Reading: I just started Pat Conroy's Beach Music.

Background courtesy of
Ace of Space

Entomology for Toddlers

The twins were reminiscing today about their encounters with the natural world. "Mama, remember when we were at the playground and a lady bug was on the sliding board, and I picked it up and handed it to you?" Stephen asked.

"Yes, I remember," I answered. I doubt the poor lady bug ever fully recovered from Stephen's ministrations.

"Lady bugs can't sting you because they don't have stingers, right, Mama?" asked Matthew.

"Right, honey."

"But bees have stingers," Stephen reminded him.

"Butterflies don't have teeth, do they, Mama?" Matthew asked.

Quashing a mental image of a butterfly with a big set of choppers, I answer, "No, they don't."

"But hyenas have teeth," Matthew commented. The boys were watching Kratts' Creatures this morning, and the episode featured lions and hyenas.

From there the conversation drifted into a Lion King discussion and quote fest. It's an odd fact that most conversations in our house eventually end up at Disney movies.

A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red.
Alice thought this a very curious thing....

--Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

This ongoing drought is the source of at least one crazy news story. I heard on the radio yesterday that the groundskeepers at Newark Airport have been painting the dry, brown grass there with a nontoxic, vegetable-based, green dye. "It gives the dead grass a lush appearance," said an airport spokesman. Curiouser and curiouser.

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