The Painted Veil
Posted on 11. Jun, 2008 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in House, Personal
I’ve never thought of myself as a person who dislikes bugs. I recognize their place in the circle of life; they eat other bugs, they are fodder for birds, they can be pollinators and fertilizers–bugs are the life-blood of our eco-system!
When we began announcing that we would be moving to the Maritimes, in retrospect I do recall a few shudders, comments about the black fly “situation” and perhaps a few mutters involving the word “mosquitoes,” but somehow I seemed to have dismissed the whole bug situation completely. “Bugs? I laugh in the face of bugs. Some people just can’t take life in the outdoors; some people are soft, spoiled!”
And so the snow melted, and the grass started to sprout, and the birds chirped, and the apple trees started to bud. And so we ate our meals outside and savoured the wonder that is our property as it greened and came alive. And then came…May.
I recall that one May morning as we ate our corn flakes in the sunshine, Cameron said something about little black bugs flying around his head. I didn’t notice a thing; I thought him crazy.
The next day, I felt a prick on my forehead, and I swatted away a little black bug, “How strange.” And so it began.
Well, now we don’t go outside unless we are wearing a full arsenal of mesh–including the full face-mask feature. (Please, note the bugs on the mesh. Please.)
Our friends and neighbours tell us that the bugs are particularly bad at our place, and that a good yard clean up would probably help. Originally, we had delusions of letting the grass grow long because mowing the lawn is way down on the priority list, but we have caved in and finally given the grass a good raze.
I’m not sure whether mowing the lawn has helped to dampen the rampant bug frenzy, but at least our yard looks a little more…in keeping with the norm. And may I stress the little in the previous sentence; after all, our yard is still a furniture graveyard involving two toilets, a fridge, a stove, old couches, and an entire cargo trailer spewing construction debris. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.
Carmen
Mar 13th, 2009
Hi Laura Jane,
I was just re-reading the first part of your blog, and trying to get up the “gumption” to sell my present house, and buy my dream property like you folks did, when a very weird thought went through my head…………I wonder what they did with that old Kemac(SP?) stove from the original kitchen?? Do you still have it, or did you already part with it?
Carmen
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Feb 12th, 2010
It’s in our yard! We didn’t intend to leave it outside, but somehow…it just happened.
Sal
Oct 10th, 2009
Yeah, in most parts of Canada we buy mesh “rooms” or canopies with mesh sides in order to sit outside AND at Canadian Tire, you can buy a hammock that needs no poles – put it up and move it anywhere you want.
You don’t know comfort until you fall asleep outside in the sun in a screened room on a hammock.
PEACE……