Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Enchantment

There are small magic creatures in my garden. By day they seem normal, little black beetles with orange red edges to their heads. At dusk they transform into little fairies. They flit about the sky leaving little trails of light.

I had a friend in college that claimed to believe in unicorns. I scoffed. He said the world would be such a dull place without magic. He had to believe in it because the alternative was unthinkable. I tend to that thinking when I see fireflies lighting up the twilight sky. Surely they aren't fireflies. They must be fairies. It was hard to go to sleep one night as I watched one of these fairies that had gotten into my bedroom and was blinking messages to its cohorts outside. "Save me the evil princess has me trapped."

I think one of the reasons gardening attracts us so much is its magical nature. The peonies first bloom this spring comes to mind. The enchanting scent of the lilac wafting on the breeze. And who hasn't waited with baited breath for the magical first tomato of the season. Today my daughter and I bought locally grown strawberries again (2 quarts this time since the last quart lasted less than 24 hours). We made strawberry sherbet together. That first bite was spellbinding.

5 comments:

  1. Gardening is magical - especially tasty strawberries :)

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  2. You're lucky to see the fireflies. My kids would love to see some as we do not have them over here.

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  3. I feel the same way about stag beetles. Perhaps because my first exposure to the word stag was in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where the magic stag leads them back to the lamppost and home.

    Plus they have really cool looking heads.

    Happy firefly and strawberry time.

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  4. I have never seen a stag beetle so I looked them up. They are scary looking things. I think I'd run the other way if it looked at me.

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  5. We occasionally find a stag beetle. I think they're kind of comical because they're so big and lumbering for an insect. Almost like a tiny little dinosaur or something.

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