A Hornets Nest

Beyond the oak swamp behind my parents' house, was the Ahern's farm. One spring we watched wasps build a nest in an oak tree beside their house. It was a fascinating process, but slightly disappointing at its completion. It was not the symmetrical hanging top-shaped nest of cartoons from which malevolent black clouds emerged in buzzing arrows missling toward the butts of fleeing animated victims. Anything on T.V. - even Looney Tunes - held an imagined veracity superior to events occurring in my actual life (why DIDN'T we live in a house like The Brady Bunch's?). These hornets obviously didn't watch enough television, so instead formed their home at a juncture of branches - skinny limbs forming veins and arteries protruding from a deflated grey paper heart. It lacked symmetry. It lacked an orchestral string section. Still, we watched it for hours.





A hornets nest like the ones on T.V. (or rather half of a lengthwise sliced nest) appeared at the gallery. I was thrilled. Here are some pictures. Clicky-make-big.

Cue string section.