IHSAN KHAIRIR

Walking along the brook in Batang Kali, I couldn’t help but notice the spiders that made the wet, splashy riverside environment their home.

This spider lives on a piece of branch that fell from a tree into a river. This tree branch is right in the middle of the river; most of the branch is underwater and the spider made the part of the branch that is above the water its home. I was thinking about why this spider chose such dangerous site for a dwelling, since the water can easily sweep the spider away and drown it should the branch shift position or move due to the raging current or  outside interference by humans or animals.

You can see how risky this location is for the spider; the rushing water is just a few inches away.

This is a very small spider that made its home at the end of a very tall grass reed that grows on the river bank and extends into the middle of the river. It seems that the area above the surface of the river is a good place to catch insects that breed in the river or habitually fly over the river surface (such as damselflies and mosquitoes).

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I still have some pictures of other riverside little creatures that I’d like to share, so I hope you enjoyed this installment of spider photos

So many friends and family tying the knot this month. If I were to go to all the weddings I’m invited to, I’d have four or five free buffet lunches every weekend for the whole month.

Just this last week, I went to three out of four friends’ weddings, the one I missed was because the reception was too far away and going there meant that I’d have to miss the other three. Sorry Ayu, I know you had a wonderful time anyways!

Speaking of tying the knot, here I’d like to share with you a (not so) recent photo I took of a knot.

Care to guess what that is?

An electrical cord?

A wire cable?

A fishing line?

Actually, it’s a strand of hair.

A strand of hair, knotted in the middle.

No it’s not my hair, because it’s quite long in its entirety. I found it on a white tiled floor, so I used an off-camera flash and reversed my lens to get a closeup shot of the knot on the hair.

It was my first time getting a closeup shot of a strand of hair, so getting it in focus manually wasn’t that easy. I had to make sure no wind was blowing so that the hair wouldn’t move, so I had to turn the fan off. The room was small and cramped and the windows face east so it was hot without the fan blowing. I only took a few shots until I was satisfied with the results, and then turned the fan on, causing the strand of hair to be blown away and disappear.

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On another note, it feels great to be back to blogging again; I haven’t been blogging for a week and felt so at unease that I had to resume my regular postings today, even though I still have much to do work-wise.

Are you glad that I’m back blogging? I hope you do. Because I’m looking forward to hearing from you all again!