I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this entry to the Walking with Intention event. I encourage everyone to read it! It was written by Charles at The Window of the Soul: Think! Feel! Live!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate
When I see the word ornate I think of the dolls I used to make as fundraisers for Amma’s humanitarian projects. I wonder when, and if, I will start making them again!
Saraswati
Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate
Wordless Wednesday
Heavy
I just discovered that “Stories that Must Not Die” posted a story Sreejit wrote about a painful and tragic experience in his life. I believe it will touch many of you.
In Science Class- विज्ञानस्य वर्गे
As many of you know, learning Sanskrit is a passion of mine. I take two classes a week and each of the classes require that I write five or more sentences in Sanskrit. This week I decided to do something even more ambitious. I took much of the information from my recent fruit fly post and translated it into Sanskrit. I finished the homework by writing the sentences as if they were being spoken in a science class where the teacher was asking the children what they knew about fruit flies.
आचार्या – सुप्रभातं बालाः। अद्यतन विषयः फल-मक्षिकाः।
Teacher – Good morning children. Today’s topic is fruit flies.
आचर्या – भवन्तः विषये फल-मक्षिकानां किं जानन्तिः।
Teacher – What do you know about fruit flies?
सुल्मा – फल-मक्षिकाः अष्टतः दश-दिनानि जीवन्ति।
Sulma – Fruit flies live from 8 to 10 days.
आचर्या – उत्तमं सुल्मा। डेविद्?|
Teacher – Very good Sulma! David?
डेविद् – स्त्री फल-मक्षिकाः पञ्चशत-अण्डानि दश-दिनेषु स्ठापयन्ति|
David – Female fruit flies lay 500 eggs in 10 days.
आचर्या – सम्य़क् डेविद्। रमणः?|
Teacher – Good David. Ramana?
रमणः – एकस्मिन् फल-मक्षिकस्य नेत्रे ७६० दीप्तोपलाः सन्ति|
Ramana – In a fruit fly’s eye there are 760 lenses.
आचर्या – आम्। सम्यक्। अन्ये वदन्तु।
Teacher – Yes, good! Others speak.
बार्बरा – फल-मक्षिकाणां रक्त-नेत्रौ पिङ्गल-देहा: तेषाम् उदरेषु कृष्ण-रेखाः च सन्ति |
Barbara – Fruit flies have red eyes, brown bodies, and black stripes on their abdomens.
सवत्री – फल-मक्षिका: पक्षौ द्विशत-वारं पतिक्षणं अ्भिविक्षपन्ति |
Savatri – Fruit flies wings beat 200 times per second.
रामा – फल-मक्षिका: विज्ञान-प्रकल्पेषु उपयुक्ता: सन्ति |
Rama- Fruit flies are useful in scientific research
कर्ल् – फल-मक्षिका: चत्वरि-chromosomes मानवानां इव सन्ति |
Carl – Fruit flies have four chromosomes that are similar to humans’ chromosomes.
सुमती – फल-मक्षिका: Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, aging, cancer, immunity, alcohol, and drug abuse विज्ञान-प्रकल्पेषु उपयुक्ता: सन्ति |
Sumati – Fruit flies are used in Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, aging, cancer, immunity, alcohol, and drug abuse research.
सुसन् – फल-मक्षिका: क्षीयमाणानि फलानि शखानि खादन्ति।
Susan – Fruit flies eat decaying fruits and vegetables.
स्टॆव् – विगल-फलानि मा खादतु। तेषु फल-मक्षिक-अण्डानि भवेयुः|
Steve – Don’t eat rotten fruit. There may be fruit fly eggs and disease (causing organisms) in them.
आचर्या – उत्तमं बालाः। श्वः इतोपि वदिष्यामः विषयॆ फल-मक्षिकाणां |
Teacher – Very good, children. Tomorrow we will talk more about fruit flies.
[Thank you Madhavi for helping me with this translation! I so appreciate your constant support.]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat
As I filled this jack-o-lantern with candy for the trick or treaters who will soon be coming, I realized I had the object for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge. My son, Sreejit, made this beautiful piece of art when he was five-years-old. It has held treats on Halloween for the last 35 years!
