Half staffed remembrance for the day our modern world was forever changed. I don’t understand hatred of this magnitude. While it’s easy to imagine outrage over poor treatment and poor policy, I find hatred over ideology hard to wrap my mind around. If anything would be anathema to a Creator, it would be this sorry state of humanity.
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Moving on…
I’ve mentioned before the variable electricity I get here on the hill. End of the line, frequent power slams. Earlier this month, after a fire elsewhere on the line blew out a nearby transformer, my house was hit with a potent power surge. The result: my very expensive (for us anyway) European water-saver washing machine bit the dust, and as I write this, the ticking time bomb that is my refrigerator is literally ticking its death throes. We thought long and hard about replacing the washer but these new no-agitator machines may save water, but by reviews they do a poor job cleaning clothes. We’ve opted to buy a replacement control panel for our dead water-saver instead. I’ve a feeling madness lurks in that decision.
In the meantime, my husband and I discovered a new out of the way laundromat in a nearby small town. I remember those mobile laundry days from carting two people’s laundry several blocks in a bungee corded shopping cart, to dragging my little kids along on the weekend for a family-sized job that seemed to take hours. It’s just the two of us now and all in all not so bad with an hour and a half of crossword puzzles and conversation to share. Those jumbo machines make quick work of the job. For now this is fine. At least until winter snows make it otherwise.
The other evening we were returning home just as the sun was setting. In the sky all around us were tiny glinting needles of silver darting here and there. A full sky of them. And darting just above, the nighthawks. I must back up here to explain. The recent heavy rains inspired a last hurrah of mosquitoes to hatch — small, persistent, and painful little biters too. Nature isn’t about to let that bounty slide. Remember the drama of the spiderwebs I wrote about this week? This was expanded drama.
The sky was full of mosquitoes emerging for the night, the main goal to hunt down a blood meal. Hunting those hunters were the dragonflies, and hunting them were the large-mouthed goat-suckers or nighthawks. Millions of mosquitoes, thousands of green darner dragonflies, and about thirty birds all doing what they do best. As happens so many times, given where my husband and I live, we were in awe. There was nothing to do but pull over and take it all in for a while.
There are 98 species of dragonflies in my area, and 12 known species of darners. Some of these have wingspans up to four inches across. The oldest fossil records of them go back 250 million years, their ancestors had wingspans of feet instead of inches. They’re ferocious hunters in both larval and adult stages. The aquatic larva, or naiads, stay in this form for more than a year and are much larger than the adults. In that stage, in my opinion, they’re the stuff of nightmares — large enough to catch fish and frogs. I can only imagine the naiads 250 million years ago.
Clocked at more than 60 mph, and flying with all the control of a helicopter, the adults can zoom front, back, and sideways in all directions. I’ve always thought the way they fly to be the most curious thing about them. Being airborne hunters, their front legs fold inward (like us lacing our fingers together). This basketing allows them to scoop up small flying insects and shove them right into their mouths…eating on the fly, so to speak. They also have some of the largest eyes in the insect world and see prey up to 40 yards away.
To cultures around the world, the dragonfly comes with stories and myths:
- In Japanese artwork they represent lightness and joy. Its name Akitsushmi means Dragonfly Island and is another name for Japan.
- In some Native American cultures, dragonflies are the souls of the dead.
- To the Hopi they’re the harbingers of renewal after hardship.
- In the faerie stories of Europe, they used to be real dragons.
- In Norse folklore, dragonflies liked to pick out human eyes, sew eyelids shut, or attack ears and had names like Eye-poker and Ear-cutter. The softer side had the dragonfly as a symbol of the goddess Freya.
- The Swedes also said trolls used dragonflies to sew their clothes
- There was also a European belief if dragonflies swarmed over your head it meant the devil was weighing your soul. Not good.
- A Romanian folk tale says the dragonfly was once a horse possessed by the devil.
- The Dutch call them horse-biters.
- In South America they are called horse-killers. A reference to size?
- To the Vietnamese they forecast the weather.
- Germans have more than 150 different names for dragonflies. Evocative names like Teufelsnadel, Wasserhexe, and Hollenross (Devil’s needle, Water witch, and the Goddess’ horse)
My favorite is the Devil’s Darning Needle. I’d tell that one to my students on nature field trips. I’d explain the dragonfly myths of several cultures where these insects sewed shut the mouths of children who talked back and people who swore. I loved how my students all covered their mouths with their hands and looked around wide-eyed. Boy, sometimes I miss those school days. I was a fun science teacher. 😀
The nighthawks are a story for another day…
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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.
There are 46 entries to come.
Here’s a cliché for today:
A stitch in time saves nine.
