Stupid Ladybug

Calgary isn’t like other parts of the world when the sun goes down. Some places get all “nighty” right away, whereas Calgary enjoys a prolonged dusk. We have had the hottest September that I can remember, certainly hotter than the rest of the summer was, and it is a little warm in the house. It will cool down shortly, but for now I decided to take my cup of tea and my book outside to read in the back yard for a while.

I put my tea on the side table, sat down on the yard swing and opened the book to where my bookmark was telling me to start reading. I read for all of two minutes and then thought what a wonderful evening to lie down and just enjoy watching and listening to the world for a while. If I happen to fall asleep, then so be it. I didn’t fall asleep.

I looked up into the pale blue sky to see an airplane leaving twin vapour trails across the sky. The sun was still shining brightly at 20,000 feet, so the plane looked like a silver dart in the sky. Travelling in the opposite direction at a much lower height, was a flock of ducks or a gaggle of geese, they were far too high for me to see or really care what they were. Why should I care when they don’t even care to make a decent “V”, but more of the bottom of a “U” upside down. Pathetic! One lone magpie squawked across the sky.

I shifted my gaze to the table umbrella we have and noticed a ladybug walking along the edge of the fabric. It reminded me of the bug version of a “Flying Walendas”. Why would it walk along the edge of the fabric? I understand that even if it were to fall, it would just spread its wings and fly away. Even if it didn’t get the wings out, there is a very good chance that it wouldn’t be hurt by the fall since it has a hard shell. You would think though that it would want to avoid the adrenaline rush as it plummeted toward the pavement. Perhaps in some buggy way it read my mind and it started walking on the underside of the umbrella. That’s not what I was getting at you stupid fucking bug! Go ahead…fall for all I care. I will dance at your funeral, besides; your children are gone anyways. Now it’s back to the edge.

I look up and see the birch trees leaves dancing in the light breeze. The leaves are turning more yellowish every day, but so far they are clinging to the branches. The neighbour’s apple trees are heavy with fruit and soon they will be all over the ground attracting angry wasps and filling the air with that sweet/sour smell of rotting fruit. The ladybug is now about half way across the umbrella, still upside down, but it’s his funeral. It just disappeared in one of the spots that can only be a birds dropping.

I look over and I see a shining silver half moon hanging in the sky. I wonder where the other half went? It will turn up in about 15 days, so we shouldn’t worry. You know, you see half moons but very rarely do you see a half sun. Mind you, I don’t often look too closely at the sun. Aside from the potential blindness that would be caused by looking at the sun, I really don’t care. I don’t like looking into a lightbulb, let alone half of the sun.

Well, too dark to read so I had best get up and go inside. Maybe I can lie down somewhere in the house and read…