What in the world?
Scarab like creatures are cluttered over my mess of ivy. My mind quickly tries to process what it's seeing. I can't help but begin to recite pages from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Visions of hole covered leaves are coming to fruition. These emerald colored beetles are devouring the leaves like a bedtime snack.
My narrow focus begins to widen as I notice the destruction these small creatures have caused. Huge sections of lush, green ivy have transformed into gold-plated, hole covered leaves. My birch tree looks like the seasons have changed over night. The once abundant leaves now litter my lawn.
These thieves in my garden MUST GO! I will miss the beauty of NH but will not miss their crawling critters. Japanese Beetles....Be Gone!
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| photo Flicker© 2005 |
Yikes! Not my favorite bug. Your first few lines are lovely, though. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to experience the initial wonder and awe that eventually turned to disappointment in the mess created through your eyes.
ReplyDeleteYour writing is so rich with imagery! I share your resolve to rid your garden of these invaders. My lovely yellow daisies are being attacked by some kind of caterpillar or worm or aphid, and they are not flowering. I thought they were just late this year, but no.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of this is so lovely--I had such a beautiful picture in my head. The transition to the end, the change in mood and tone, was great! This would make a great notebook exercise!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Deb, you caught me by such surprise because I was already imagining sweet pictures of butterflies who had visited by your wonderful description. I don't think we have those in Colorado, at least they've not visited so far. Hope the solution is not far off!
ReplyDeleteYour beginning was great! As a matter of fact the rest was great too. You had me engaged all the way through. Japanese beetles are a pest. This year we treated our trees systemically so when they took a bite of the leaf they were poisoned. Our driveway was littered with dead bodies for weeks. We don't walk barefoot around those trees anymore.
ReplyDeleteYou did such a great job allowing the reader to change their focus, as you did, from a wide angle distance shot to actually zooming in closer and closer, right up to the the beetles and then pulling back again to survey the damage. And, you are right, there is no room for Japanese beetles.
ReplyDeleteYou have done it again - great beginning followed by a detailed description of what you see and think. I love reading your pieces. I am sorry the critters caused so much damage.
ReplyDeleteTerje
I love how you described the pest in such a new perspective -- not many people stop to think of how beautiful Japanese beetles are! Neat way of remembering that even "undesirable" things have some good qualities!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I loved this piece from beginning to end. What a great example of an ordinary, well ordinary, but annoying observation from your day turning into a writing topic. I would share this with students as it seems to me, the perfect model for Slice of Life or a notebook entry that could be taken further. ~Theresa
ReplyDeletePS ~ I have been battling these pesty nibblers too!
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