Singapore

The hardest thing for me to adjust to here, is walking on the left side of the sidewalk. My body just doesn't obey, and I veer to the right, trying to let people walk past me on my left, and we invariably have an awkward moment of almost bumping noses. This probably means I should never drive in a country that uses the left side of the road.

Singapore is a beautiful city, very clean and orderly, but still with a lot of charm sizzling under it's shiny modern surface. There are numerous public sculptures and art pieces, and streets are filled with red and gold in preparation for Chinese New Year. There are FOUR official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin (China) and Tamil (India). The amazing mix of cultures means that English is the common language, even though it is everyone's second language, and each group speaks it with a different heavy accent. This leads to some confusion, which everyone puts up with very calmly.

Collecting fluid and insects from carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants, and leaves from Macaranga ant-plants has been a lot of fun. I head out into steamy humid jungle, and search for my species, scanning dense green vegetation for a certain leaf shape or the red spots of a pitcher.

People have been very friendly to me throughout the various ordeals of this adventure: the airline lost my baggage, I left my camera in a taxi, I had to get some stitches removed (it's a long story), and then needed an emergency passport because I didn't have the necessary 6 months left to get into Malaysia.

Now, after some strange and delicious durian fruit and many tasty Singaporean meals, I am about to head to the large island of Borneo, and to the two Eastern states of Malaysia: Sabah and Sarawak.

Geometric Bug

This Wyeomyia smithii mosquito cannot survive without a Sarracenia purpurea carnivorous pitcher plant. It lays its eggs on the leaves, and the wiggly larvae live in the acidic fluid, breaking down insect prey. Larvae overwinter inside the pitchers, frozen solid in a block of ice. The adults do not bite humans, and look quite different from the familiar mosquitoes that we try to avoid. I snapped a photo of this one midair, and captured the unusual way these mosquitoes hold their legs, even in flight.

'The effects of insect exclusion on pitcher plant microbial communities'

Driving down various unmarked dirt roads for almost 2 hours, memory fails as I search for the hidden Tom’s Swamp. Finally, google earth and a country club landmark help, and the bog is found. Drizzle falls but thankfully no rain. My assistant and I lug heavy planks and equipment while balancing fretfully on a thin wooden walkway. We make it to the spot, and use our “portable boardwalk” to venture into unknown bog… One plank precariously holds our weight while the other is pried from the muck and wielded into a new location. Move, repeat. We place our 60 red flags and take notes on appropriate carnivorous pitcher plants. 1 good pitcher, not yet open, is on that plant, 2 here.

My foot, the plank that saves me, a pitcher plant

The next day the sun is out and I am alone. I manage to carry out both planks, winding the makeshift handles over my shoulders, carrying my equipment bag underneath, fighting the vegetation that grows over the narrow path. At multiple points I can’t see where to step, and once I fall as my foot misses its slippery goal and descends into darkness over the ankle. Sluuuuurrp. But my rainboots are tough, and feet stay dry.

Leo in bog

A wasp-mimicking hover fly meets its end

Out at the site, everything is vibrant. Brilliant green sphagnum moss, yellow water lilies, the red veins of pitcher plants. When I squat close to the ground, I see more different insects together than ever before. Beetles, butterflies, ants, mosquitoes and other flies of all kinds; lovely mimics and unusual colors. Sundews vie with Sarracenia purpurea pitchers for insect meals, using their sticky sweet tentacles. Bog laurel flaunts perfect geometric pink flowers, springloaded to fling pollen if bumped.

Bog laurel

A carabid beetle on sphagnum moss narrowly escapes carnivorous sundew

Fly finds housing in water lily

I squat delicately at the end of my plank and cover pitchers with green gauze bags, securing them with zip ties. Four treatments, four colors. This one needs to be gently opened, and fed sterilized ground up wasp meal. That one needs a bag that is left open to insect access. Over there the pitcher has no bag at all. Controls and potential issues. Has this plant flowered? Check. Oops, don’t put my weight all at one edge or I’ll be seesawed into the bog. The swampy surface looks quite solid, but very quickly one realizes that the top layer is a thin mask, and a foot can easily break through it, leaving the attached body waist-deep in slurpy slimy muck. Planks spread my weight, and the protective layer holds.

