumsy flyer and drags its belly when walking.  
                    Flies into windows, screens and porch lights.  
                    Loves peaches.





Cabbage White
Butterfly

Beaded antennae are characteristic of butterflies, unlike tapered antennae of moths.  Both types of insects have scaled wings.  This doesn’t seem coincidental with such large wings.  The animal must tolerate the added weight and aerodynamic drag of scales because large surface areas require insulation to maintain body temperature.  That's my guess.





Bumble Bee

Harvesting pollen requires being able to work comfortably in any body orientation.
               





Southern Pearly-Eye
Butterfly

How many butterflies can manage landing on vertical glass?  Dust on the window must have made the surface detectable.  Here’s how it spent the night.  A quick continental breakfast at sunrise and it was gone.





Black Ant

                    These guys are foragers, pioneers exploring the unknown.  
                    It’s risky business but there’s also opportunity for great reward.





eggs

                    A small pod containing a soup of molecular structures 
                    and a list of instructions, DNA, to organize them 
                    into a new instance of an insect.





seeds

                    Eggs of plants departing their nest with great fanfare.  
                    It’s an uncertain journey on the wind.  
                    Only a few grow to become plants.  
                    Most simply provide food for hungry animals.





sparrow

Most of the time it is best to go about your business unnoticed when you’re a sparrow.  
Find a mate in your neck of the brush, set up housekeeping in a thicket, raise your young 
and keep an eye out for snakes.





American Goldfinch
Female

Mom is busy making a breakfast of thistle seeds, perfect for growing young finches.





American Goldfinch
Male

Dad stands watch over his family’s store of food.





Bumble Bee

Come and get it!


Love,
          Dad




©  Tom Taylor




Friday, July 10, 2015

happy birthday jacob!

friday, 10 july





happy  birthday!


add another:  1++

what a curious dimension, time

i bring you relics

herein lies the proof of life
stacked one atop another

you will enjoy this day 
        with your usual irony

love
          dad



 ©  Tom Taylor

Sunday, July 5, 2015

good morning Jack

letter to my son
sunday, 5 july


Jack





              Kannapolis has a park near the center of town that 
           manages to stay hidden from the goings on around here.





           The deep shade provides cool comfort to those fleeing 
               the oppression of southern summer heat.





       These surroundings are strictly high rent and the robins 
   doing business here know they’ve most definitely lucked out.





       Soon these tent worms will break free from their silk purse
cocoon and run the gamut of lip-smacking birds.





            The red-bellied woodpecker is a longtime aficionado, 
             sampling most any creature that crawls.





   A clear stream runs nearly the length of this long, winding park.





         Over time it has cut its way to the bedrock that underlies 
               this small North Carolina town.





                It’s up to dragonflies close by to police against                  pesky mosquitoes and flies.





          Resting at the base of one tree was this magnificent
coral fungus, big enough to eat a small dog.





            It’s July and this Rusty Blackbird is supposed to be with 
            his friends north near Canada.  He didn’t get the word.  
            As if he cares.

Love,
          Dad


 ©  Tom Taylor