I grow old… I grow old…
I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled
~ T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Hmmm, what better way to grow old than to escape into God’s garden of endless grace?
Regular followers of my posts know that I am a certifiable, unabashed nature geek. There is nothing I enjoy more than exploring Mother Nature and her endless wonders. You have heard me sing the praises of butterflies and dragonflies – winged wonders, as I call them.
Since I retired in the spring, I have indulged my passion full-time spending several days a week in meadows and on sunny, forest trails pursing and photographing all manner of insects. In the parlance of those who share my passion, I go on Bug Crawls.
One of my pleasant discoveries is the incredible diversity of flies. You are probably thinking: Flies? House Fly, Black Fly, Deer Fly – What else is there? The answer is: Far more than you can imagine. There are something like 180,000 fly species in the world – 18,000 in North America and 7,000 in Canada. Many of them are quite striking like the Greenbottle Fly at the head of this post. A few other examples:
Bristle Flies, aka Tachinidae Flies, as shown above are a logical place to start. Not hard to figure out why they are known as Bristle Flies given their bristly and robust appearance.
Moving on to Robber Flies, as shown above, so named because of their predatory habits. They wait in ambush and catch their prey (other insects) in flight.
My favourite type of flies are Flower Flies aka Hover Flies, as show above. As their name suggests, they are often found hovering or nectaring at flowers.
As I grow old and wear the bottom of my trousers rolled, I will spend as much time as possible in God’s garden of endless grace. It soothes my spirit, inspires wonder and pushes aside for a time the increasing pressures and worries that life throws at us. My love of nature is surely encoded in my DNA and written on my soul.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: Bristle Flies · Flower Flies · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · Mother Nature · Robber Flies · T.S. Eliot · Thhe Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockNo Comments