9/17/15
I caught the early morning train to Cardiff, Wales to meet with Dr. John Deeming, a taxonomist specializing in Muscidae and Calliphoridae (fly families) who works at the National Museum of Wales. I needed to pay him for his ID's, pick up my specimens, and have him look at a couple more.
John was an amazing guy. Everything you'd imagine in a retired, 70 year old entomologist. He had wild hair on his head, hair coming out of his ears and his nose, he was thin and a bit short, but full of spunk and a great smile. The security gal when I checked into the museum told me "Oh lucky you. Dr. Deeming is the coolest and most interesting person I know. He's my favorite person". And it was true. He was super sweet (the kind of guy that all the young girls have old guy crushes on), funny, charming, incredibly polite, and had great stories and jokes. He's been all around the world collecting Diptera (flies). When we'd walk around the museum, even into the public display area, everyone would cheerfully greet him. He's retired now, but he's one of the few experts in his area, so he remains working and just takes some small fees from people like me who need flies identified.
It was funny to listen to his commentary as he looked at the new specimens that I had brought him. Flies are most readily identified via their genitalia. So he'd mutter things like "oh beautiful, look at the genitals on that chap". He likes to call the flies "chaps" and there was much discussion of genitalia. The more and more I learn about insects, the more and more fascinating I find them. He was describing to me some of the ways that the particular specimens I had brought attract their mates through various genitalia displays from waving to unraveling to shaking and vibrating and even to what he called dancing or having filaments on the genitalia wave in certain ways. Quite funny to hear from this man in his strong British accent.
In the group of flies that I sent him, it ended up that we had captured 3 species new to science. So that's pretty cool! That means that we found at least 4 confirmed new species to science during our time in Kenya
When I originally wrote to him about ID'ing my insects, he told me what he charges per hour and made it clear that it did not include tea breaks. I found this kind of interesting b/c that's usually something that's implied. But after hanging out with him for the day, I see why it was important to state, b/c he enjoyed and had many team breaks. Which was nice b/c then I had the pleasure of hearing all of his stories and jokes.
One of my favorites, which I figure Elisha might find funny and unnerving:
"In the West of your country, the wildlife commission has information on bears because bears can be a danger. They give out a pamphlet to help out with bear identification and avoidance. It states that there are 2 kinds of bears. It says that the black bear isn't much of a worry, but the grizzly bear, now that's a major concern. The pamphlet explains that you should walk around with bells to warn the bears of your presence but in case that should fail, you should carry pepper spray. The pamphlet goes on to describe how to tell them apart, which is important since remember, the black bear isn't much of a concern. The pamphlet mentions that being able to recognize their scat is quite important. It states that black bear scat tends to be well-digested, not in clumps, and has a musty smell, whereas grizzly scat tends to have little clumps of metallic bells and smells like pepper"
He took me out to a nice lunch of fish and chips at the university. John's also fond of poems, and he recited several to me by memory. One that I thought might pique Elisha's interest has the gall to put down her beloved Huckleberries. He recited this to me after we started talking about American cuisine.
When we finished our work up after lunch, he gave me the private tour of the natural history museum. They have a really great natural history museum, and it made me realize I need to visit natural history museums more often. There was set up really cool. You start out in this dark area and get to be in the middle of the big bang. Then as you snake your way around the museum you go from the very geologically active period of earth to early life to the rise of animals to dinosaurs to the extinction of dinosaurs and rise of mammals to humans to the ice ages to the mass extinction of the large mammals (wooly mammoths, saber tooth cats, giant cloths, wooly rhinos, et al) to present. They have lots of fossils, skeletons, and well-done realistic looking animals that move. Definitely very cool!
After the natural history portion, John also gave me a personalized tour of the art gallery, especially the paintings. He's a huge art fan and his enthusiasm was contagious. Cardiff has the largest collection of french impressionists in one place, which of course included lots of Monet pieces. But many other famous artists like Pissarro, Corot, Renoir, Van Gogh, El Greco, and Manet. They also had a famous collection of Virgin and Child paintings.
After my meeting with John, I had a couple hours to kill before my return train, so I walked around Cardiff. Although it's the capital of Wales, it's quite small. They have a nice river and green space, and the highlight is probably the large castle in the center. They are preparing to be a host city for the Rugby World cup, so they were erecting lots of special booths for that.
Elizabeth has been bringing lots of fresh fruits and veggies from her allotment (community gardent), which has been very nice. And today she baked us a tasty bread and also made a sort of crumble pie with apples
I caught the early morning train to Cardiff, Wales to meet with Dr. John Deeming, a taxonomist specializing in Muscidae and Calliphoridae (fly families) who works at the National Museum of Wales. I needed to pay him for his ID's, pick up my specimens, and have him look at a couple more.
