Grasshopper, but make it steampunk.

Eastern Lubber grasshopper, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, SC.

I had no idea what it was when I first saw it, but I showed my 8-year-old son a picture and he identified it immediately. I assumed he had mistaken something else for the word “lubber” but no, as usual when it comes to R. and animals, I was just wrong and he was right.

In explaining to the 6-year-old that it was “lubber” and not “lover” I learned that the word “landlubber” is not, as I had always assumed, a charming pirate rendition of “land-lover”; instead the word “lubber” seems to have come from Old French or maybe Swedish, meaning roughly “lunkhead.”

Brookgreen Gardens is an absolute treasure of a sculpture garden, by the way.

If you’re enjoying my writing, you can get some of my short fiction on your e-reader for the low, low cost of $0. Remembered Air is a collection of six poems and short stories not available anywhere else. Download it here.