Sunday 11 April 2010

Little red lily b-----s

This is one of my lovely crown imperials - they are so beautifully exotic amongst the very cottagey daffodils and primroses - and what a glorious colour. And THIS, Gina, is a LILY BEETLE or as it is known in this household, a little red lily b----r
It is like a ladybird only more elongated and without the spots, and this is the damage they do -

They also have rather nasty personal habits in laying their eggs - not nice at all and we score big Brownie points for killing them. (I could never become a Buddhist, I kill these and earwigs and wasps). Needless to say, this is now an ex-lily beetle.
We went to church this morning and asked some friends to come back for coffee but they said no, they were going out to lunch. So we came home to sit in the sunshine and look at the papers over our coffee before planning what to do in the garden. We had just decided to think about lunch when the telephone rang - it was Pauline our organist. Aren't you coming for lunch today? How awful, we had completely forgotten - are we losing our marbles? We leapt in the car (fortunately we were already brushed up in church clothes) and dashed to the next village where all our friends sat in the garden waiting for us. So we did not get any gardening done but had a lovely meal and lots of village gossip and got home at half past five!
On Friday evening we went to the preview of the Cambridge Drawing Society Exhibition - what talent! We saw our friends Rachel Haynes and Anthony & Sylvia Hopkinson and their lovely work. We were most impressed by the standard, there was quite a crowd there plus delicious nibbles and wine. We couldn't eat too much because we were going out to dinner but it all looked very scrummy. Although it is the Drawing society there were oils and acrylics and pastels and prints BUT no textile art! I talked to the Secretary about it and he said they were quite open to all sorts of media so I am thinking of trying to join - it is a challenge, isn't it?
I am slightly worried about my son-in-law as I think he must be going through a mid life crisis. He has a new hairstyle and has shaved off his moustache (which all makes him look much younger) AND he is talking of buying a motorbike !!! He says I can only ride pillion if I have all the leather gear - watch this space.... There is a precedent, because my father had a motorbike at one time and there is a wonderful photograph of my mother in 1932 wearing a leather coat and helmet, big gauntlet gloves and long boots and looking VERY glamorous. It is very tempting. Can I keep my vest on I wonder?


6 comments:

  1. Ah! Now I know! Good job I don't have any lilies I suppose. I'm sure it was Rachel that taught me life drawing last term.

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  2. Oh go on, Mavis, get the leather togs and show us a pic of you on the bike!

    I gave up growing lilies because of lily beetles. I wonder if I dare risk them on the allotment - it's in the middle of a huge field so perhaps the wretched beetles wouldn't find them?

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  3. Those horrid red b*****s! Spoiling you lovely crown imperials - that's 'lovely' if you stay up-wind of them ;-)

    Red b*****s aren't fussy so long as it's a lily - they go for my snake's head frittilaries too! So we're had no seeds to scatter for a year or two now.

    BTW when you catch the red b*****s, do they squeak! Ours do!

    Celia

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  4. You can keep your vest on, provided it's on the inside! First time I have read your blog, it's rather lovely, if that doesn't sound too patronising? I find as I get older I often adopt this sort of condescending tone, unintentionally (usually!).
    Maggie at laburnumcottage.blogspot.com

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  5. Welcome, Maggie - and nice comments are never patronising. I do find I am increasingly calling people 'dear' which I feel might be patronising whereas if I could learn to say 'dahhling' flamboyantly it would just be eccentric!

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