Large bug: Cicada?

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My wife was gardening when she suddenly called me over. She has a small basket for her gardening implements and clinging to the side of it was a large insect – easily 1 1/2 inches long. I’m not very knowledgeable about insects but it seems to me that this is some kind of cicada. There is a species of cicada that comes out every 17 years – in their millions. They were supposed to appear in New York State in 2013 but apparently didn’t. Maybe they’ll come out in 2014 instead. If so we can look forward to a very large number of extremely noisy cicadas shortly. Fortunately they don’t bite or sting and don’t damage plants (although I believe their grubs can).

It’s a strange mixture of the ugly and the beautiful. It has a thick, stubby body that isn’t very appealing, but the diaphanous wings with the bright green veins are quite spectacular. The wonder is that such fragile looking wings can carry the large body. I’d like to see one flying.

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Geneva, Switzerland

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Lake Geneva from Quai du Mont-Blanc with the Jet d’eau in the background.

We lived in (or right next to) Geneva for eight years and yet I seem to have very few pictures from that time. I suppose there are a couple of reasons for this. First I was going through one of my periodic “soured with photography phases” – This was a particularly long one. Second, and probably more significantly we lived there in the pre-digital age. So I actually might have more pictures, but I’d have to go through boxes of old negatives to try to find them. I might do this, but I suspect I would still find very few.

Here are a few though. They were taken later. My younger daughter still lives in Geneva and we still visit from time to time – although not very much in recent years. Hopefully we’ll get there again soon. I have a yen to go up into the mountains.

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Brunswick Monument.

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Fountain near the Rue des Alpes

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Statue near the Jardin Botanique – right next to where I used to work.

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l’Auberge du Lion d’Or in Cologny – Michelin starred restaurant just down the road from where we lived.

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Runner in the Place des Nations with the Broken Chair and the Palais des Nations in the background.

Cooper

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Cooper (I know that’s his name because it’s on his name tag in the first picture) came out to greet us during another dog walk. As is common with this kind he was very curious. We have a cat (Gypsy) at home, but she’s very docile and refuses to fight with out dog, Jackson. Whenever he encounters another cat I have to be very careful. I think he believes that all cats are like Gypsy and doesn’t realize that some of them are mean and with sharp claws and teeth can be very dangerous – especially if they go for the eyes. So I was careful to keep him well away from Cooper.

I prefer the second picture, but unfortunately I missed the focus. This is all too common a story with me: if it moves I miss it. That’s why most of my pictures are of landscapes, buildings, objects etc. They don’t move around much.

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