All Posts Tagged ‘macrophotography

Post

Timelessness

14 comments

People, animals, and plants all exist in (and “as”) time. Thought/thinking is fundamentally sequential and is of time. It (i.e., thought) takes time in cause and effect (causal) sequences. Few seriously question about whether or not humans can exist beyond time’s framework. Fewer still ever exist in communion with the timeless.

Timelessness is, itself, a symbolic word and, like all words, has real limitations; the word is definitely not the thing. People tend to live with (and “as”) words and mental images, all of which are sequential symbols that basically are not the things that they represent or stand for. The word “energy” is not the energy; the word “sacred” is not the sacred. Yet we accept words and cling to words and mental images — habitually — and go on in that superficial way until we die.

If people could somehow be visited by the timeless, they surely would perceive it as being sacred, beyond the ordinary, beyond the mundane. That sacredness is never part of the field of time. It is not composed of patterns that you can see; it is not composed of patterns that you can hear; it is not composed of things that you can feel. The timeless and time never fully meet at any point. For it to visit one — and “visit” is a very crude and limited way of putting it, as all words are — one cannot merely be composed of sequential images, thoughts, patterns, fears, prayers, wishes, and desires. Most people are incapable of that — with all of their innumerable habits — and so they remain as they have for generations upon generations.

You cannot invite timelessness. It can never come if you are craving for it. It (i.e., timelessness) is not responsible for what takes place in the field of time, for neither did it create the field of time nor does it get involved with changing things (i.e., manipulating things) in the field of time.

So one who is wise can go beyond merely habitually existing as superficial symbols and other sequential mental patterns; then being beyond mere habitual routine, the timeless may or may not occur. But there is more to being wise than meets the eye.

From E. E. Cummings:

there’s time for laughing and there’s time for crying— for hoping for despair for peace for longing —a time for growing and a time for dying: a night for silence and a day for singing but more than all(as all your more than eyes tell me)there is a time for timelessness

______________________________________________________________________________

The photo is of some diminutive wild plants that grow amongst our lawn-grass. There are two or three insects in the photo. Do you see them?

Growing amongst the grass… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020

Post

Insights or Non- (Part 9)

19 comments

 

 

 

Imperishable insight is life that perceives its true reality (far beyond the limited, dead norm). 

If you try to anchor the ship of your mind in the supposedly safe harbor of orthodox security (i.e., traditional beliefs)… you’ll stay shallow and never go deep.

The wise mind goes beyond constant symbolic thinking; it does not necessarily always need to be recognizing things as it was taught.

The watery pool of the astute, reflective mind must be still to mirror the absolute truth.  A mere agitated mind, merely full of turbulence and turmoil, reflects nothing.

To a truly wise mind, many supposedly tantalizing sensations are rather trivial and somewhat meaningless… because a truly wise mind is content in itself, not needing extraneous stimuli to (eventually) make it happy.

Movements can claim to be solid entities.  Mere reactions can claim to have freedom.  Few truly evolve.

 

 

Nature’s Bounty … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

 

 

Post

To habitually take refuge in old fashioned beliefs may be like…

Leave a reply

.

To habitually take refuge in old fashioned beliefs may be like finding protection in a violent rainstorm by depending on an old metal umbrella.

.

[This is a moth and is a Bilobed Looper Moth.  They feed on alfalfa, clover, and an assortment of other plants.  It hibernates as a pupa in a thin cocoon.]

Just another vegetarian!  Photo by Thomas Peace 2014

Just another vegetarian! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014

Post

The gravity of living with awareness and kindheartedness far outweighs the minuscule misery of mindlessness.

5 comments

.

The gravity of living with awareness and kindheartedness far outweighs the minuscule misery of mindlessness.

.

[This butterfly is a Red-spotted Purple.  The mature caterpillar of this butterfly resembles a bird dropping; it is cream-colored with dark mottling and a saddlelike patch on the back.  It’s a very defensive and effective way of avoiding predators; look like a pile of crap and your enemies will not even notice you!  Tomorrow morning, I don’t think I’ll comb my hair!  😉 ]

Pride of the river bank!  Photo by Thomas Peace 2014

Pride of the river bank! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014

Post

Fly Caught by Spider in 55 Million Year Old Baltic Amber…

4 comments

.

.

.

.

.     The following is a photo I took of an action shot that has (literally) existed for 55 million years.  The photo is of a piece of Baltic Amber that contains a fly as it is being attacked by a spider.  The resins from certain trees would trap insects on occasion… just as they do in the plum trees in our back yard.  When buried by soil and eventually rock substrate, and due to pressure over millions of years, the resin transforms into jewel-like amber, permanently encasing/preserving the (now extinct) species of insects that unfortunately had fallen into the resin.  

