{"id":122,"date":"2008-02-22T02:46:36","date_gmt":"2008-02-22T08:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/?p=122"},"modified":"2008-02-22T02:46:36","modified_gmt":"2008-02-22T08:46:36","slug":"drew-feb-22-dragonflies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"Drew: Feb 22, “Dragonflies”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am struck by two different wonders.\u00a0 <\/span>The first is the wonder of a new place, which is expected.\u00a0 <\/span>A foreign tourist sees ordinary things with interest, snapping pictures of houses, farmers, traffic\u2014even squirrels\u2014with an excited fervor that at times alarms normal people.\u00a0 <\/span>But of course to the tourist these \u201cnormal\u201d things are actually very new and different.\u00a0 <\/span>We see large houses built three meters in the air on posts like stilts. We wonder.\u00a0 <\/span>We watch a man in dress clothes riding a skid around a plowed field by holding on to an ox\u2019s tail.\u00a0 <\/span>We wonder.\u00a0 <\/span>We take a picture.\u00a0 <\/span>We try to capture the sensation of walking through the streets of Hanoi<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, dodging the torrential din of motorcycles driving through a maze of uncontrolled intersections.\u00a0 <\/span>We wonder how to get the best picture without being flattened.\u00a0 <\/span>This is all very wonderful\u2014noticeable because of its contrast to the foreigner\u2019s lifestyle and environment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The second wonder that strikes me is not one of contrast but rather ordinary beauty.\u00a0 <\/span>A long strand of tissue caught up in a breeze gracefully spirals toward me through sunlight.\u00a0 <\/span>I catch my breath.\u00a0 <\/span>I wonder.\u00a0 <\/span>Through a dark tunnel of trees one of my teammates is silhouetted against clouds of dust backlit by sunlight.\u00a0 <\/span>It is beautiful.\u00a0 <\/span>Events like these happen all the time, anywhere, and one certainly doesn\u2019t have to be in a foreign place to see wonder<\/em>ful things.\u00a0 <\/span>But being a traveler is being an observer with the permission to spend your time observing, which does offer many opportunities to notice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Just a few afternoons ago we were stopped at a Cambodian Buddhist monastery with plans to spend the night.\u00a0 <\/span>Often the monks are very hospitable and will insist you sleep in the prayer hall rather than on the grounds, even if you have a tent.\u00a0 <\/span>After assuring them the grounds would be fine, we began setting up camp.\u00a0 <\/span>We were in no hurry since it was still before five o\u2019clock<\/st1:time>.\u00a0 <\/span>Jim\u2019s tent was laid out and we were just fitting the poles when I began to notice small dragonflies lighting on the folds.\u00a0 <\/span>I looked closer at one.\u00a0 <\/span>It had a fly clutched in its front legs\u2014still trying to buzz\u2014and was steadily chewing off its head.\u00a0 <\/span>As I watched in wonder, the fly came open like a tin can, as if the head were on a hinge, and the lucky dragonfly supped (or whatever they do).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I had never seen anything like this.\u00a0 <\/span>I was amazed.\u00a0 <\/span>We stopped our intentions for the tent to watch a while.\u00a0 <\/span>There were many dragonflies, none longer than a toothpick, hovering and alighting, suddenly still with folded wings.\u00a0 <\/span>The flies were also buzzing about, and when a fly would land near a silent dragonfly, it would take to the air, aim, rear back, and dive like destruction bent on a bear hug.\u00a0 <\/span>It happened quickly.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes the fly would escape, sometimes it wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We sat and watched at least three flies pinned by dragonflies and then clutched away to where they could calmly chew off their heads.\u00a0 <\/span>The spectacle was both wonderful and terrible, and I was reminded of my gratitude for not being a part of the terrifying insect world\u2014and that most insects I\u2019ve encountered so far are smaller than my hand!\u00a0 <\/span>Not only that, but I was also reminded of what an amazing and fascinating world exists literally under our feet; all around us we are free to discover small wonders every day.\u00a0 <\/span>I have seen many dragonflies in my twenty-odd years of memory, but this was the first time I had ever seen a dragonfly catching its supper.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Soon the crowd that was watching us watch dragonflies had grown considerably, and we realized it was time to start making our own movements toward supper.\u00a0 <\/span>We finished pitching the tent and dug out the Frisbee for an effort at non-verbal interaction to engage our curious friends before we crouched over our boiled rice and bananas.\u00a0 <\/span>But of course, that wasn\u2019t meant to be\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am struck by two different wonders.\u00a0 The first is the wonder of a new place, which is expected.\u00a0 A foreign tourist sees ordinary things with interest, snapping pictures of houses, farmers, traffic\u2014even squirrels\u2014with an excited fervor that at times alarms normal people.\u00a0 But of course to the tourist these \u201cnormal\u201d things are actually very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}