Come On And Eat My Brain

Yesterday I was minding my own business, just pulling out some weeds in my garden, when I heard a large kerfuffle on my head. Note: if it was in my head, then you'd have every right to worry about me, but it was definitely on my head.

I quickly ascertained that one of three things had happened:

1) a hummingbird had landed on my hat.

2) A dragonfly had landed on my hat.

3) Aliens were smaller than we'd been led to believe and they made a loud whirring noise when they landed on one's head.

I very sheepishly took my hat off (in case it was a hostile alien). Lo and behold, it was none of the three suspects that I had imagined. It was a cicada. A gorgeous cicada! I'm not sure if I've ever seen one before but I was pretty certain that's what landed on my hat. I had heard them making their cicada sounds earlier in the day, and later in the day as well. I remember, as a child, being fascinated when I heard them in Brighton Court (I was easily amused).

Cicadas look like what you might expect if a dragonfly had sex with a grasshopper, and perhaps that's how they came about. This aeronautic, naughty love-child also looked like it was on steroids....very muscly. Big shoulders and a head like a Hereford, the size of which I can only dream. It stayed on my hat long enough for me to take the hat off and place it on the ground, run into the house, grab my camera, and return for a photo shoot. After about two minutes it buzzed off, literally. I considered myself quite lucky to have survived the attack. There's little doubt that it could have tunneled in through my ear and eaten my brain, but perhaps it wasn't looking for a snack.