Thursday 23 June 2011

Wasps and My Dislike of Them

To be honest, I've never met a person who actually likes wasps. No one is ever pleased to find them in the car with you, and they are hardly ever welcomed at picnics. I myself really dislike them. My partner is petrified of them! (Yet he can stomach spiders. Very odd.) But today a particular article was highlighted to me that made the wasp fall even further down in my estimation.

This article points out that there is a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in a ladybird. A Lady bird! And...no shit...the tiny wasp thing then eats the ladybird host's insides! It then bursts out of the poor ladybird (quite like in Alien, I imagine) and then gets the ladybird to protect it while it builds a cocoon. And if that weren't bad enough, the ladybird protects it by twitching because they think it's been poisoned!

That has actually ruined my day a little bit. (Though I imagine there are quite a few smug greenfly.)

OK so it's not all wasps that do that. But still, it's not giving them a good name.

Anyway, here's the article.

Friday 17 June 2011

Albertine

Wow. I have really neglected my blog. Sorry! (In case anyone actually did notice.) Mainly, this has been the fault of University. I had masses of work and exams on, and as soon as they were over I have started my summer job (and enjoying free weekends).

But I have my results and I am quite pleased (not over the moon, but happy enough!) to say that I got a 2:1 for year 2. And it’s all on with my partner’s family, as he now has two siblings engaged and the third is expecting a child (well, his girlfriend is).

Which is very exciting (though I am a tiny bit jealous, too. I have no problems admitting this flaw in my personality!). This has got me thinking about babies and children and life and what not (which is on hold, as I am determined to build or renovate a house before we settle down!) but one of the names I really like for a girl is Albertine, and as this is a pink rose, what better Folksy Friday theme?