Any arthropod in North America that thinks it can chase me has got another think coming. Now, if I were visiting, say, Australia or Africa, that would be another thing!

It’s a female, of course—males aren’t nearly this big. Probably a Chinese praying mantis, an invasive species that is the largest in North America, reaching lengths of nearly 4½ inches. Not as large as a species from Java that can grow to almost 8 inches—and there are reports of even larger species!

big mantis

My morning. How’s your day going so far?

“We are moving to run–hide–fight protocol. This is not a drill.”

[How’s your day going?]

if you ever visit us, this is what will greet you in our vestibule

Showed the youngest kids Poltergeist for the first time tonight, they enjoyed it but deemed it not at all scary compared to Coraline, the starting baseline for scary movies here in the Grey Havens

Northern lights in northern NJ?!

Spare a thought, too, for Peg Dixon, who voiced Aunt May (among many other characters, notably Betty Brant) in the 1966 Spider-Man animated series (perhaps only in the season 2 origin-story episode?—I don’t recall Aunt May being a regular in the thinly populated world of that series).

SDdecentfilms.bsky.socialOct 10, 2024 1:53pm

THIS IS JEFF DONNELL ERASURE Jean Marie “Jeff” Donnell played Aunt May in the 1977 Spider-Man movie starring Nicholas Hammond—a quarter century before Rosemary Harris in the 2002 Raimi film! Harris is perfect in the role, sure, but she’s not the original.

I was getting to her!

THIS IS JEFF DONNELL ERASURE Jean Marie “Jeff” Donnell played Aunt May in the 1977 Spider-Man movie starring Nicholas Hammond—a quarter century before Rosemary Harris in the 2002 Raimi film! Harris is perfect in the role, sure, but she’s not the original.