Shashinki.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop!

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Monday, November 20, 2006

Psst!

Yes, yes...I am still alive. Been busy administrating at Challenge You as well as going out into the garden to take photos. Doesn't matter if it's raining, or hot, or teeming with ravenous mosquitoes.

So, is it just me or does this top view of a mushroom in the garden remind you of a certain body part owned by both men and women alike? Oh don't mind me. My mind works in mysterious ways. I used my sister's Nikon L4 (or was it L3? Well...the cheaper one) to take this shot.

In terms of Macro quality, I still prefer my Kodak EasyShare LS755. But I really envy the fact that the Nikon has that Panoramic function and is also able to detect faces for portrait shots! Eeee....never mind, I must endeavour to seek that vivid yellow object to snap and enter that NGC Asia/Nikon Photography contest! I'm not going to share the link. The hint is already there. *eg*

In other news, I was also busy with butterfly chrysalides the past month. I discovered the caterpillars in the lime bush during their various instars and realized how dangerous it can be for them, despite looking like bird crap and having malodorous liquid emanating from their osmeteriums. Once, there were 17 caterpillars...and that dwindled to ONE in a span of four days! Eaten by birds and killed by Kerengga ants...what a way to go.

I did manage to save three that had begun pupating. Alas, only the first one that I had taken succeeded in becoming a beautiful butterfly.



Beginning to pupate >> A few hours before emerging >> Beautiful Butterfly!!

I am still so proud that I managed it! The good part about it was that I didn't have to feed it, or clean after it...just occasional sprinkles of water (which made it twitch). The butterfly crawled onto my hand on its way out of the container and it did not feel at all delicate. It had started moving about around 4:35am. I awoke sometime after 6am and there was a horizontal tear along the side. I thought I would aid in its exit by sprinkling water and then it stopped moving. I thought I had drowned it! XD Well, I was too sleepy to care by then, so I went to sleep. Without the aid of an alarm clock, I woke up again at 7:20am. The butterfly had emerged! I feared that if it remained in that juice container, its wings wouldn't fully extend, so I hurriedly took it back to the lime plant.

It spent a few hours sunning itself on that branch, and soon the clouds covered the sun. It flew away before the first drops of rain fell.

And that will be all for now. Take care, all!

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