TIF March - Bugs are Small Details!

Nature is beatiful - down to its smallest creatures (except for mosquitoes). After reading Allisons' lastest entry about critters and little things that hop and crawl, I started to remember the bugs of my childhood. As a child of parents who went through the Depression, and as a child of WWII, I was not overly endowed with a lot of toys - none of us were of my generation. There simply were none, and our parents, also, preferred that we read or listen to records, and use our imaginations for play. One of my favorite activities was to go to the vacant lot next door, and lie down on the bed of weeds I had made, and sprinkle sugar for the ants. It was fascinating to watch them discover the sugar or bread crumbs, or whatever the offering, and go off to alert their roommates in the ant hill. Then I discovered doodle bugs - (ant lions, I think they're called) and enjoyed feeding them the ants so could watch them flip dirt out of their little funnels to trap the poor critters. I had mixed feelings about it, but realized even then - the Law of the Jungle!. When my own children were very young, I used to take them to the neighborhood park, and introduced them to the joys of watching ants take tiny grains of sugar off to their ant hills and downunder to their babies. Children of these times have no idea what they are missing - as they have so many high tech "plastic" toys at their disposal, - and the simple pleasures and little details of nature are lost to them. I think they don't even notice the bugs and critters unless they get stung! Anyway - the possibilities of design from nature are endless. Several years ago I found some pictures of antique jewelry made like bugs! of course these became small pieces of needlepoint. I'm showing pictures of canvas here, as I have no idea where those things are now, except the butterfly on the little black evening bag. I love bees and ladybugs, and of course had to do a caterpillar and several moths, etc. These were very enjoyable to stitch, as they involved lots of fun fibers that sparkled and glittered - and required lots of beads! Some of the smallest creatures crawling around in your garden can be fascinating, and breath taking in their simple beauty - Oh dear. I almost forgot to mention, but in my very first ballet recital at age six, I was a lady bug. We did the legend of the Grasshopper and the Ant, and my tutu was yellow with black spots.