.

.

.(Left click photo to enlarge; hit left return arrow to return back.)

The Spider & the Fly in Baltic Amber... by Thomas Peace 2013

The Spider & the Fly in Baltic Amber… by Thomas Peace 2013

Post

Petrified Dinosaur Bone…

1 comment

.

.

.

.

.    Do not merely be frozen in time like what is petrified in mediocrity.

.

.

.     A few of samples of dinosaur bone from the Jurassic Period, from southern Utah.  The bones, in natural formations, get permeated, under intense heat and pressure,  by various  minerals… and, depending on the minerals, various colors can occur… some more rare than others.  The bones are cut and polished… a time consuming process.  Each bone is unique in its own way.  Dinosaur bone easily becomes permeated because it is full of air pockets and blood vessel chambers to lighten its mass and (unlike in mammals) as an aid to respiration and air storage.   (Their respiratory system was, back then,  way more advanced than ours is today!  Birds, which evolved from dinosaurs, have such an advanced respiratory system.)

.

.

.

Polished Dinosaur Bone (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (4) by Thomas Peace 2013

Polished Dinosaur Bone (4) by Thomas Peace 2013

Post

Early Valentine…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.      from E. E. Cummings:

.

.

.     never could anyone

.     who simply lives to die

.     dream that your valentine

.      makes happier me than i

.

.     but always everything

.     which only dies to grow

.     can guess and as for spring

.     she’ll be the first to know

.

.

.

****************************************

Two-lips for Valentines... by Thomas Peace 2013

Two-lips for Valentines… by Thomas Peace 2013

****************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

****************************************

Post

Enlightenment…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.      True enlightenment — not the kind that some falsely imagine is

.      enlightenment — rarely, unfortunately, befalls upon human beings.  

.

.

.

*************************************************************************

.

.      from Walt Whitman:

.

.

.

.      Hast never come to thee an hour,

.      A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bub-

.                                bles, fashions, wealth,

.      These eager business aims — books, politics, art, amours,

.      To utter nothingness?

.

.

.

.****************************************************************************

(Left click on photos to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Close encounter... by Thomas Peace 2013

Close encounter… by Thomas Peace 2013

Feasting... by Thomas Peace 2013

Feasting… by Thomas Peace 2013

***************************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

*****************************************************************************

Post

The Royal Monarch that isn’t just for show…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.     As one… the thievery of the crooked, the indifference of the uncaring, and the bizarre oddness of the outwardly ostentatious… constitutes, in itself, its own punishment.  

.     Some things are innocent, content, and beautiful in themselves… and are the real blessings…

.

.

.

Just Being... photo by Thomas Peace 2013

Just Being… photo by Thomas Peace 2013

******************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

******************************************

 

Post

Like a Grey Rock Wandering…

2 comments

.

.

.

.

.      We are all one… we are not at all — as some would have you

.      believe — separate.   All creatures are (together) one.  Not many

.      creatures fully realize this. 

.      I (in my six-legged greyness) am supposed

.      to “blend in”… so that you do not see me.   But, you see me.  Speak

.      anything out loud,  anything whatsoever, and you will

.      also hear me.   

.

.

.

.******************************************************************************************

The following photographs of a “like a grey rock” sort of a thing… were taken in a wild, natural meadow.

*******************************************************************************************

.

.      from E. E. Cummings:

.

.

.

.      a like a

.      grey

.      rock wanderin

.

.      g

.      through

.      pasture

.      wom

.

.      an creature whom

.      than

.      earth hers

.

.      elf

.      could

.      silent more no

.      be

.

.

.********************************************************************

(Left click on an image to enlarge it; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

a like a grey rock...  by Thomas Peace 2013

a like a grey rock… by Thomas Peace 2013

a like a grey rock (2)... by Thomas Peace 2013

a like a grey rock (2)… by Thomas Peace 2013

a like a grey rock (3)... by Thomas Peace 2013

a like a grey rock (3)… by Thomas Peace 2013

*********************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com 

*********************************************************************

Post

Suffering is universal; we are all part of the totality of it…

2 comments

.

.

.

.

.     Suffering is universal; we are all part of the totality of it… and (together) we can go beyond it.  

.

.

.   Sometimes going beyond mere representative images and symbolic patterns (as what thoughts are)… is a fundamental way of truly transcending suffering.  Such a “going beyond” is silent, perceptive, non-fragmentary, and devoid of mere separation and indifferent distance.

.

.

.***************************************************************************************************

.     from Walt Whitman:

.

