a couple of pine needles clinging to a wall

was all it appears at first glance hung from below a little roadside madonna where i'd stopped to slow down and just be. and this little discovery was my reward.

if you look closely, you can see that pineneedles which seem to defy gravity do so because they have grown legs! this is the first time i've ever seen this wonderfully fun critter outside of the water.

the first time i found this friend was in the connecticut creek near my grandma's home where i have "romped and stomped" throughout my childhood up to this day, and only a few years ago noticed little clumps of leaf fragments and pine needles move in ways not explicable by the shallow water currents. because they were the hand-built shell disguises of these little insects!

then i heard about a contemporary french artist named hubert duprat who did something quite magical and collaborated with these little artists, providing them with mini gemstones and tiny flakes of gold leaf to build with, and voila'....handmade art jewelry!