Torri L. Thompson

 Rural Geometry Photography

While none of us are happy to find bedbugs, spiders in our hair, meal worms in our flour, etc., what we do know are several important facts about the insect and spider kingdoms.  Insects are the world's largest source of protein and without them, people might starve.  We also know that without the sanitation work of insects, we would be (according to a source I read) "covered over with our own filth."  As in The Nature of Symbiosis, insects are a daily demonstration of the wisdom and utility of a part of life that Americans at least spend a lot of time and money trying to destroy.   The very least you can say is that we are not in the least interested in preserving the habitats that support the life cycle of monarch butterflies, bees, ants (they eat termites), spiders (they control the  overpopulation of insects).   I spent 14 years of my life watching and photographing many miraculous events.  I have been witness to events that to me are quite miraculous:  the hatching of green darner dragonflies and black winged swallowtails; the migration of the Monarch butterfly in a pin oak and evergreen in my front yard; the nightly spinning of the Golden Orb Spider, and once, the mating and egg laying process; the praying mantis in my fennel, watching me night after night.