#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Lady Bugs making love in meadow milkweed
Can we learn wisdom watching insects now,
or just the art of quiet observation? . . .
~Excerpt from Vivian Smith, “Summer of the Ladybirds”
“The Male will climb onto the back of the Ladybug, gripping her elytra with his front legs, whilst inserting his ‘aedeagus’ (insect genitals) into her. The mating process, known as copulating, can continue for up to two hours. During this process, the female is still able to move around whilst mating is in process. . .
. . . Ladybugs have what’s known as a ‘lock and key’ system, which means the genitalia, or the male-insect-penis, scientifically called the ‘aedeagus’ fits best with the female of the same variety/species.”
Outdoors, in the late afternoon, before the storm, a yellow oriole flew into the yard, settled on a branch of the red maple. I had just had a late walk in the garden where a black swallowtail (?) landed in the thick bunch of parsley. The squash, the winter and the butternut, have emerged! Early this morning, around 6:30 a.m., I went into the wet garden. I looked and looked and could only find one tiny squash seedling, its green shoulders just coming out of the seed casing in the dirt. In the late afternoon, when I went back to check, there was one, two, five, six little butternut seedlings out of their casings, where there were none before! We had a bit of sunshine in the muggy heat. What a buggy, hot, long walk I had this morning, into the woods, across the meadow. The turtleheads are in bloom, July wildflowers, as is the wintergreen. I passed the gorgeous marsh and went into the meadow, and passing a little community of milkweed in the sun, I stopped for a look at the pink buttoned blooms, and found two ladybugs on a milkweed leaf making love. Can I call it that? Why not? If you’d seen the milkweed flourishing and felt the hot, damp air, you’d swear it was lovemaking too. Then, I took the trail into the woods through the marsh and a massive tree had uprooted itself, blocking my passage. So, I backtracked and gave the horseflies many more tries at my head and shoulders as I made my way home in the heat, crossing ankle deep through the river overflowing into the swamp. Oh, July! I love summer so much! My youngest woke with her father’s sore throat and grumbled that she would not get up early, as planned, for her swim. But, you see, I knew in her heart of hearts she wanted to; she had stayed over for this reason, in fact, because she wanted to swim before work and the Governor has restricted swimming at her nearby Walden Pond for the swimmers (due to a rash of drownings in Massachusetts). So, I gave her a motherly NUDGE. She pouted and grumbled and called for her father to bring her tea. Which he did. In a half an hour I had a text, cheerfully noting her swift time on her swim at Farm Pond.
