Fleeting Reality - Photos by Fractal Myth

Winter

As I have said before, we are just starting to feel the first touches of Autumn, so it was rather difficult to find a macro photo for winter - especially since I only bought my new camera with its macro capabilities last spring. Looking through my archives, I found this photo, which actually serves the purpose perfectly. This is the top of an ant nest at the height of summer, covered in the husks of grass seed, where the ants have been carrying the seed down to store for winter - just like in Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper.

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

This shot gives a better idea of scale.

And here's the happy-go-lucky grasshopper!

(challenge 18 February 2007)

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