How is that Don can hang out on the front porch for at least two hours and not one mosquito comes near him, yet when I decide to sit with him I have 5 mosquito bites almost immediately?
Despite Don scoffing at my claim of bites because “mosquitoes don’t come out this early in the day,” I was able to show him the evidence, in the form of an actual mosquito caught in the act.
People used to say that mosquitoes like me because I am pale. I’ve also heard the scent theory. I don’t know the answer, but I will tell you I hightailed it back into the house pretty quickly.
Right before the Mosquito Event, I was tracking this little ladybug on one of the butterfly bush stems.
I love ladybugs.
A little splash of red and black on green.
I was going to quote from the nursery rhyme that starts “Ladybug, ladybug fly away home” but, as is often the case, the rest of the rhyme is frightening, having to do with houses lost in a fire, etc. Really? That’s a good idea for a kid’s rhyme?
Reminds me of my childhood nighttime prayer:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
At least, those are the words I was taught. Again, really? A little child needs to chant “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take” right before they attempt to go to sleep? Talk about worries and nightmares no little child needs! No wonder I was a kid who worried about everything.
It all makes sense to me now.
Just about to finish Murder in the Bastille by Cara Black. This new habit of reading a book first thing in the morning is wonderful. I’m getting a lot more reading done and I feel less attached to my laptop. The next book up is The Cairo Affair (also from the library) by Olen Steinhauer.
Though I love all the wonderful discoveries I’ve made through the Internet, not to mention the friends I have made through this blog, I am taking a stand. I refuse to be on the computer for several hours a day. Living daily life through a virtual world is no way to live. There’s so much more out there in the three-dimensional world to discover and learn and witness.
Like ladybugs.
(New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.)
Happy Wednesday.
I love lady bugs or lady birds as they say in England. When I was young, I would get an old jar, fill it with leaves and find a lady bug to put in the jar. Never put a lid on the jar, even with holes poked in the lid. They are still a wonder to me.
Not sure why some people are bitten more than others. Some say you need to eat more bananas, as your potassium level is low. What do I know?
I agree with you; the morning quiet is wonderful for reading.
Hope you, Don and Dame Scout have a relaxed summer day.
Hugs,
Deb
ps How is Scout doing?
I eat a banana every day, so that puts that theory to rest.
Scout is doing fairly well right now. She’s sleepy during the day and perks up late in the afternoon.
Really lovely photos. A local shop here sells foiled-covered chocolate ladybugs that we use on birthday cards etc to wish the recipient good luck. I’m convinced my freckles repel mosquitoes – maybe you could paint some on!
I have freckles, Barbara. A lot of them! Another theory bites the dust!
My poor Daughter is the same way, if there is a mosquito it finds her! I love Ladybugs and was reading a story to Tiger the other day about them. I’ve really been reading a lot this summer and saying less internet and tv and more books. I’ve enjoyed it. Still adjusting to my new schedule with the Grands.
hugs,
Linda
Isn’t it nice? Less internet, more books!
Sorry for your bites Claudia! I’m usually ignored by those pesky bugs, but I did discover two bites on my arm the other day. Love your photos of the ladybug – they are so pretty and cheerful. Goad you are continuing to enjoy yoru morning “quiet” time. I’ve pretty much stopped getting on my laptop at home…no evenings and no weekends. I used to fire it up first thing in the morning and before I knew it a couple of hours had flown by. Then I was annoyed because I had “lost” so much time. Our temps are supposed to start moderating over the next day or so and there is supposed to be less humidity…hoping you are getting some of the same.
It’s cooler out this morning, Vera, and the humidity is down. Thank goodness!
The mosquitos are out in full force here too, at all times of the day. I’ve always heard they like certain blood types better than others, but who knows?
Hmmm. It seems there are a lot of theories, but no certainties!
When I was young my mother used to have me repeat the If I Die prayer; and, like for you, it was upsetting, so we changed it to repeating the Lord’s Prayer!! I STILL don’t want to die before I wake!!
Hugs to you all
No, it’s a gruesome thought! I don’t like that prayer anymore.
Lady bugs stuck in my house are caught gently and placed in the garden. Mosquitos? Well, they are squished mercilessly. One daughter is a bugs-that-bite magnet and is allergic to some bug bites, so no mercy to biting bugs and spiders. And, no, she is not particularly pale…
In the morning, I read all the blog posts that come into Feedly, which can take long, and then I clear my email, which doesn’t take long. Then I read my local newspaper’s e-edition. That’s usually it for the tablet. I don’t power up my laptop very often. Maybe a couple of times a month. That is, until I begin my resolve to sort through and discard some the thousands of photos I have…..
Well, I don’t have a tablet – just the laptop. I really don’t need a tablet, anyway!
My mom could work for hours in the garden, and never get bit. Me…step outside and I’d have 5 mosquito quite bites. But, since I’ve been on thyroid medication, I don’t get bitten as often…and do not have as severe of a reaction. Don’t know if that has anything to do with it or not. I don’t think it has anything to do with pale skin…but then again? Childhood prayers were so dark…I never taught my kids any. I did use to sing a song, ” Good night sweetheart”, from the 40’s maybe? My mom used to sing it to me. Nice lyrics…very soothing…my kids enjoyed it….and so did I. Enjoy your day! ;)
Well, I’ve been a mosquito magnet since childhood, so who knows why?
