Tuesday, February 26, 2013

insects i've met recently


Here are two insects I've met recently. Firstly a manuka chafer beetle which made its way into the house, I usually find them dead outside.  Bright shiny green, and quite large by NZ insect standards. Which is how I managed to take some half decent macro photos on my point-n-shoot camera.


And off it flew, that's its shadow following take-off!

 Second up was a cicada that spent the night in the laundry basket with the freshly washed clothes. In the morning I carried it outside, and it greeted the sun. Once sufficiently warmed up, off it flew too.



So why am I devoting one of my few and far between blog posts to insects? Well once upon a time insects were a passion of mine. I went to university with the aim of becoming a Landscape Architect, which in those days involved getting an undergrad degree first, but after the first entomology paper I was hooked.

When I was in my mid 20's  I had to make a couple of decisions that looking back were significant turning points in my life.

Firstly there was leaving my first husband and getting on a plane at Manchester Airport to return to New Zealand. In hindsight not that hard a decision to make, but it was still definitely a turning point. Once back home I enrolled to do a PhD in Entomology. Six months later, and having gained a good scholarship, with an excellent supervisor and with my mum terminally ill, I made another hard decision - to quit. I realised I was doing a PhD for the wrong reason, because mum wanted me to, and I didn't want the life it would entail - research or lecturing. I knew I wasn't cut out for either. Maybe I should have done an arts degree instead of science?

I've no regrets about the four years I spent at university doing the degree I did, even although I don't "use" it in my present life. Do you ever look back on your life, and pinpoint one or two major decisions that you made which changed the trajectory you were on?


5 comments:

  1. Such neat photos! Insects are so cool :)

    It is so interesting to look back on our lives and see how we could have taken much different paths. I always say, if you told me 5 years ago that I'd be living in the country today with chickens and guineas running around, I wouldn't believe it! The one thing that changed our life trajectory was watching "Food, Inc." and being so shocked that we couldn't continue to live the same way anymore.

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  2. Your images of the insects are incredible. At one point in my life I was frustrated with my job and was thinking of moving away to do something different then I met my husband and the rest is history!
    Sarah x

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  3. Hi sally
    Can't say I like insects much but I have to admit the photographs are impressive.
    Very clear and loads of detail.

    Keep well

    Amanda

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  4. What wonderful photos. Love that you caught the flight shadow! So cool!

    I've had quite a few turning points in my life. Definitely no straight line getting to where I am now and I think that the future will be quite crooked, too.

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  5. Your photos are beautiful Sally. I have a big soft spot for insects too, especially beetles. The great things is passing that onto the kids who spend hours looking at "leafie girls', dragonflies and the like.
    Its been a while since i read any blogs, I loved reading this and have enjoyed seeing your new painting on instagram too.
    Lynda

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