We took the dog for a walk at Croton Landing. I also took an enormous, and very heavy 600mm equivalent lens in case I came across any birds. As usual I didn’t find any, but I did see masses of monarch butterflies.

Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.

Our cat, Gypsy looking suitably spooky.

Of all the Halloween symbols, the black cat has definitely had to pay a price and earn their place in the festivities. Beginning at the time of Samhain, black cat symbolism led to many cats being burned alive.

Druids believed that evil humans could turn themselves into cats, which led the druids to lock the cats in cages and throw them into the sacred fires. Being a Halloween cat during the festival of Samhain was nothing to celebrate.

Later on in history, many believed that witches could turn into cats and black cats became the symbol for a witch’s familiar. Once again during the Witch Trials cats were killed along with the accused witches for being evil.

Interestingly enough, black cat symbolism is very different in many other countries where they are seen as good luck. (King Halloween).

Taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Meyer Optik Lydith 30mm f3.5

Ever since we moved to our house in Briarcliff Manor from time to time we see one of these in the lowermost level of the house. They seem to live in the crawl space but every once in a while one ventures out. I managed to get a closer look at this one and I’ve concluded that it’s a camel cricket – not originally native to the US. It originated in Asia. They don’t bite, don’t fly, don’t carry disease and, most importantly, don’t make noise like normal crickets. Our house must be their entire universe and I don’t have the heart to kill them. But then I’ve always liked bugs and this one, as bugs go, is rather cute.

Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.