Hi, mosquitoes are especially fond of my ankles…
I agree with your thoughts about being so connected and busy with our computers, laptops, ipads, etc.
A few months ago I decided to try checking my email in the morning with my coffee, then not again until 4pm – with a proper cup of tea. Now I am rethinking this plan, and this morning I read a book while drinking my coffee – Susan Branches new (?) book, really a diary, about traveling to England on the Queen Mary. I do love her illustrations. It was a delightful 20 minutes or more, so thank you for the idea. I will also recheck my email, etc at 4pm with a cuppa.
Moving forward I am not sure how to fit blogging in with that time structure – although I have not been consistently active on my site for awhile. I have had a creative brain burst the last few weeks, and besides thinking more about my blog and purchasing a dollhouse kit, I took a chalk painting class on Monday….more ideas and plans than I can deal with right now (not really, I love spending some part of each day on a creative project).
So, starting the morning peacefully with a book and a cup of coffee seems like a good way to open the day. Thanks for the inspiration Claudia, and the reminder about not getting caught up with things that may not nurture what’s really important to each of us. xoxo
It’s all about allowing time to BE, I think. Be quiet, be reading, be creating, be with loved ones and friends…..
I always enjoy looking at your garden pictures. I am also a mosquito magnet but not as bad as my 4 year old grandson.
I agree with you about the poem. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the comedian Tim Hawkins, but he does a “bit” about childhood poems and songs that is hilarious! Luckily, here is the version I learned: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, Guide me through the starry night, and wake me when the sun shines bright.
Oh, that’s a much better version! Much more loving and sweet. Now, why wasn’t I taught that one?
My husband is much loved by mosquitos, while I am just liked a lot. He doesn’t go outside without bug spray. I have always said that the mosquitos love him because he is so sweet.
Maybe I should use that? They love me because I’m sweet! I wonder if Don would go for that.
Mosquitos seem to love me too, and I am also pale. That’s an interesting theory. I think actually that it is the hair spray I usually wear. I have to agree about the poems and fairy tales of our childhood….some pretty gruesome stuff.
I know! Scary and unsettling for little children!
Love, love, love ladybugs. They are suppose to be good luck charms.
Judy
Good luck for all of us!
I told you the other day that I have started doing some gardening every morning. I was outside today and a lady stopped and got out of her car w/ a plant in a pot. She said “I have a yellow Loosestrife here, and wondered if you would like it?” Well, what a silly question!!! I said “of course!!” She said she has only lived in town for a year or so and was out riding her bike the other day and circled our street because my flowers were so beautiful! Well….. as a fellow gardner, you know how THAT feels!! :-) Then she said, “I also have a bee balm in a pot in my car, would you like that? I see you have some and wasn’t sure if you would like more?” I told her anytime she has a plant that needs a home, I am a haven for refugees. She laughed and drove away.
The moral of the story is it IS a good thing to be out and about DOING instead of just sitting in front of the computer and READING about things I should and could be doing!!
And the only good thing about not having had rain for quite a long time is that the mosquitoes go away, too!! Have a grand day!!
Now, isn’t that the perfect story? Love it. Doing instead of reading. Yay!
Although, we haven’t had any rain lately and we still have mosquitoes.
I think that ladybug in your picture is actually an Asian beetle. It’s hard to tell without an overhead picture. Asian beetles are welcome in gardens, too, but have been known to invade houses in large numbers.
My sister and I had a framed picture of that prayer in our bedroom. I don’t know where it came from, but I don’t believe I’ve seen the prayer anywhere since.
Consider home-made mosquito traps for your porch. They are quite effective and instructions are easy to find :)
Might be. We’ve had both around here. No house invasions yet. We’ve had ladybugs hang out all over our porch before, but I love that.
I heard many years ago that if you take vitamin b complex, the mosquitoes will stay away from you because they do not like the scent. Thought it was just a story but I’ve take b vitamins for years and my husband does not. We went camping years ago and he was eaten alive and I was barely touched so maybe there is something to that theory. This is years later — I’m still taking vitamin b and he still being attacked by mosquitoes.
I’ll give it a try, but truth be told, I usually stay inside by late afternoon-early evening because it’s just too buggy out there!
Vitamin B-complex IS the answer!!!! When I used to go camping I couldn’t understand why the hubby NEVER got a bite and I was a human pin cushion. I was working at a pharmacy at the time and mentioned this to a pharmacist friend. He asked simply, “Does M. drink beer while camping?” “Yes…a lot!!!” “Well, he doesn’t get bit because of all the Vitamin B in the beer…..the mosquitos don’t like the taste of the blood with it.” “Ugh!!! what am I to do…I don’t like the taste of beer!!” He told me to load up (one tab 3 times a day) on Vitamin B-complex and they will stay away. Works like a charm!!!! Also, you can’t overdose on Vitamin B because any excess you will pee out and most people can alway use some extra. Hope this helps you…it really works!!!!
