Plague of gnats

“He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them. . .” Psalm 78:45 (NKJV)

The Eastern Washington prairie in autumn is beautiful for its colors and still mild weather, with alternating rain and sunshine. A less likeable fall feature is the gnats. They swarm, tiny specks of face-level (no matter how tall you are) white flies. They turn black when scrunched, as I tend to think they deserve to be, but then I’m not a bug person.

My husband was able to get photos of a couple of gnats in flight, which is apparently their primary mode of existence.

The brief natural history of a particular earwig

Outdoors the temperature was rising and rain was falling. Indoors I was dusting. Because the dining room table had been moved too close to the window, a particular earwig landed on my shoulder when I bumped the window frame with my shoulder for want of clearance between the table and the window, or he would still be alive. However, as things are, the particulate matter of this particular earwig is equably distributed between the dining room floor and the sole of my shoe.

another summer highlight