Wordless Wednesday
Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful
One day in the mid-70’s, I was a passenger in a car being driven by an out-of-town visitor. I became alarmed when the driver barreled through an intersection that had no stop or yield signs without slowing down. When I talked to her about it later, she said in the city where she lived every intersection had one of those signs if you didn’t have the right-of-way. While that is generally true in Seattle too, there were, and still are, plenty of streets that don’t have them. It has been 40 years since that incident and it still serves as a reminder that I need to watch for unmarked intersections and be extra careful when driving through them.
Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful
Family (Echo Poem)
On Thursday, Sreejit announced that this week’s Dungeon Prompt will be the last of the year due to his upcoming Walking with Intention event. He proposed that we write about Family.
Around the same time I read an echo poem written by Oliana on Traces of the Soul. I decided to see if I could create a poem using that style.
Oliana stated that in an echo poem “the last syllable or two of a main line is repeated, perhaps with different spelling or meaning, as if an echo; usually this echo will be indented to a point under or beyond the syllable it mimics and will function as an independent line of one or two syllables.”
Here is my beginner’s attempt!
FAMILY
left home at seventeen, did not look back
unpack
life unfolds- study, marry, children arrive
strive
challenges occur- divorce and illness
suppress
families of choice materialize
ties
ancient wounds healing, become whole again
when
belonging and connection do abound
love found
The Fascinating Fruit Fly
I do my best not to kill spiders, bugs, and insects but fruit flies can be so overwhelming. Even when I put my fruit in the refrigerator, at some point during the summer I usually end up resorting to trapping them with vinegar. Perhaps because the summer was so warm this year, there were more fruit flies than normal. Once, when I opened my outdoor compost bin, the swarm that emerged was so huge I could barely breathe. One day, I visited a friend’s house only to find a big swarm of fruit flies in her kitchen, even though there didn’t seem to be anything present in the kitchen to draw them.
During the last few months, I have posted interesting facts about ants, aphids and slugs on this blog. I decided to do the same for fruit flies. I was astounded at what I learned about them.
- Fruit flies have red eyes and tan bodies. On their abdomens, there are black bands.
- Fruit flies become .098 inches in length.
- They flap their wings 220 times per second.
- Their eyes have 760 individual lenses. They use 2/3 of their brains for visual processing.
- Fruit flies live 8 to 10 days. During that time females may lay 500 eggs. (One article said they may lay up to 2000!)
- Fruit flies are drawn to decaying fruits and vegetables, as well as greasy items, in garbage dumps, trash cans, restaurants and homes.
- They are also drawn to anything that is fermenting. They love beer and wine.
- They are considered nuisance pests but they can transmit diseases.
- Do not eat fruits that have rotten parts as they may contain fruit fly eggs and disease.
- People who have pet geckos, chameleons, frogs and praying mantises often breed fruit flies to feed them. They must also be a food source to many creatures in the wild.
- Fruit flies have only four chromosomes but those four are similar to human chromosomes.
- Fruit flies are used in genetic research and also for studying evolution and neurobiology.
- Seventy-five percent of genetically linked human diseases can be induced and examined in fruit flies.
- Fruit flies are used in Parkinsons, Alzheimers, aging, cancer, immunity, alcohol and drug abuse research.
- Fruit flies originated in West Africa and then spread to Europe. They probably arrived in North America on slave ships.
- In 1995 three scientists who used fruit flies in their experiments won the Nobel Peace Prize!
Here is an interesting video of the developmental stages of a fruit fly’s life.
Well, the fruit fly may be considered a nuisance pest, but I can see that they provide important services to this world. I will never look at them the same again!
References:
5 Things You Didn’t Know about Fruit Flies
Drosophila melanogaster: Common Fruit Fly
Basic Fruit Fly Facts
Fruit Flies
Top Ten Fascinating Facts about Fruit Flies
This article will also be published in the November issue of the PNW GreenFriends Newsletter. To see previous issues of that newsletter click here.
Living, Learning and Letting Go 