Especially for Mom

For those of you who know my mother well, you're probably aware that there's almost nothing she appreciates so much as a good praying mantis. So naturally, when one took up residence in our front porch for a few days, I thought of you, ma. The above photo (blurred as I held the camera at unsteady arm's length to get as close as possible) was taken Friday when we first noticed her perched on a wall-hanging. For the past several days, we've spied her in various porch locations as we come and go, and today when we went home for lunch, we couldn't find her. Did she leave through one of the (gaping) holes in the screen? Did a hungry bird snatch her away? Or is she just hidden where we can't see? We never saw her catch any bugs, but the bug population is generally high, so she's probably well fed. And now you know: praying mantids look about the same in Cameroon as they do in Michigan.