I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with
themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying,
neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband—I see the treacherous seducer
of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be
hid—I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see martyrs and
prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who
shall be kill’d, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look
out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.

*************************************************************************************

(Left click on image to enlarge it; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Purple Passion... photo by Thomas Peace 2013

Purple Passion… photo by Thomas Peace 2013

eternalfountainofyouth.com

*************************************************************************************

Post

Death Immense Is Not So As A Little Innocence…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.     Youth is growing down… when they are slowly losing their innocence

.     and are turning into more second-hand, dead copies of mere so-called 

.     grown-ups.    Never grow up… never lose your innocence.

.

.

.

.

.*************************************************************************

.     excerpt from E. E. Cummings:

.

.     And something thought or done or wished without

.     a little innocence,although it were

.     as red as terror and as green as fate,

.     greyly shall fail and dully disappear —

.

.     but the proud power of himself death immense

.     is not so as a little innocence

.

.

. ************************************************************************************

.     (Left click to enlarge the following photo; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

a little innocence by Thomas Peace 2013

a little innocence by Thomas Peace 2013

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

eternalfountainofyouth.com 

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Post

Praying Mantises… and Primitive Notions of Entropy…

Leave a reply

.

.     (Somehow, the two always belong together.)

.

.

.

.

.     Universal order eternally smiled at the limited, rather barbaric,

.     miseducated, ironclad notions of entropy… as certain minds,

.     after tha debate, star t ed 2 d tear e oar eight 2 knot in 8 all… & fine

.     alley dis hip it 8 Ed a wwwwwwwayyyyyyyyyyyy..y..y..y………

.

.

.

.

Praying Mantises will make a quick meal out of other insects within their vicinity, which is a rather entropic situation for the prey, but a rather non-entropic situation for the Mantises.  (Universal order, by the way, isn’t going bye-bye.)

.

.

.   I love handling Mantises in the wild.  Most, when caught, will tame down within a few minutes… after they bite the living daylights out of you!  Most will tame down so quickly that — after several minutes, when you put them back down on the ground — they actually zealously try to get back on your hand; they love to climb the wiggling fingers; to them it must be a fun sort of activity or exciting experience.  (At least that’s the case with the ones I’ve encountered.)  In our area I only found one Mantid that would not tame down, no matter what.  That one I called “a bronco”… and I hope not to experience another one like it for a very long time!

At one time, I had a Praying Mantis as a pet… in a large terrarium.  I fed it thawed frozen brine shrimp (daily) from my fingers.  It lived for a very long time and laid huge egg sacks full of many eggs (that I put in our backyard).  Female Mantises can lay fertile eggs even without ever coming into contact with a male Mantis; in such cases, the babies are exact clones of the mother.  (If they do mate with a male… the females sometimes eat the male’s head off… or consume much of his body.)  My pet Mantis really enjoyed climbing around on my fingers often.  I was with my pet Mantis on the day that it died; it continually kept kissing its arms/legs all around… as if it were saying “good-bye” to itself.

Mantises truly look “alien-like” in appearance!

***********************************************************************************************

(go figure)

.

.

.      from E. E. Cummings:

.

.

.      yonder deadfromtheneckup graduate of a

.      somewhat obscure to be sure university spends

.      her time looking picturesque under

.

.      the as it happens quite

.      erroneous impression that he

.

.      nascitur 

.

.

.

***********************************************************************************************

(Left click on the images to enlarge them; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

************************************************************************************************

Mantis (1)... hanging out with Tom...by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (1)… hanging out with Tom…by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (2)... hanging out with Tom... by Thomas Peace  2013

Mantis (2)… hanging out with Tom… by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantids are meticulous groomers!

Mantis (4) by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (4) by Thomas Peace 2013

Peeking over the antenna… right into the camera eye!

Mantis (5) by Thomas Peace 2013

Mantis (5) by Thomas Peace 2013

*********************************************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

*********************************************************************************************

Post

You say you want a revolution, well you know…

2 comments

.

.

.

.

Instead of the usual crass and ignorant revolution of violent disruption, war, and disharmony, why can’t there be an awe-inspiring, elevated, truly new revolution of respect, affection and (wise) holistic understanding?

.

.

.

********************************************************************************

excerpt from John Lennon:

You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You’d better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow 

Don’t you know it’s gonna be
Alright?

**************************************************************************

(Left click photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Well, you know... by Thomas Peace 2013

Well, you know… by Thomas Peace 2013

**************************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com  

**************************************************************************

Post

Purple Condemnation…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.    Can we look at ourselves without mere condemnation, without judgement and criticism… but just look without any of the past conditioning and knowledge that was instilled within (and “as”) us?

