A Cheeky Grin

Whipple Dam, a nearby state park, is the best place I know of for spotting dragonflies and damselflies. I took Friday off as a vacation day, and we went swimming at Whipple Dam. The water was just glorious, cool and inviting, like silk against the skin.

We had a picnic - ham and cheese sandwiches, homemade potato salad, and potato chips - in one of the CCC-era pavilions (for more info about the Civilian Conservation Corps, see this Wikipedia link).

I walked along the water's edge with my camera, snapping pictures, smiling like a child. There were so many dragonflies and damselflies, they fairly buzzed about my head. It was like being in heaven - a bug-lover's heaven, where all the bugs are fancy, brightly colored, and beautiful.

This fellow seemed to be giving me a cheeky grin. I thought it might be a dragonfly, but a friend suggests it might be a variety of spreadwing damselfly.

Do you see that crusty exoskeleton in the upper left? A dragonfly or damselfly begins its life as an aquatic creature, and eventually crawls up onto a plant and emerges in its winged form to fly the skies.

I'm guessing that crusty exoskeleton is an exuvia, the part that is left behind after the change. What do damselflies and dragonflies think when they look upon the shell of their old life? - I wondered.

Do they look back at the shell of what they once were and laugh, thinking of how sheltered, how limited, their lives were before they took to the air? Or do they miss the feel of the silky water against their bodies; the long, cool swim . . . ?

Lovers of dragonflies and damselflies may enjoy some of these other photos:
Jewels begetting jewels
Double damselfly delight
King of the hill!
Dragonfly!
The birth of a dragonfly
Damselfly: A living flash of light