Praying Mantis Egg Case

Was up by the top tank the other morning very early - after a night of rain - to check whether our repairs to the pad the tank is sitting on had been affected by the rain. Thought I saw a new kind of pale blue flower in the grass, and when I went to have a look it took me a while to realise that I was looking at a praying mantis making its egg case (called an ootheca). I was actually holding the praying mantis in my fingers at one stage, thinking it was the stem of the "flower". Duh!