The lady bug was such fun to watch! She just slowly kept going and going, and while it looked as if she were merely marching along the stems, I know she was eating that nasty nemesis of gardeners everywhere... aphids.
If you look carefully you can see them in this picture, sucking the life out of my plants. But thank goodness we have the determined ladybugs to feast on them and keep them from robbing us too badly.
My grandma, who must surely have been one of the most patient people God ever made, cheerfully answered my questions. I remember being fascinated with ladybugs and asking her (probably a hundred times if the family fables are true) "how does she get her spots and what do they mean?" and "how come she flies with those silky black wings instead of her pretty one?" and so on. Probably ad nauseum.
I remember chanting together, my voice high and piping, hers wavery and dear, the old rhyme...
Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home!
Your house is on fire, your children are burning!
Funny how the sight of that lone determined ladybug brought back so many happy memories of my sweet grandma and the unflinching quality of perseverance they shared.
