A hybotid fly peers out from the cluster of anthers of a white rhododendron flower.

As you’ll be certain to see after this week, white rhododendron flowers are a personal favorite subject of mine. A sub-favorite is the tiny hybotid flies that seem to appear at a certain time of summer to feast upon the pollen. I’m not sure why, but with their little comic strip character helmet heads, coming in numerous duplicates, manages to bring out the best reaction to exacting (and often otherwise stultifying) replication from me; instead of mass-marketed toy, they’re more like an embodied mantra. I wouldn’t call them the monks of the insect world, but I do think that they supplement the heavenly glow of the white rhododendron flower exceedingly well.