Hangout and Bar, Valletta, Malta

I love that insects have provided such inspiration for human creativity and culture in years past. From ancient Greece to Egypt, Navejo to Art Deco...their myriad forms and colour, used in artistic offerings such as paintings, textiles and jewellery.

This recent find reminded me of jewellery from the early 20th century. I believe this beauty belongs to family Tessaratomidae, true bugs that resemble stink bugs.

Feb 2018 - species ID Lyramorpha rosea Westwood kindly given by Philippe Magnien in Paris who is compiling the illustrated catalogue of Tessaratomidae. He has used this shot for the catalogue.

15 mm body length

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This is my niece, Freya, at my apartment on the Main many years ago. In fact, she's getting married this weekend out in the country.

Got the hammock in Mexico, lo, these many years ago.

Scanned photo, obviously.

Hemmingford, Quebec

Niagara Falls

I started taking a backup camera with me whenever I hike or travel - I'm currently using a Panasonic Lumix ZS-3. Great little point and shoot camera. I tried it out while visiting the Lower Antelope Canyon outside of Page, Arizona in April 2010. Several of the shots in this set are similar to the shots with my Canon 30D but the difference is the Lumix used its tiny flash. I really liked this effect since it lit some of the rock surfaces that otherwise would have been very dark. However the trade-off is the little bit grainier than I would like - all in all still not bad.

Kashmir, India