January 30, 2009

  • cocoon

    IMG_3645
    cocoon (with foam)

    everyone tells me it's the weather, but i just haven't been able to get enough sleep lately!  and it's not because i've been staying up late...i've been going to sleep several minutes shy of 9 every night, and i still wince when my morning radio clicks at 6.  it makes me a little nervous about moving to nyc because nj seems to be the perfect place to hibernate for awhile.

    i saw this incredible cocoon in my japanese maple today.  it had taken me nearly an hour to get home today because of a water main break on route one, and when i took a "wily" shortcut, some traffic detours turned it into an interminable longcut.  my legs felt a little jelly-like when i finally emerged from the car. 

    normally, i walk right past my tree, but this time, it nearly poked me in the eye.  that was a pretty clear indication to me that it was time to prune it.  my friend, who gave me the tree for my birthday one year, is an avid gardener, and told me that i should stem all the sucker growth - basically the small branches that grow near the base of the tree because they inhibit the tree from growing more fully at the top.  it was while i was meditating life analogies and pruning the tree that i noticed a rather unsightly cocoon around the other side.

    i can't actually look at the picture for very long because even though the cocoon is a nice honey color, the shape is a little grotesque.  i couldn't help but notice the foaming substance towards the bottom of the cocoon, and though i got very close to it to take some macro shots, i never thought once about touching it.

    my greatest curiosity, of course, is wondering what's inside.  again, life analogies spill into my mind...in fact, i was just spouting them earlier in the afternoon when a friend and i were talking about processes being just as important as end results. 

    still, most life analogies with cocoons deal with the waiting and then the struggle to get out, but how many of them talk about how nice it is just to sit and chill for awhile?  i suppose that's because metamorphosis is never a calming process.  i can't imagine what it's like to change into a completely different form.  i think what i'm trying to do these days is just sit and chill for awhile...not necessarily transform...but then again, change doesn't always come from within.  sometimes it comes from outside.

    unfortunately, i'm in no mood to pontificate, and this is getting longer than i intended it, too.  normally, i would edit, but my bear cave beckons again...i promise to write more "meaningful" things again when i emerge.