End of August Bugs

I can't wait for this summer to be over! The heat wave melted my brain, the typhoon winds blew me off my bicycle, and all my smart friends with money went somewhere pleasant for a few weeks. I'm so done with this sweltering, lonesome August.

So when I came home yesterday evening to okamakiri, a praying mantis at my door, ready to fight me, I was relieved. These voracious bug killers are mostly born in May, but they are at their feistiest from August through the autumn. Look here, bug. 

I helped this one over to the tall grass nearby.

Tonight, on my bike ride through a forest, I saw this frantic movement. I got closer, but just saw a lot of dead leaves. I had to look hard and wait for it to happen again. And there it was. A momsuzumega.

They're called momosuzume because their caterpillars gorge on peach trees. This one was not feisty. It had lost the legs on its left side, hence the frantic movement. It sure looks like a fallen leaf. I put it back in the underbrush.

There is a tiny bamboo grove visible from my window. The higurashi cicadas have started their woeful songs. They're singing, "Goodbye, summer!"