Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - The Roly Poly Whisperer

Wordless, compared to my last few posts. I've been having a wordy week.

Photo source
Recently, the Faery has become obsessed with roly polies (aka pill bugs). Over the past week or so, she has spent crazy amounts of time digging around in the garden of our front patio. She moves the roly polies around, and builds "roly poly hills" for them. They are herded together, all over the garden.

Photo source
Although J and I had encountered these small crustaceans in the UK (we once lived in a flat in Brighton that was overrun with them - ew!), we never saw them in Australia. Perhaps they exist there too, perhaps not. I do not know.

Back in Australia, the Faery didn't herd roly polies - she herded snails instead, and I'm pretty sure they must have wondered how they came to be in such a slimy, orgiastic mass.

She didn't inherit this particular expression of nature-loving from me. I prefer not to have anything to do with bugs, slugs, snails, spiders - they all give me the heebies jeebies...

4 comments:

  1. Hilarious! I've never seen them here either. Can't imagine living in a house overrun with them ... good God.

    I can see the Faery is a collector - let's hope she moves on to stamps or My Little Pony or something less slimy and/or scaly very soon.

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  2. I may have exaggerated about being overrun with them in Brighton, but I never had to look hard to find one. It was an old, damp flat. Not a great combination!

    And you've hit the nail on the head with the Faery - she IS a collector (aren't all kids, though? or some more than others?)... rocks, stickers, sticks, acorns, pinecones, and anything she thinks could be used for 'artwork'.

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  3. LD loves bugs, too. Not long ago, he said to me, "What's that, Mumma" cupping something in his hand. I held out mine, "Give me a look" and promptly screamed when the thing MOVED. Millipede in the hand = freaked out Mumma.

    I don't do bugs. The photos above make me feel squirmy.

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  4. Sorry to make you feel squirmy! I think if the roly polies were any bigger, I'd be freaking out too. As it is, the Faery wanted to put some in a bottle to keep next to her bed last night, but mean me nixed that idea...

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