.

.*****************************************************************************************

.

.    from Stephen Crane:

.

.

.   “It was wrong to do this,” said the angel.

.   “You should live like a flower,

.   Holding malice like a puppy,

.   Waging war like a lambkin.”

.

.   “Not so,” quoth the man

.   Who had no fear of spirits;

.   “It is only wrong for angels

.   Who can live like the flowers,

.   Holding malice like the puppies,

.   Waging war like the lambkins.”

.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(Left click to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Grape Hyacinths by Thomas Peace 2013

Grape Hyacinths by Thomas Peace 2013

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

eternalfountainofyouth.com 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Post

Peace and Pieces…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.     To have lasting peace in the world, you can’t just look at

.     everything in pieces (i.e., in fragments).  Peace = no pieces!

.     The flowering plant (below) has many flowers (on different stems)…

.     but they are all “one”; they are not separate.  Each flower can be a bit 

.     different (than the others), but they all (in a big way) are also rather

.     similar… and they are not separate.

.

.

The friction between nations and groups is a reflection of the friction, fragmentation, and separative outlooks within each one of us.  We will never have a lasting and holistic peace if each of us continues to see things with a “broken” perspective.  Almost all of us have been educated to see things in a fragmentary way (i.e., “them” and “us”).  What is fragmentary, what sees and thinks with a “broken” perspective… must, by natural law, extend more conflict, disorder, and disharmony (to a significant extent) than need be.  What is ruptured internally extends that to manifest as an external rupturing.  We all can benefit from more holistic, intelligent, integral understanding.

***********************************************************************************

(Left click on photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Floral Integrity... by Thomas Peace 2013

Floral Integrity… by Thomas Peace 2013

***********************************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

***********************************************************************************

Post

Going beyond the conventional…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.     Life is meant to be lived (with vibrant awareness)… not mere

.     (second-hand) imitation; perhaps you shouldn’t spend it

.     looking through dead images that others instilled in you.

.

.

.

.***********************************************************************

.

.

.     from Stephen Crane:

.

.

.     “Think as I think,” said a man,

.     “Or you are abominably wicked;

.     You are a toad.”

.

.     And after I had thought of it,

.     I said:  “I will, then, be a toad.”

.

.

.

.**********************************************************************

(Left click on photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Self Portrait... by Thomas Peace 2013

Self Portrait… by Thomas Peace 2013

**********************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

**********************************************************************

Post

There is no plurality…

4 comments

.

.

.

.

.

.

.     There is no plurality… we are all one.

.

.

.

………………………………………………………………………………….

(Left click on images to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)

Shih Tzu (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

Shih Tzu (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

. ………………………………………………………………………………

Shih Tzu (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

Shih Tzu (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Shih Tzu (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Shih Tzu (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

eternalfountainofyouth.com

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Post

Compassion is thick, warm, and deep; indifference is…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.          Compassion — like the living, limitless heart of a truly dedicated, caring nurse — is thick, warm, and deep; indifference  — like a limited, superficial pool of dead ice — is cold and shallow.  

.

.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

.

.

.         from Walt Whitman:

.

.     And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral

.          drest in his shroud.

.

.  

.

. (Left click to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return back.)

Lacewing by Thomas Peace 2013

Lacewing by Thomas Peace 2013

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

eternalfountainofyouth.com

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Post

One safe and quiet blade of grass…

Leave a reply

.

.

.

.

.

.

.      (Note:  The following is rather subtle… and may be difficult for many to grasp.

.      Please examine it carefully… and with a mind that has dropped — at least for a

.      while — its ironclad, conventional background and inherited prejudices.)      😉

.

.

.     One safe and quiet blade of lofty, unconventional grass,

.     withstanding the traditional rain, soars higher (to the truth of

.     her) than millions of trampled, overpowered, fallen 

.     “blade-unawarenesses.”

.

.

. **************************************************************************************

.      from E. E. Cummings:

.

.

.     the people who

.     rain(are move as)proces

.     -sion Its of like immens-

.     ely(a feet which is prayer

.

.     among)float withins he

.     upclimbest And(sky she

.     )open new(

.     dark we all findingly Spring the

.

.     Fragrance unvisible)ges

.     -tured together-

.     ly singing ams

.     trample(they flying silence

.

.

*********************************************************************************

(Left click to enlarge; hit “return arrow” to return.)

Leaf of Grass byThomas Peace 2012

Leaf of Grass by
Thomas Peace 2012

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

eternalfountainofyouth.com 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

.

