the swivet

Wrapping up the agent side of things...

My World - May 2011

Every story needs a hero, or, in this case - heroine.
Here is the Queen Termite, with a few of her followers, and a very sad looking concubine. Sad looking specimen of a King. (he got hurt in the process)
There is a book written about 'The  Soul of the Ant'  by Eugene Marais.

The Bible informs us to go, and look at the ants, and become wise.
I went, I had a look, and what did I see ---

All work and no play ?
Now that is a lesson for the day. Do not be like the ant, who works all day, and never takes off time from work to play.
Not a good idea, any day of the week.
As the song says:
♫ Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think ..... ♪

A frog is not a toad ?

Why do we need to know whether a frog is a frog, or a toad ?

For the layman, or the general Joe or Sue, it is good to know. There are a few stories we could tell, about frogs and kissing, all true, so I have been told... The proof of the pudding is in the eating, or the kissing, so I have been told. Every body has been telling me stories, since I was this knee-high-old. There was the bed-wetting stories, and eating in bed. Even one about where my milk-teeth went, yes, I was told. About rabbits, pink and blue, that leave chocolate eggs all over the show. Fairy and elves, those I have seen, even an ogre or two, 'cause I would not listen, and ate too late. My dog could talk and tell me tales, of chasing cats, cars, and wagging tails. Many things have I heard, Cinderella; Snow White; Pinnochio; a Thousand and one tales. All true, so I told them.

Then, a frog in my daughter's bed, so she told, very bold. He said she should take him home, let him spend the night, and at morning light, he would be a prince - rich and handsome - a pure delight. The 'prince ' has been here many a night, still no money, still no job, I have a feeling, another story I have been told. He truly looks to me - like a toad.

And sometimes it rains, and rains, a little more than what the world can handle. The frogs love it.

Then there are the frogs, a breed unto themselves.

FROGLAND

Itsy teeny weenie little toads

Lord Alfred Tennyson said:

"So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to do." - WE TWO, a novel

What a beautiful world.

Blue (?)

Blue (?)

African monarch - Danaus chrysippus aegyptius ♂ note 4 spots on hindwing

                                              

Making whoopie

Pansy

Acrea

A quiet day at the ranch.


A little corner, it is my butterfly collection's place. This is where I keep many of the butterflies of the world I live in. It was not always the case. There was a time when a net would do the work of a camera, a pin-board was the screen, and a drawer or frame the holder - a computer memory keep the images now.

Diadem ♂ - Hypolimnas misippus

 Insects have always interested me, all living things do. To me, even a rock is alive. It has a past, present, and future ... Having said that, that goes for all of my world. All of the all, has history.

The biggest problem with getting involved with this part of the world, is firstly - space.

Very few mothers, and even less wives, are happy with having all the trimmings and paraphernalia of a collector inside a house. That is where the word 'den' originates from.

A den is similar to a wolf's lair.
Den: – noun

1.

the lair or shelter of a wild animal, especially a predatory mammal.

2.

Diadem ♀   

a room, often secluded, in a house or apartment, designed to provide a quiet, comfortable, and informal atmosphere for conversation, reading, writing, etc.

3.

a cave used as a place of shelter or concealment. (Dictionary.com)

The wolf's lair, a word which I much prefer above the 'dogbox', which I frequent, (it does sound more impressive to say - "I live in the wolf's lair", than to admit to being in the dogbox all the time), well - my lair is a revamped storeroom. Here I can do as I please, as long as it meets with management's approval. No pin-ups against the wall; no 'sleeping out'; curfew at 10; and the empty coffee mug to be brought in.

Some aspects of all of this, will become clear to some people, at some stage. If anybody gets any sense out of all of this, please let me know. As I could then explain it to the other people. In the meanwhile, I am having fun!

Where are the butterflies?

That is a question I would like to have answered as well.

X-mas butterfly/Citrus swallotail -  Princeps demodocus demodocus

Ah, yes ... something to keep in mind. I am totally, thoroughly, and off this planet, lost on a computer. I do not understand the English.Then someone told me - the main body of people who design programs are not English, and can hardly even speak English. They are , so I heard, geeks or nerds ... who can only speak American. Maybe that explains some of it.

Also, computers have never featured in my world before till about 2 years ago. Now, I heard someone say, "How?". I will answer , 'it was very easy, I was always without money, hence I never had to pay tax, and any paperwork was done by someone else. Simple. 

  

Books are another one of my worlds. I grew up without the luxury of the modern conveniences we have today. When the sun was up, so were we. We walked to school, all 3 blocks. No doting parent to drop one off. Later I was in a boarding school, there was no parent at all, only unsympathetic teachers. We had to make do with the radio and amuse ourselves with books and/or art, and even sport. So - books were my option.  

I digress - the butterflies are gone!


There I was, the owner of a brand new blog log. One which I may be able to handle, as all previous attempts to create a blog failed. The photos were busy being downloaded, there were only 3 left, and the internet went off line. All the photos gone. A few megabytes poorer, and a frustrated blogger with an extra paragraph to write about. Never-mind, we will try again.

Painted lady - Venessa cardui

Poplar leopard/African leopard - Phalanta phalantha aethiopica

African monarch - Danuas chrysippus aegyptius ♀

Plain stupidity can be solved, as long as there is a will, there is hope. Keep at it. I did find the photos (okay, how was I to know ... they put them over there for me.) Now, to get those photos here, and knowing how and what I did. Did someone say, one cannot be that dumb ? Yes, ignorance is the best teacher. If you do not know, you do not know.

Sometimes: Things are tough, days are bad, still - we carry on.

Ignoramus et ignorabimus - We do not know and will not know.

 

Into every life, a little rain will fall.

Butterflies are not the only inhabitants of my garden world.

Such perfection does not exist, not in my world; it does not. There are the others.

One of the others, is the rather impressive Golden Orb Spider.




This lovely lady, died due to the cold weather setting in. The only spiders killed here, are the ones that wander into the opposition's turf. That is a big no-no!  This was a rather unknown treat this year. It was the first time to my knowledge, where the spiders were so bountiful.There was this one corner behind my 'outer office' where an even dozen or so, gathered. The spiders are harmless to humans, and due to their rather massive webs, easily over about 6 feet square, one would not easily walk into the webs. There are egg sacks, debri of all kinds, and carcasses of fallen victims. When you have about 12 of them all together, it is quite a complex.

These spiders perform a vital function in nature, which is evident from the large collection of carcass bags hanging around onto the web. The catches are rather small, and thoughts of them catching anything really of any great size was dispelled, after a fair sized cricket was 'sacrificed' in the name of experimentation. The spider did do its part, still, it was clear that the cricket was escaping rather easily out of the web by simply breaking it with kicks. It was thrown back into the web, a few times.























Largest Spider Fossil Found By Paul Selden In Middle Jurassic of China (Photo)http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-largest-spider-fossil-china.html