We've had quite a bit of good traffic to the the new blog, a fact that is simply wonderful to see. Since we already have such a dedicated readership, while it is possible, we have decided to update the blog as often as we can. One idea is to have a Photo of the Day, regularly updated. This will also hopefully help get rid of some of those inadequate (blurry, etc.) images. We look forward to receiving your comments on this idea!

One reader casually asked, so where exactly is home, anyways? Excellent question! I'm not quite sure we have a good answer at the moment, but we're working on it. This paper wasp, however, has a very well defined sense of home. She is a lone, pregnant female who is starting to build her colony. She has a short time to build her hive, the beginnings of which are seen here. She has to lay her eggs, one per comb, nurture them until they hatch into grubs, feed them with paralyzed-caterpillar bits, until they grow up and join the family. They keep building, and she keeps laying, until the year is done, and some of her daughters mate, to start their own homes.

For them, home is a very permanent place. Once they've found a site, they stick with it. Us? Not so much...at least, not as of yet. But, we are very happy to have wonderful families who don't complain (much) as we move from place to place, and excellent friends that regularly share their homes with us.

We're beginning to understand that being home is a state of mind. A state of knowing that you fit, in just the right way, somewhere. It doesn't necessarily have to be a physical place.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31, 2005 at 4:10 p.m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.