My Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro Lens

Macro photography reveals the detail of the small worlds which seems so familiar but is actually much unknown to us. It magnifies our excitement at the same time.

I like the feeling after pushing myself to the limit upon reaching the peak of Cerok Tokun. It is like releasing my final breath and ready for another rejuvenation. It is addictive. Similarly, macro photography is addictive too, but instead it makes me feeling like losing my last penny and cent: I have bought a Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens recently.

This dragonfly welcomes you to turn its pictures into your desktop wallpaper. The more it appears, the more I’ll justify my investment.

Of course, I have put myself as one of those in the nature again. I used to assume so each and every time. They never complain no matter how I talk about them. Do you remember I have claimed that a mushroom has been climbing up a tree? It never writes a letter of protest since then.

A Scrying Pool

I still get too much carried away by the fortune and crystal balls. Those little critters certainly want to know their fortune if they are able to.

What if you are able to scry your future, will you proceed to do so?

I found another crystal ball just beside the habitat of those little critters. It is tremendously big to tell whatever fortune we would like to know.

It is a scrying pool that happens to be a dam at this place.

These two little dragonflies might have found the secret that help to predict the future.

They flew high and low. They perched on a twig and stayed still in the air. They circled and they danced. They made the mystical humming calling. This looked much like a ceremony whereby something great was going to happen.

As it continued, the calm surface of water was disrupted, ripples started to spin and spin, grew bigger and bigger.

Yes, besides the dragonflies, are you wise enough to interpret the images?

Dragonfly the Predator

I happened to have spotted a dragonfly catching a housefly, and then followed it all the way until nothing else left to eat. This predator, though likes to stand still in the air occasionally, flies at a high speed and easily out-flies their preys and gives them no second chance at all. But my pictures tell me a different story later, this predator actually ate another dragonfly species.

It had its lunch on my tomato tree which unfortunately became a battlefield in this day. One has to out-fly another in the air, and one needs to out-run another on the ground too.

This is an Eastern Pondhawk which has black stripes on the abdomen and white appendages at the tip of its tail. Remember its green face, keep this critter which killed and ate its own species in mind. I am not quite happy with this predator. You see, it left behind the pairs of wings that never taste like potato chips finally.

But at the same time, I had been scanned by those thousands tiny eyes that were hidden in its compound eyes. It would surely remember me far more better than I do.

One dragonfly. Two dragonflies

I had been aiming at the dragonfly for an hour for some flying actions. My clicking speed just failed at the moment it appeared in the viewfinder suddenly. In addition, it would not get near due to my stinky body smell.

This was the best from the one-hour exercise. A dragonfly which looked like a mosquito, and its shadow.

I decided to stop since it never stopped for me. I re-studied its flying patterns hoping for a better vantage point and,

I got this. It was then another half an hour passed. As long as time was not a concern, I always enjoyed the game. So I continued.

Wow!! I finally got some decent few, not because I had improved my skill or speed. Another dragonfly had joined in the action, and both of them slowed down.

One lonely dragonfly kept flying back and forth. Two dragonflies spent times chit-chatting.

They were like human, on certain aspect.

Damsels, with SpongeBob

I used to see Alice at Cerok Tokun during my weekend hiking. But it was slightly different today. I met my kid's best friend, SpongeBob SquarePants. He was having a short break from The Krusty Krab and spending a warm holiday over here. He would like to join me in exploring the interesting parts of the Nature.

So I took him to my favourite spot again. I was quite lucky this time for not being teased by the well-educated Kingfisher in front of this energetic SpongeBob. I kept listening to his repeated "Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down. Way aye blow the man down. Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow him away. Give me some time to blow the man down!"

"Come on, give me a break. I'll show you some pretty young damsels that you had chanced after for a long time."

This was the first encounter.

"You must not blow me down anymore after this interesting one, though I fail to explain what they are actually doing. My blogger friends will be able to suggest a better one to you later."

This one, as suggested by SpongeBob, was named The Black Knight. And this marked the stop of the song. What's a relief.

SpongeBob could not stop laughing upon seeing this blue damsel. I asked what was the joke behind.

"The damsel is talking to a droplet, that reminds me about "Good morning, Krusty Crew!" by my best friend, Patrick."

Oh, I see. Good morning, my friend.

I took one but was gifted with three

I had spent two and a half hours to come back here, but you were here waiting for me. As usual, the only thing that would have attracted me in a distance is that you, the one in red.

Sorry, I had to move away fast in order not to get myself a really deep suntan. I had been looking, waiting and spending too much time on the Dusky Langur and the baby. I was just too excited to have learned a new experience.

I aimed at you, but got three in return. One red and another green dragonflies. Then what was the third?

This is how our life is supposed to be. Just let it be, and surprise will be there waiting for us. It may be a wonder, or a trivial encounter. And it can be a positive or simply a negative surprise.

So what was the third?

The green had left, the red was flying away. The third was statued at the same spot. It was not clear in picture due to the shallow depth of field.

The green had returned now, and you had landed. The third one remained undisturbed. But I really had to leave you all behind due to the intense heat.

(All the three, both dragonflies and the grasshopper continued to enjoy their day. They are born to be stronger than me, at least, when facing the burning hot sun).

About my jogging trail

I did not talk much about my jogging trail though I have posted a few stories before.

I did not talked much, not because either me or she is shy. The sky is always dim when I am there. The monkeys, birds, crabs, lizards and some others have either returned home or well hidden by the dim light. I have nothing much to talk about.

The above picture on a river beside my jogging trail has appeared once in my blog, that is why it is downgraded into a dwarf. My story today began along the shore line, a swamp area, because I reached here very early today. And this very early had ended up seeing me taking pictures instead of dripping with sweat.

I wanted to show you some beautiful little crabs, this was my intention. When I got nearer, they disappeared into their hiding holes as fast as the squirrels. Then, there are no crabs today, except for that blue dragonfly. It never flied away even my camera was only two inches away. Poor little thing, my early series of flashlights should have made it losing its brain.

(This may be the trick: bombard the crabs with flashlight!! This must help).

Then came the lone mudskipper that seemed to lose its way. It was heading towards a hiding hole of a crab, at where my camera was pointed, waiting for the emergence of that little critter. Mudskippers are completely amphibious fish. They are able to spend days moving about out of water.

Since then, I was found still squatting like a statue besides the swamp, waiting for the little beautiful crabs before the sun set, before the guerrilla attacks by mosquitoes.

I could not deviate from my initial plan. That dragonfly or mudskipper had not successfully distracted me. There is an aim, there will be some pain, then come the gain.

I shall come back.

Some other stories

You were with me for the past few posts on Gua Kelam, hopefully the journey was very much entertained with good perspective on its natural look. "Since love grows within you, so beauty grows".

Before I move away from here, I would like to share some of the other creatures which I have met.

These were not wild deer that run freely in the jungle. Their lack of activeness were common to all other animals that live in a zoo. What else they can do other than eat and sleep? They even did not bother to look at the visitors. To them, we were just another bored passengers who "hu hu ha ha" outside the fencing.

On the other way, the dragonflies were really part of the nature. They flew high and low swiftly once I got close to them.

So far I discovered only red and green dragonflies. It should be more than these, only that I had not seen others.

On the way to research around for the origin of the name "dragonfly", (I did not somehow get an answer on this), I found that in some places, dragonflies have often been seen as sinister, what a pity to these little things. They are linked to evil, horse possessed by the devil, Hell's mare, eye poker or eye snatcher.

This should not be the fault of this insect. Human is just too creative to make fun of them.