Post

Actual Photos of the Immortal Web of Time…

1 comment

**************************************************************************

One wonders… what can be wiser than a wise spider?

.

Certainly not a lot of ordinary humans.  Most humans, strangely enough, are stuck in time… and don’t even have a clue…

**********************************************************************************************************

phys·i·og·no·my

[fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee, -on-uh-mee]  Show IPA

noun, plural phys·i·og·no·mies.

1.

The face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character:
a fierce physiognomy.
2.

Also called anthroposcopy.  The art of determining character or personal characteristics
 from the form or features of the body, especially of the face.
3.

The outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some “insight” into its
 character: the physiognomy of a nation.
.
.
.********************************************************************************************************
.
..    from Emily Dickinson:
.
.
.
..   A SPIDER sewed at night
..   Without a Light
..   Upon an Arc of White.
.
..   If Ruff it was of Dame
..   Or Shroud of Gnome
..   Himself himself inform.
.
..   Of Immortality
..   His Strategy
..   Was Physiognomy.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(Left click on a photo to enlarge it; hit the left “return arrow” to return back.)

.

The Immortal Web of Time (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

The Immortal Web of Time (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

.

The Immortal Web of Time (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

The Immortal Web of Time (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

.

The Immortal Web of Time (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

The Immortal Web of Time (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

*******************************************************************************************************

eternalfountainofyouth.com

********************************************************************************************************

Post

Photos: Three Creatures in an Eternal Flower…

Leave a reply

Curiously, it may be that “mostpeople” function in the details, but never seem to care about seeing the big picture.

Curiously, time and eternity may be parts of that bigger picture that “mostpeople” don’t care enough about seeing.

It’s always  important to see the little details; it’s also always  important to curiously see (and understand) the big picture.

.

.

.

from Emily Dickinson:

.

ESTRANGED from Beauty — none can be —

For Beauty is Infinity —

And power to be finite ceased

Before Identity was leased.

.

.

*********************************************************************************************************

(Left click on the photos to enlarge them; hit the left “return arrow” to return.)

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (1) by Thomas Peace 2013

.

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (2) by Thomas Peace 2013

.

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (3) by Thomas Peace 2013

eternalfountainofyouth.com

*************************************************************************************************

Post

Video of a Royal “Painted Lady” in Eternal Sunshine…(plus an extra Photo)…

Leave a reply

.

.

.(Left click on the photo to enlarge it; hit “left return arrow” to return.)

Painted Lady by Thomas Peace 2013

Painted Lady by Thomas Peace 2013

.

.

.   from Emily Dickinson:

.

.   THE BUTTERFLY’S Numidian Gown

.   With spots of Burnish roasted on

.   Is proof against the Sun

.   Yet prone to shut its spotted Fan

.   And panting on a Clover lean

.   As if it were undone —

.

.

.

.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Other of Emily’s insightful poems occur in my book.     eternalfountainofyouth.com 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Post

Photo of 300 Million Year Old Damselfly Fossil that I found…

10 comments

Here’s a photo of a 300 million year old fossil of a Damselfly that I found in the Mazon Creek area (of Illinois).  Mazon Creek is world famous for the soft bodied fossils of animals and plants from the Pennsylvanian Period.

The entire piece is a little over 6 inches wide.  The Damselfly is  toward the lower right section, is facing right, with its hind-end abdomen (on the left, tilting down below the wings).  If you look closely at the fossil, under the head to the right, you can see little fossilized legs; these legs were (apparently) kicking at the time when the insect became entrapped in mud or sediment (hence the darker impression under the head from the kicking/struggling).  There are sections with Pennsylvanian foliage, also fossilized on the piece.

I mentioned the fossil in the comment section of Jerry Stolarski’s blog… and he requested that I post a photo of it.  So here it is…

300 Million Year Old Damsel Fly fossil Thomas Peace c. 2013

300 Million Year Old Damsel Fly fossil Thomas Peace c. 2013

Below is a photo of Damselflies in a mating ritual.  Note that, after millions of years of evolution, their abdomens are a lot thinner and streamlined.  Why would that be advantageous?   Well, it could enable them to fly better… and it would prevent their great enemy from getting a lot of extra nourishment… thus keeping their enemy’s population down!

Damsel fly mating ritual Thomas Peace c. 2013

Damsel fly mating ritual Thomas Peace c. 2013

Below:   Their archenemy not getting as much nourishment 300 million years later!   (I’ll post some pics of spiders in 55 million year old Baltic Amber in the future.)

Spider & Damsel fly by Thomas Peace c. 2013

Spider & Damsel fly by Thomas Peace c. 2013