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?

twenty years ago

I just realised this morning that it's been twenty years since I moved to Liverpool.  I was thinking about Liverpool after reading this blog posting about Anthony Gormley's sculptural installation "Another Place", which are 100 life sized iron men that are placed over Crosby Beach, Liverpool. When I lived in Liverpool I never ventured to the beach, as I didn't think compared to NZ beaches there was probably much to see. I remember that feeling of disappointment at Blackpool. After seeing Annie's photos, it makes me want to go back. This got all the memories flowing, and then lo and behold I realised that I arrived in Liverpool in September 1991, and even by my rough mathematics that was 20 years ago, and that 9/11 was 10 years ago. One event seems much nearer and one seems further to me, funny how time flies at different speeds.

I have started packing boxes for the house move, and was up to the photo albums, so thought I'd better check out the Liverpool one. I was only there for 14 months - what was supposed to be 3 years, was cut short by "events"! In the pre-digital age I didn't click away like I do now, so there were surprisingly few photos of actual Liverpool. I seemed to be more romantically inclined and took photos of National Trust buildings and gardens, and stone circles and cathedrals and castles!

I've scanned a few, first up is me all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the day after 32 hours non-stop from Christchurch to London. Miss L thought my clothes looked much brighter than what I wear now! She doesn't realise it was still in effect the 80's. I'm more horrified by the large specs and the high-waisted pale blue jeans!

Next up is the favourite shot I took of Liverpool, looking down towards the Mersey with the Liver Birds just visible. Paired up with a "street" shot of London Road. I wish I'd taken more of these types of photos showing the gritter side of the city.

Here's the museum where I worked in the Natural History Centre as a educator. This proved to be rather interesting, with the local kids often not able to understand a word I said!

And I found some photos of the million daffodils that were planted in Sefton Park for cancer research. I wonder if they are still there flowering every spring?

It certainly was a very interesting time in my life. I have lots of wonderful memories, and made some fantastic friends. Liverpool has a special place in my heart, I visited again in 1999 - I wonder how long it will be before the next visit and I hope that the statues of "Another Place" are still there.