John was an amazing guy. Everything you'd imagine in a retired, 70 year old entomologist. He had wild hair on his head, hair coming out of his ears and his nose, he was thin and a bit short, but full of spunk and a great smile. The security gal when I checked into the museum told me "Oh lucky you. Dr. Deeming is the coolest and most interesting person I know. He's my favorite person". And it was true. He was super sweet (the kind of guy that all the young girls have old guy crushes on), funny, charming, incredibly polite, and had great stories and jokes. He's been all around the world collecting Diptera (flies). When we'd walk around the museum, even into the public display area, everyone would cheerfully greet him. He's retired now, but he's one of the few experts in his area, so he remains working and just takes some small fees from people like me who need flies identified.
It was funny to listen to his commentary as he looked at the new specimens that I had brought him. Flies are most readily identified via their genitalia. So he'd mutter things like "oh beautiful, look at the genitals on that chap". He likes to call the flies "chaps" and there was much discussion of genitalia. The more and more I learn about insects, the more and more fascinating I find them. He was describing to me some of the ways that the particular specimens I had brought attract their mates through various genitalia displays from waving to unraveling to shaking and vibrating and even to what he called dancing or having filaments on the genitalia wave in certain ways. Quite funny to hear from this man in his strong British accent.
In the group of flies that I sent him, it ended up that we had captured 3 species new to science. So that's pretty cool! That means that we found at least 4 confirmed new species to science during our time in Kenya
When I originally wrote to him about ID'ing my insects, he told me what he charges per hour and made it clear that it did not include tea breaks. I found this kind of interesting b/c that's usually something that's implied. But after hanging out with him for the day, I see why it was important to state, b/c he enjoyed and had many team breaks. Which was nice b/c then I had the pleasure of hearing all of his stories and jokes.
One of my favorites, which I figure Elisha might find funny and unnerving:
"In the West of your country, the wildlife commission has information on bears because bears can be a danger. They give out a pamphlet to help out with bear identification and avoidance. It states that there are 2 kinds of bears. It says that the black bear isn't much of a worry, but the grizzly bear, now that's a major concern. The pamphlet explains that you should walk around with bells to warn the bears of your presence but in case that should fail, you should carry pepper spray. The pamphlet goes on to describe how to tell them apart, which is important since remember, the black bear isn't much of a concern. The pamphlet mentions that being able to recognize their scat is quite important. It states that black bear scat tends to be well-digested, not in clumps, and has a musty smell, whereas grizzly scat tends to have little clumps of metallic bells and smells like pepper"
He took me out to a nice lunch of fish and chips at the university. John's also fond of poems, and he recited several to me by memory. One that I thought might pique Elisha's interest has the gall to put down her beloved Huckleberries. He recited this to me after we started talking about American cuisine.
In Massachusetts all the way From Boston down to Buzzards Bay They feed you till you want to die On rhubarb pie and pumpkin pie, And horrible huckleberry pie, And when you summon strength to cry, " What is there else that I can try ? " They stare at you in mild surprise And serve you other kinds of pies. And I with these mine eyes have seen A dreadful stuff called Margarine Consumed by men in Bethnal Green. But I myself that here complain Confess restriction quite in vain. I feel my native courage fail To see a Gascon eat a snail ; I dare not ask abroad for tea
When we finished our work up after lunch, he gave me the private tour of the natural history museum. They have a really great natural history museum, and it made me realize I need to visit natural history museums more often. There was set up really cool. You start out in this dark area and get to be in the middle of the big bang. Then as you snake your way around the museum you go from the very geologically active period of earth to early life to the rise of animals to dinosaurs to the extinction of dinosaurs and rise of mammals to humans to the ice ages to the mass extinction of the large mammals (wooly mammoths, saber tooth cats, giant cloths, wooly rhinos, et al) to present. They have lots of fossils, skeletons, and well-done realistic looking animals that move. Definitely very cool!
After the natural history portion, John also gave me a personalized tour of the art gallery, especially the paintings. He's a huge art fan and his enthusiasm was contagious. Cardiff has the largest collection of french impressionists in one place, which of course included lots of Monet pieces. But many other famous artists like Pissarro, Corot, Renoir, Van Gogh, El Greco, and Manet. They also had a famous collection of Virgin and Child paintings.
After my meeting with John, I had a couple hours to kill before my return train, so I walked around Cardiff. Although it's the capital of Wales, it's quite small. They have a nice river and green space, and the highlight is probably the large castle in the center. They are preparing to be a host city for the Rugby World cup, so they were erecting lots of special booths for that.
Elizabeth has been bringing lots of fresh fruits and veggies from her allotment (community gardent), which has been very nice. And today she baked us a tasty bread and also made a sort of crumble pie with apples
 |
| Natural History Museum |
 |
| A little Welsh |
 |
| The Cardiff Castle |
3 comments:
Horrible huckleberry pie?!?! How about heavenly instead:)
East coast huckleberries must not be very good!
Obviously;)
Post a Comment