bug magnet

twice in the past few weeks i have found myself the landing pad for 2 of the 3 bugs i can think of that i wouldn't mind landing on me... the third is a ladybug but those have landed on me lots of times.
first, while i was at the farm, i was in the house and glanced down to find that a Praying Mantis was riding on my shoulder! he was a pretty small one (when he gets bigger he might eat hummingbirds for lunch!) but i felt very lucky to get to see him so up-close and he very obligingly posed for several pictures. i actually couldn't get him to leave my finger; i offered various plants to him that seemed to me like good places to hang out, and finally he agreed to step onto one of the porch posts.

then, back in brooklyn, i was sitting with my friend paul while he watered his garden and a monarch butterfly landed on me! at first i thought she was a moth because she kept her wings closed and they were a beautiful pattern of light and dark browns... but then she opened them and i saw that she was a glorious orange-and-black monarch. i happened to be wearing a perfectly monarch-butterfly-colored print dress so i think she mistook me for a Giant of her own kind! like the mantis, she seemed content to stay for a while (i think she was on me for about 15 minutes at least!) and once she even flew away and then CAME BACK to stay a little longer! luckily paul had his camera phone handy to capture the image...