Sunday, April 25, 2010

I Love Dragonflies

When we were kids growing up on Sebago Lake in Maine, mosquitoes were a huge issue throughout the summer. Our cottage was one of seven on a small peninsula we lovingly called "The Point" which was bordered on two sides by marsh and squishy mud...breeding ground for mosquitoes. By evening, we were juicy meals for those bloodthirsty pests. But, night after night, sunsets across the water made it worth the victimization. We loved "camp".

Over the years, I remember trucks traveling the dirt roads around Sebago spraying to kill what they could as we hurried indoors holding our breath when we heard the shusshhhing sound of the machine coming near.

As the EPA came into the picture, and as PCBs and carcinogens slowly found their way into our lake's fish, less spraying was done. We made jokes about the mosquito being the state bird, and hiding our babies and small pets so they didn't get carried off into the sunset by swarming bugs.

I'll never forget the first time one of the neighbors came to chat with my grandfather about splitting the cost of a dragonfly delivery on the Point. What an intriguing concept! Dragonflies eat both the bugs and their larvae. That seemed like a great idea. We waited in anticipation for the truck to arrive that summer and enjoyed seeing the mosquito population being gobbled up by those delightful creatures. I never swatted one of them, even if it found it's way into the cottage. We were careful with all of them. They were saving us from the vampires which came at dusk.




I Love Dragonflies, a 41" Diva Length wire wrapped necklace, is full of great beads! Jasper, howlite, mother of pearl, crystals, copper hearts and rose gold are beautiful, but the best beads are the dragonflies. My daughter put this on, and I couldn't stop looking at it. Doubled (as shown) or not, it's gorgeous on. Either way, it's an attractive piece. Necklace $65

Thanks to my brother Bill Bridges who lives in the beautifully renovated "camp" and takes the most amazing pictures of sunsets. He captured the one above.