The orchid is Bulbophyllum sanguinolentum just bloom 2 days ago..You can't see much detail of the flower because of the camera flash..
The dragonfly is Orthetrum testaceum, the Orange Skimmer. This is one of the largest of the red dragonflies, length around 37mm, wingspan around 83mm. The mature males are red, the female is olive green or brown in colour. The males are often seen perched near ponds anddrains, flying every now and then. The female are seldom seen, and come to water only during mating and egg-laying when the males will guard her by hovering like a helicopter over her. Habitat in open areas around rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes. This is a common dragonfly species found in East and Southeast Asia like China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.
So this is male, because of the bright red colouration..looking at this dragonfly suddenly brings me back to my childhood memory..I used to catch this insect just for my amusement..poor little guy.. Growing up in rural area, radio and television was the only entertainment source..That day even television broadcasts in the late afternoon, so while waiting for it, what to do?..Outside of the house has a lot to offer for a curious little boy like me..even then how much of a child to think what is right what is wrong..There were a few methods that I've used to catch it, the easiest one was just using your hand, otherwise you can use a pole with a small plastic bag tied at the end, used that to trap the dragonflies from the top..or simply take an old rib of a single coconut leaf covered the end with sticky adhesive used to trap a rat..What I do with the dragonflies when I caught it? Put it inside a clear plastic bag and just carry around..so then I can compare with my friends whose got the most, the largest or the prettiest one..If it got lucky, I just let it go after a while, but when they already goes limp, I feed them to my giant gourami inside a small pool outside the house..but that was a long time ago...Nowadays children won't do that anymore..they mainly stay inside watching the 'magic box'..
Bila tengok pepatung ni teringat zaman kecil-kecil dulu..Dulu selalulah juga tangkap pepatung ni buat main-main..ada beberapa cara nak tangkap pepatung ni, Selalunya pakai tangan saja..kena slow-slow selalu tangkap bahagian ekornya dulu..Satu lagi cara, ambil sebatang kayu panjang, ikat hujungnya dengan plastik, buat seperti serkup..tak pun cari lidi kelapa, hujungnya tu letak la gam tikus..pasti lekat.. lepas tu mulalah cari 'mangsa'..Kalau dah dapat tu masukkan dalam beg plastik, kemudian boleh la banding ngan kawan-kawan siapa dapat paling banyak, paling besar atau paling cantik...Kalau pepatung tu nasib baik dan saya dah bosan saya lepaslah..tapi kalau dah lembik selalunya jadi makanan ikan kalui di dalam telaga..rasa bersalah adalah jugak..he..he..tapi masa kecil membesar di kampung, di zaman yang dapur pun masih pakai dapur kayu atau minyak tanah..paling hebat pun ada radio dan tv je (tv pun petang baru mula siaran)..di luar rumahlah ada macam-macam nak di'explore'..Budak zaman sekarang mana ada nak buat benda-benda macam tu..banyak duduk dalam rumah tengok TV saja..
Well that's a fragment of my childhood memory for you...
And so our mothers and grandmothers have,
more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark,
the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see,
or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.
- Alice Walker
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