An Insect Resident

Our UPS driver is a friendly young guy who always had a treat for Lila and likes to talk about what’s happening in the neighborhood. A few weeks ago, while he was unloading six big boxes of tools into the husband’s shop, he said to me, “You have a big garden—have you ever seen a praying mantis in it?” I said that no, I had lots of ladybugs but no mantises. He proceeded to tell me about several customers on his route who had seen them recently. I offered up the story of how, as a child, I had kidnapped one and put it in my bedroom closet, where—to my mother’s dismay—it gave birth. I then promised to be on the lookout for any here.

The husband came to the kitchen door yesterday afternoon and called me over. “Look,” he said:

The husband knows me well. He knows that I will stop the car to move a turtle out of the road. He knows that I shepherd baby robins from their nests when they are ready to fledge. He knows that I talk to the snakes in the garden. He knows that I sneak scratch grains to the turkeys. And he brought me a praying mantis.

We carefully transferred the mantis from his arm to mine, and I walked it over to the garden and left it on a head of lettuce. Hopefully it will make itself at home over there and perhaps have some babies of its own. And now I can report to the UPS driver that I have a praying mantis in my garden.

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We have a memorial service today at our church for one of our members who died rather unexpectedly last week. I am not playing, however, because this man’s daughter is a pianist and will be providing the music. Instead, I will go and join my voice with others in singing in celebration of his life. I have to say that despite the sadness of the occasions, these services at our church are generally uplifting. I’ve always said that our pastor does a stellar job with weddings and funerals. The man who is being remembered today loved music and frequently expressed appreciation for my playing. I would often hear him humming along from the pew as I played prelude or offertory pieces. He was also a strong bass and we will miss having him in the choir.

I need to bake a cake this morning to take for the meal after the service.

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The husband and I did some landscape planning yesterday afternoon while having drinks on the veranda. There are a couple of trees in the yard that need to come down before a windstorm puts them somewhere they aren’t wanted, like on top of the house. We have room to add another 6-10 fruit trees—I am sticking to apples—so I will be shopping on the Fedco website as soon as they release their new catalog in October. I learned last year that if you don’t get orders in by January or February, they sell out of a lot of stock. The husband bought a grapple for the track loader, which will make it much easier to finish cleaning up the woods, and we’ll burn slash piles as soon as it is safe to do so.