With Halloween at the near, I ought to
share something spooky.
On a recent hike along the Rogue River
beginning near Union Creek, my comrade Lesley—who has the eyes of
an owl—chanced upon an abandoned hornet's nest, on the ground,
having fallen from a tree, and now withering away. Instantly, I
noted that it looked like the face of a monster, or zombie perhaps.
And Lesley expressed a desire to see my depiction of said creature.
After a few sketchbook attempts at beasts with the layered carapace
of the hornet's nest, I came upon “Hornet Woman."
I am considering making her the subject
of a comic book. She has potential.
All autumn at Crater Lake, I guided
children on school field trips through a forest of hemlock trees
and—yellow jackets. In the warm autumn, the stinging insects were
prevalent. On cold days, they slowed to a torpor. For many insects,
weather has a direct impact on behavior, including activity and
breeding. In our modern era of
global warming, we have increased
populations of mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. And the
whitebark pines featured in my previous post are getting devoured by
mountain pine beetles, who are in a population boom, thanks to
climate change.
While bees and wasps are rather
non-agressive, and not to be feared, they may be an indicator of
something truly ominous.
I hope that we come together against global warming, before it's too late.
