Chirp Chirp

Here is a photo that has been sitting around for a long time waiting patiently for a good blogging. What you're looking at is two intricately crafted grasshoppers, a little smaller than hand-size each. I am told that making these out of long, broad leaves is an old tradition on Taiwanese farms. The man who made these was selling them to kids in front of the biggest temple here in Tainan. The kids were either really patient or really transfixed, because each grasshopper took more than five minutes to make. I'm leaning toward the latter, because the quick swipes of the artist's box cutter interspersed with the deliberate lashing and wrapping motions were more than enough to draw my slackened stare. My thoughts alternated between awe at the precision of the guy's work and disbelief that it was taking so long to finish. To watch someone work so fast for so long with just a leaf puts the thought "OK, that looks like a grasshopper, surely this is the last step" on repeat in your mind for a long time.
I've seen one of these in the office at my college and I must say it still looks good after its metamorphosis into its dried, brown form. Not bad for a leaf and a razor blade! This tradition further heightens my love for the Taiwanese countryside.