Leaf Galls

Leaf galls look spectacularly weird, but are pretty harmless. Like the cicadas, they are quite plentiful this year. Harmless and plentiful.
While reading about the cicadas, I learned a theory about their mass emergence. Apparently, the cicadas are not only harmless but also appetizing to pretty much everything. The birds, the possums, the squirrels, the chickens, the fish, the ducks: everyone munches happily on the cicadas. To judge by the recipes appearing in the popular press, even humans are cicada-predators! So, the cicada survival strategy is to appear in such vast numbers as to cause "predator satiation," which just means that even after all their hunters have full bellies, there are still enough cicadas left over for breeding purposes.
This strategy might be a life lesson! The lesson is clearly to do everything in abundance. Don’t write one story, write 50 stories. Then even if 49 of them are rotten, there still might be a good one. Well, maybe write 200 stories. This is clearly my own personal approach to photography, in fact. I’ve heard the strategy called “spray and pray,” only affordable for the lay photographer in the digital age. What never fails to amaze me about this strategy, by the way, is just how often the VERY FIRST photograph of a given subject is the best. The doesn’t always happen, but it happens often enough to make one wonder (just a little bit).
But you could go outside the realm of art to apply the cicada strategy. Suppose you’re having a dinner party. You could prepare twenty or thirty different dishes instead of one main dish. Everyone who comes to the party will find something they love to eat … and you won’t have to cook dinner again for at least two weeks. Or, suppose you have something important to communicate to your husband. Instead of making a special date, then bringing up The Subject, you could talk about it continuously, in many different settings: in the car, at dinner, before going to sleep, while grocery shopping. Assuming he wasn’t extremely gifted at tuning you out, the chances are that he would think this subject was, in fact, important. For that matter, you might yourself learn something from hearing yourself talk. Chances are that The Subject will evolve for you (assuming that you actually listen to what you are saying) and you’ll gain new insights concerning its importance. And every little reaction or lack of reaction from your husband will give you new insights concerning The Subject as well.
Note to readers: do not try this strategy with teenagers as they are uniquely resistant to repetition and also, they will tune you out automatically even on the first broaching of The Subject unless you pick the Exact Right Moment.

[Mary Siegle]

The leaf gall picture is pretty cool, but the commentary knocks it out of the park! 🤣

[katy]

I am going to have to agree with @mcsiegle I love this photo and the commentary! I love reading your writings.

[Walks @ 7]

They do look innocent enough. Your explanation of predator satiation, and long term marketing of ideas to a husband or a spouse is great. You are so right about teenagers - they already know everything anyway...:-)

[Kathy]

Huh! Learn something new everyday. I like the subject that has captured your fancy today. Seems you've thought a lot about it. Hope you got your message across ok.