When we were kids, our grandparents had a working farm that was also a tobacco farm. We typically raised more than 10 acres of tobacco, I don't remember the specific quantities this many years ago, I just know the entire farm was about 100 acres big. One year when we were cutting the tobacco in the fields, so it would have been during July or August, there was an unusually large population of ladybugs on the farm. When I say "unusually" large, I mean they were everywhere! Every color! Red, blue, purple, white, yellow, black, brown, pink, green, with dots and without dots. I have this recurring memory of how when we slapped the cut tobacco plants onto the trailers in the field, the ladybugs would all fly up in a ladybug flurry, then land down again, then the cycle repeated. We would play with them in the barns, often they would walk on your fingers for awhile before flying away. More often than not, they'd be already on your shirt or hair or arms, just walking around before flying away again, there were just so many around that year!
I have always loved ladybugs, maybe because they are round and colorful--the same yet different. Maybe because they don't make a mess when you squish them (by accident!) or taste bad if you accidentally swallow one (when standing up on the back of a truck, wind blowing in your face, riding one of the farm bikes or go-carts like crazy). I never became a collector, but they remain appealing whenever I find them in artwork, lawn art, material, jewelry and such.
Lately my memories of the ladybugs keeps coming up at the oddest moments. They always have, over the years, but more so lately. It is darn cold in NM right now, so there are certainly no lady bugs in the garden or yards to serve as a reminder of something fun. Hmmmmm.
Eric Holder
13 years ago
