Thursday, July 7, 2011

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home . . .

When Grandma Grace was flying airplanes, one of her favorite groups of associates was a club called the Ladybugs. (M says that women aviators were called "Ladybirds" or "Ladybugs" since at least World War II and probably even the 1930s.) As a result of her connection to this club, she began to collect ladybugs. Ladybug jewelry, ladybug painted rocks, ladybug refrigerator magnets--you name it, Grandma had it. Here's a sample:


Because of her love of ladybugs, we think we have evidence that Grandma came to visit us Monday night. Monday was the Fourth of July, a day that I normally hate since firework noises scare me as much as thunderstorms do. There was lots of booming and banging going on outside, so I stayed pretty close to M and J--even though they were watching more booming and banging on television.

Anyway, cut to the chase: Yesterday morning M was walking around the side of our house and happened to look down at the ground beneath the gate to the air conditioner cubby. Here's what he saw looking up at him:


Yep! A ladybug! A BIG ladybug--about the size of a computer mouse. (Which is pretty large as ladybugs go.) As M bent down to pick it up, he could see it was made of some kind of paper or cardboard and that it was a bit cracked and had some fire damage on it.


(M says please excuse the weeds, but he's been too busy in recent weeks to pull them. Nor does he have time to Photoshop them out of the pictures.)

It turns out that this particular ladybug is a type of firework. In fact it's a little rocket that spins and shoots way up into the air. Here's what it looks like underneath after it's made its flight:


We also think that this ladybug was Grandma's calling card, because it chose our house to land at. So I'm happy to give Grandma a "pass" for her rather noisy, showoff-y visit. And we are all very happy to add the bug to her collection.

Here's a video clip I found on YouTube that shows you that when a ladybug takes off, she's really booking!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am certain that Grandma Grace was sending you a sign and I bet you a dozen doggie biscuits that you will get more lady bug signs in the future.

Anonymous said...

Buddy, your Grandma Grace liked to travel by any means. In the 6+ years we were married we flew to St. Thomas, V.I.; to Accra, Ghana via New York, Frankfort,and Lagos. She didm't let a bout of appendicitis keep her from coming back to Orlando. We flew to Honolulu and back. to two different weddings in Columbus, OH and a wedding in Fon Du Lac WI abd a pleasure trip to Branson, MO.
We also sailed up the St. Johns River to Sanford and back. and later from Providence RI sailed around the New England Islands, then also to the Bahamas.
By DOTS motor coach we saw the changing Fall leaves in SC, NC, VI, MD and WV.
By car we visited WV via the Blue Ridge Skyway, went to nine reunions in Tampa, Leesburg and Bainsbridge, GA. And we drove the back routes to Tampa five time to see her dentist and her daughter and family. We also drtove to Leesburg to sesome 23 concerts. Even when she was on oxygen we went to The Villages for my granddaughter's wedding.
And that with singing in two choruses here in Deland and going to most of the activities at Florida Lutheran. She was definitely an Active Senior Citizen and we have so many fond memories of her!

Dave