My experiment

Pitcher plant flower

Five hours of squatting in the sunny, shadeless bog leaves me sore, sweaty, and covered in bites. At least there are no leeches. Just endless blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Tom's Swamp

Creatures of the Berkshires

The Pringle Lab recently had a retreat in the Berkshires:
we saw purple strange-shaped fungi,
fireflies at night (I used a 15 second exposure, so you can see their flashes),
the largest mushroom I've ever seen (a Ganoderma applanatum, also called Artist's Conk, because you can etch onto the white undersurface). My advisor, Anne Pringle, can be seen peeking around the tree...
(I used it as an umbrella)
and, last but not least, a red-spotted newt, Notopthalmus viridescens.

Fun-a-day Boston Show

Dan and I were part of a gallery exhibit for Fun-a-day (one piece of art per day for the month of January). It was at the beautiful Nave Gallery in Somerville at the end of February.

I did sketches and close-up photos of daily objects in my life.

Mine are the photos and drawings in the middle.
Early morning frost on the window.
Dragonfly wings, stained glass.
Blue guitar.
My old broken headphones.
Spoon.
Small scissors.

My Insects

This fall, I collected insects for my entomology course. The collection contains over 100 individuals from about 15 orders and 65 families.


I will introduce you to some of them, up close and personal (with photos from my new camera).


Giant water bug, in the family Belastomatidae.

A taphritid fly with colorful wings.

Dragonfly from the family Aeshnidae.


Green lacewing, Chrysopidae.

Road Trip: The East

Drowsy driving through drizzled fog mountains, old window wipers smearing. Suddenly a loud bang shocks and uncomfortable rattling knocks under the truck hood. Dan guides us to a remote gas station as I fidget nervously and the noise continues. A spark plug has been completely blown loose of its socket. Dan manages to fix it by sheer force of will and the aid of a lanky teenager’s borrowed tools.

Google map’s prescribed route becomes perilous, narrower and steeper as we continue. Soon it is nothing more than a country road as we brave the lift and fall of the hilly West Virginia Appalachians. The campsite is remote, and the mountain people we meet rarely venture out of their hidden villages. We are offered the “honeymoon suite” campsite, and given extra firewood in exchange for some of Dan’s precious $2 bills. In the morning, we skip stones across a wide shallow river before leaving the very inhabited wilderness.
DC at last. Cool comfort, rest, and a nice dog. King of the feet! Too hot to hold, iridescent blue-greens dance across the bronze surfaces of Dan’s giant masterpiece sculptures. Fantastic food and million dollar sky mall idea. Erratic in and out driving through a maze of construction and intertwining highways.Baltimore: hot and muggy in the afternoon. Anxious leaving the truck and all life belongings on the street, but no robberies occur. Many parts of the city are abandoned. Rows upon rows of empty houses with infrequent interspersings of someone on a lived in front step. We are not dressed right for the fancy opening night sushi experience; too many waitresses hover and replace each plate we touch. Lovely to see talented nurse Greta and master chef Blitz.The Catskills are crowded on a Saturday night. No more space at planned campsite, but another is found: expensive, but ah well this is New York. Crabbiness is counteracted by a hilarious situation as our hostess praises our staying together through this road trip. A beautiful fire flickers late into the night, and we are awakened by heavy rain.High in the remote Adirondacks we wiggle our way to Upper Saranac Lake. As rain continues to fall, it is good to be inside with a warm fire, meeting Dan’s grandpa and the fiery Dee. Origami and Italian food. The next day struggles clear; we visit a large rock and canoe on the lake. Big old turtle is not thrilled at being held, he shakes his long dinosaur tail.

Boston first homecoming is rained out. Grey, wet midwinter weather was not expected. But our new home is cozy and welcoming, as a collaborative dinner with sweet roommates hits the spot. We look out across the wide expanse of Somerville through a curtain of shimmering Aspen leaves, from the nestled nook of our porch in the Cherry tree.