Back when I was reading a fair bit of philosophy, I came across a book that was highly recommended and sounded fun. It was called The Grasshopper and was about games and was written as a dialogue - with illustrations. That couldn't have ticked more boxes. Shame of it was, I found it rather boring.
And I can't remember much about it apart from the idea that games are the voluntary decision to overcome unnecessary obstacles. So that covers mountain climbing, weightlifting and stuff as well as games... football, for example, makes it hard to put the ball in the net because you can't use your hands and 11 players are trying to stop you.
I think part of the "charm" was the playfulness of the grasshopper compared with the overly earnest ant.
"Grasshopper", by the way, always makes me think of the series "Kung Fu" in which the blind master calls the young trainee by that name.
But, none of this was in my mind when I photographed this grasshopper. Instead, I was recalling a) how there had been one on my car a few days earlier, b) how Lisa had pointed one out to me at Pitsford a few weeks ago and c) how I had realised that I didn't notice any at all last year.
There is a d) as well - that I know precious little about grasshoppers. For example, I thought locusts were a different creature, but it seems locusts is just what grasshoppers are called when there are a lot of them. That's interesting. I mean, there are group words for many creatures (a charm of finches, a murder of crows) but the creatures themselves do not earn a different name. However many starlings there are, they are still starlings.
But here's something I did know about them - and crickets (what the hell are crickets? how are they different?): they stridulate. That's the name for their singing, done by rubbing parts of legs against parts of wings. I love this, taken from Wikipedia:
The songs are a means of communication; the male stridulation seems to express reproductive maturity, the desire for social cohesion and individual well-being.
Individual well-being. The mind and heart of the grasshopper.
I knew the difference once upon a time but now had to check it online. https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/insects-invertebrates/facts-about-grasshoppers-crickets/
Crickets rub their wings together. Grasshoppers rub leg and wing. Yeah that's cool about locusts. They're the ones who munch away in huge numbers and eat everything in their path.... That is a lovely Wikipedia quote. I like your grasshopper pic. I haven't seen any yet. This poem of Mary's is one I like - it starts with a particular grasshopper with interesting jaws (and ends with that famous quote) https://www.best-poems.net/mary_oliver/the_summer_day.html Oh and I remember Kung Fu.