Ants and Savages

"Ants and savages put strangers to death."

- Bertrand Russell

Sorry for the negative tone to the quoptes I'm choosing recently. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, frankly. There's just so much going on around the world at the moment. The internet and social media mean that we know about so much more, and so much more quickly than ever before, but it seems the more we know, the more powerless we feel.

That said, I'll take feeling powerless any day over what people in Christchurch are experiencing, or those in North Africa. As weary as I feel, my thoughts are still with all of you. Kia kaha (stay strong).

I suppose I should describe the photo. I was walking around, and saw some largish black ants milling around. Then I spied the holes and decided to take some photos. I then noticed that the ground was teeming with ants - including not just the black ones, but these even larger red ones. Not as big as the one that bit my son a while back, but still big. Maybe 1.5 cm. Anyway, they began teeming not just on the ground, but over my boots and getting onto my trouser legs ... cue much hopping and brushing and moving rapidly away ;-) I wasn't bitten however, and did snap off a few pics. I quite like this one, with the two facing each other, a good view of the jaws of one, another disappearing into the nest, a range of focus.

Reasonably happy, for a totally uninspired day.