I LOVE ladybugs!!!! You must already know that since you can see my email address!!!
Have a good one…and go ask a pharmacist!!!
Addie
Two votes for Vitamin B complex and we just might have some in our cupboard. Don’s the big vitamin person in this household.
Oh! one more thing Avon’s Skin So Soft works really well also….I would rather do either of these things then spray ANY type of chemical repellant on myself.
Nature always has a simple solution!!!
Addie
Yes, I’ve used SSS before and liked it – don’t have any on hand, though!
This is completely off topic, but, I’m wondering if you’ve read To Set a Watchman and what you thought of it.
Sue
No, I have flat out refused to read it. If you go to Just Let Me Finish This Page, my other blog, you’ll find lots of posts about it and my reasons behind that decision.
Ladybugs are purportedly lucky too. One should never smoosh them or shoo them away. A few days after they finished painting the nursery for their about-to-be-born first child, my brother and SIL discovered a tiny clutch of ladybugs, four of them I think, in a corner of the crown molding. Not there on Monday afternoon, but moved in by Tuesday morning. We thought they were nesting or hibernating or whatever. Anyway, they refused to remove them – and the ladybugs never budged that we could tell – and they were STILL there two years later when they moved to a bigger house with their 2 children – !!! My niece certainly received a lot of ladybug-themed games, toys and clothes when she was growing up… :>)
PS I have definitely found I’m much less bothered by insects outside if I don’t use scented products, so I try to save fragranced things for Fall, Winter and Spring, and for indoor activities in Summer. Marigolds, asters and chrysanthemums are supposed repel skeeters too, but I bet you knew that already. Oh, garlic and chives too…
I have wild chives in the spring, but that’s it. Unfortunately, mosquitoes aren’t usually a problem in the spring. Ah, well.
I resisted the temptation of the internet for a long time. Then, as do a lot of things in my life go, I went to the other end of the extreme and found I was sitting on my butt all day at the computer. Layers and layers of information; so interesting. Instant answers to things, so that my brain didn’t have to think all that hard on something, when maybe it needed to. The ways things happened, in one particular year, I realized I’d missed out on some important time I could have used, with my dog who later died, and my dad who later died, when I was instead spending hours at the stupid computer. Wish I’d spent those hours talking to my father; holding my lovey-dog. And sitting all day is so bad for health…a myriad of health problems can arise or be aggravated when we lack movement. My blog list was huge…it took all day just to read my favorite blogs and often comment. I knew it was out of control. My life got busier. Today, I limit myself to about 3-6 good blogs, of which yours, Claudia, is one. I reply on only 3. My current aim is to limit news headlines because they are just too darn distressing. The internet robs me of too much time when I need to be doing other things. I don’t like the idea I’m so tied to it, like when the power’s out or I’m sick, and I miss a day or two of the web. It’s just another addiction. I have really, really had to curtail online shopping; they make it too easy. And I totally cut off email and told people to start using the phone and to quit sending me reams and reams of junk-stuff, like jokes and, oh, so much of the stuff I see on my husband’s Facebook, which I think HE is too addicted to and which distracts him too much from things HE needs to be doing around the house or for his work. The web is a wealth of info but a little too much info. I think it takes enormous personal discipline to use it in moderation. So, I’ve struggled. Everybody has to do what they think is right for themselves, of course.
As usual, your photos are amazing…little ladybugs, so cute. I, too, have revisited favorite nursery rhymes and thought to myself, ‘what the???’ Things that come so easily to my mind which are really, when you think of it, just awful…’bye baby bunting, daddy’s gone a hunting, to get a little rabbit skin to wrap his baby bunting in’ or however it goes…yuck…who wants to be wrapped in the skin of a dead animal, you know?
It can be very addicting. Goodness knows, I’ve found myself going online to check on one thing and emerging several hours later.
Forgot about that dreadful rhyme!
My sister & I are the mosquito magnets of our family. I’ve tried vitamin B, bananas, I have freckles, I’ve tried various lotions and they still find me and bite me before they go to anyone else. The latest I’ve heard is that the AB blood type is what attracts mosquitoes and that is the type my sister & I have…hmmm…I doubt it has anything to do with it, but makes me wonder!
I am also AB, Debbie! I think we may have found our answer!
Hi Claudia. I said the same prayer before bed each night! It was so automatic that it took years for me to realize what it was actually about! I agree, not the best thoughts before drifting off to sleep. Enjoying your garden pics.
I always wondered why we said that prayer, it was scary. Just think of some the the nursery rhymes we were taught, Three Blind Mice, Ring Around the Rosie, Rock a Bye Baby, and many more. No wonder we are all nut cases.
Mere
Trying to catch up on some of your posts – life have been SO busy – but needed to chime in on the prayer. I said the same prayer when I was little, After we adopted our son, I started the prayer with him too, but only after I looked at the words and decided for us to just recite the first line and end it at “my soul to keep”. No need to go further than that! :)
A good edit! The rest of it is too depressing!
Great lady bug pictures.