Paved paradise
I didn't see a ladybird last year. I don't know why this occurred to me, but it did. I know I live in vast city, but there must surely be ladybirds to be found here in the summertime, even in a teeming metropolis. Which means I simply wasn't paying attention. There are a lot of things I know I don't pay attention to - too many happenings each and every day to give thought to it all, so I don't mind that I'm selective in what I choose to focus on (my excuse for wandering around in a world of my own), but... but I wonder what else I missed last year. How many details have I let slip by? It makes me a little sad, mostly because it's often the details that I have fondest memories of, but also for the simple reason that I lilke ladybirds. So this year I will endeavour to pay more attention to the world - the one at large, rather than the one inside my head.
And I'll keep a special eye out for ladybirds.
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Ladybirds? You wanna know why you didn't see any stinkin' ladybirds?
Because they were all in Minnesota! All of them. What's worse is they followed us from Massachussetts!
When we were in South Hadley, we stepped outside one day to discover one side of our rather large house had turned reddish. Thousands of the buggers.
This summer in MN, I looked outside one fine summers day to see it was snowing... but couldn't be, not in 98 F weather. I looked again. The flurry was tens of thousands of ladybirds (technically, Japanese Beetles). Our "new construction" house couldn't keep 'em out. I spent about 3 nights a week picking them of ceilings etc.
When you come over next week, I'll show you the crispy ones in the standing lamp, and the frozen ones clumped in the garage.
You can take them with you if you'd like!
Yeah... what he said. I think there is one on the big windowsill in the stairwell. I'll keep it for you.
Ladybirds are supposed to have huge, chaotic population oscillations. If I remember correctly, there was a plague of them in the late 70s. I recall sitting on the beach surrounded by the things.
I saw quite a few around here last summer - you just need to go out into the fields. There's a surprising amount of wildlife in the field boundaries if you look for it.