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Today is Author Marianne Stephens’ blog day with a post about the tragedy of September 11, 2001
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/
Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~ The September contest is on, this time two winners!
http://www.romancebooks4us.com
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And speaking of prizes…
I’m participating in Fall Into Romance — a month-long event hosted by The Romance Reviews. Hundreds of authors and industry people are participating and that means hundreds of prizes. Find my bit on my satellite blog: http://calliopeswritingtablet.blogspot.com/
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<– This is not a lag. It’s a statement. The internet was created to be a free system with access to knowledge and level opportunity for all. Right now several large telecommunications corporations want to make you pay them for the privilege you’ve have for free since the internet began. Learn how you can help stop the pending internet takeover by these heavy-hitting, well-funded Washington lobbyists. The FCC is taking comments now and wants to know what YOU think. If Comcast and Verizon win, this lagging icon is what we’ll see every time we try to use the internet.
Learn what’s at stake and how you can give your opinion to the FCC.
http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now
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Love Waits in Unexpected Places – Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories
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I bet you were a fun science teacher, Rose. You captivated my interest in dragon flies. Smile!
Thanks, Sandy. 🙂 I really enjoyed my work. It’s always easy to share what you find interesting. I love the stories other cultures have for common things.
I love my no agitator washer – killed my old washer at the beginning of the summer and have been using the new one for 3 months – no laundry problems at all – got out all the gardening dirt. I love do laundry at the laundromat – when forced to – 3 or 4 washing machines going – then 3 or 4 dryers and boom! laundry is done!
Also love dragonflies and the “stories” science teachers tell. 🙂
Fabulous post.
Thank you. 🙂 And thanks for the washer perspective. I was a little put off by the salesperson who took me aside and gave me the scoop on those machines. She didn’t have one herself, just passing on what she had read. It’s nice to hear from someone who actually has one.
I never thought much about dragonflies before. A very interesting post.
Thanks! I’ve had many wow moments here on the hill.
I’ve always loved dragonflies, Rose, and see them as creatures of illusion that dart around time and space at warp speed. I sense they are interdimensional… saw a magnificent bright red one down here in Texas the other day about the same size as the one in your photo above.
I’m sure many of your students went on to love science and nature – how lucky they were to have a teacher like you!
My kids and I had great times. Precious are the memories of hand-wringing parents who wanted to know if that giant snapping turtle or that sandwich bag with the dead vole they found in their window well were really things I’d like. Their kids assured them I’d want them for class. I had one student beg their parent to stop the car and pick up the dead possum just for me. Luckily the parent said no. 🙂
Inter-dimensional. What a great image. I’ve never seen a red dragonfly up my way. That would be magical. While visiting southern states, I almost picked up a giant red velvet ant once until my six-year-old son said, “Mom, don’t touch that cow killer, it’s a wingless wasp!” lol Out of the mouths of babes. Did you read about that poisonous caterpillar? I hear it’s in Texas too. http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/26437401/florida-scientists-dont-touch-this-bug
Until the underground utilities were dug up we used to get power surges, one burned up everthing electonic we had at the time and most appliances had to be replaced. An idiot neighbor didn’t get his property marked before digging a hole to put in a fence. He struck the power line and the lights power went out in every house on our side of the street. Just this year we had to put in a new electric meter, breaker box and all of our electric outlets. We also bought a new stove and dishwasher that were destroyed by the idiot. This was the neighbor who would call the cops any time someone had a party outdoors at night. His wife ran a lesbian couple out of their home. One day there was something that concerned all residents in our cul-de-sac. I went to tell the two women. My next door neighbor woman asked if I knew about the women’s orientation. I told her they were very nice and I didn’t see a reason not to talk to them.
I haven’t seen many dragonfiles in this area. We had them all the time where I grew up, but then it was mostly in the years when there was wheat growing around the house.
The Jihadists aren’t the only haters. We have the Neo Nazis, the KKK and all sorts of us agains them groups of our own.
Some people just can’t look beyond the box they’ve created for themselves. Your neighbor is just a lesser hater than the last groups you mention. Or less of a joiner. I’m as American as the next person living here, in some ways even more so because I actually understand the founding documents as profound thoughts of their time. Nationalism couched as “patriotism” is not a good thing. That’s exactly how a little known, albeit ambitious, man named Adolf came close to world domination. This us over them, or us vs. them is a dangerous mindset that has been made worse by manipulative dollars spent on media. Take FOX. Say it enough, and even a preposterous lie becomes fact sooner or later. We’ve become a fear-driven country because people don’t realize they’ve been played. One day these manipulators and the haters they’ve created will have dragonflies circling them assessing their souls.
Dragonflies have become my summer token. They sit on me when I’m mowing the grass and love to fly around me when I sit outside. I usually have three or four of them on me. This summer I got another tattoo… this time a dragonfly on my back. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
What a whimsical bit of ink. 🙂 I’d go with the Hopi view over the soul being measured. 😉