Did you ever play with a June Bug when you were a child?
Poppy came in the house with a handful of ripe figs and asked if I had seen all the June bugs on the fig tree.
Boy, did that ever bring back good memories! Running around barefoot with a June bug tied to a string was one of the funnest things I remember playing with as a child...well besides my dolls and lightening bugs.
These pretty emerald green beetle bugs are clumsy and sometimes fly into things. Occasionally, one would dive bomb into somebody's head and get tangled in their hair. Such screaming and hollering, oh, it was fun. We loved the June bugs and were careful not to hurt them. You would gently and carefully tie a string around a back leg then let them fly.
Poppy was born on a big farm down in Georgia. They played with June bugs too. He remembers how sometimes the string would slip through your fingers and the June bug would fly away with the string trailing behind. Sounds kind of cruel now. Back then we thought the bugs were having as much fun as we were.
For some reason I associate June Bugs with visiting Aunt Macie and Uncle Vester. Shelby, Jackie, and I loved going to their house? We lived in town...they lived about twenty miles away, in the country. They had June Bugs, and lots of children. They also had a barn with a hay loft full of hay, and almost always when we were there, Uncle Vester would make a freezer of home made ice cream. The boys would take turns turning the crank on the old ice cream freezer.
Want to know how many children Aunt Macie and Uncle Vester had? Well, there was Don, Jimmy, Peggy, Fred, Nancy, Janie, Eva Lee, and Diane. Aunt Macie was mama's sister and they lived up around Steeds, or it may have been Seagrove. There are several little towns along there together...going up Highway 705, the road with all the pottery places; the road where mama was born and raised.
Didn't mean to go on and on, but while I am on the subject of bugs...
It is so humid outside, my camera fogs up.
Poppy came in from the garden carrying this big Cicada...
Pretty, aren't they?
well, enough about the bugs around here.
There were other things I had planned to post but will them keep for later.
Did want to say that Shelby and I will be vendors at the Duke Homestead, "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" festival this coming Saturday. The temperature is supposed to be 97 degrees with heat index of 106. If you don't hear from me again, you will know that we melted. That's HOT! Was thinking about carrying a No. 2 tub filled with ice...to stand it.
Thank you for visiting.
Love,
Henny
Thank you to my new followers. I do love my blogging friends! Thank you!
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| Image borrowed from the Triangle Gardener magazine |
Boy, did that ever bring back good memories! Running around barefoot with a June bug tied to a string was one of the funnest things I remember playing with as a child...well besides my dolls and lightening bugs.
These pretty emerald green beetle bugs are clumsy and sometimes fly into things. Occasionally, one would dive bomb into somebody's head and get tangled in their hair. Such screaming and hollering, oh, it was fun. We loved the June bugs and were careful not to hurt them. You would gently and carefully tie a string around a back leg then let them fly.
Poppy was born on a big farm down in Georgia. They played with June bugs too. He remembers how sometimes the string would slip through your fingers and the June bug would fly away with the string trailing behind. Sounds kind of cruel now. Back then we thought the bugs were having as much fun as we were.
For some reason I associate June Bugs with visiting Aunt Macie and Uncle Vester. Shelby, Jackie, and I loved going to their house? We lived in town...they lived about twenty miles away, in the country. They had June Bugs, and lots of children. They also had a barn with a hay loft full of hay, and almost always when we were there, Uncle Vester would make a freezer of home made ice cream. The boys would take turns turning the crank on the old ice cream freezer.
Want to know how many children Aunt Macie and Uncle Vester had? Well, there was Don, Jimmy, Peggy, Fred, Nancy, Janie, Eva Lee, and Diane. Aunt Macie was mama's sister and they lived up around Steeds, or it may have been Seagrove. There are several little towns along there together...going up Highway 705, the road with all the pottery places; the road where mama was born and raised.
 |
| picture borrowed from Wikipedia |
Poppy came in from the garden carrying this big Cicada...
There were other things I had planned to post but will them keep for later.
Did want to say that Shelby and I will be vendors at the Duke Homestead, "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" festival this coming Saturday. The temperature is supposed to be 97 degrees with heat index of 106. If you don't hear from me again, you will know that we melted. That's HOT! Was thinking about carrying a No. 2 tub filled with ice...to stand it.
Thank you for visiting.
Love,
Henny
Thank you to my new followers. I do love my blogging friends! Thank you!
Oh yes!! I played with June bugs on strings and jumped out of the hayloft! I'm a country gal through and through. lol
ReplyDeleteMe too! and I wouldn't have it any other way. :) Thank you for visiting.
DeleteI remember playing with June bugs too, and making ice cream in the old hand crank freezer! I was the youngest so my brothers would crank the freezer and I had to sit on it because as the ice started melting the can would float to the top. Boy was that a cold seat in the hot summertime! I remember cicadas too - my Daddy would get the cicada shell and put it on his nose and scare the kids. Such crazy but happy memories we have.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope you and Shelby don't get too hot at the "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" festival. Take some ice and put a few wash cloths in it to cool off with once in awhile.
Bonnie, sounds like you had a fun childhood too. Bet that was a cold seat! Thank you for the idea about the washcloths. That's perfect. Andee suggested I freeze some bottles of Gatorade to carry. Poppy's daughter and her family are moving to Virginia. We are tickled to death to have them closer. St. Louis was a long ways from here. She got a big job promotion. They have bought a house and will be moving the end of this month.
DeleteHow exciting for them and for you and Poppy to have them closer!
DeleteOoooh - I grew up on a farm, but never liked bugs! So no playing with June bugs for me. :) I still don't like them.
ReplyDeleteHope you don't get too hot. It's supposed to be extremely hot here too - in the low 100's!
Hey Mari. This heat wave seems to be everywhere. My neighbors hates bugs too. :)
DeleteIt's so much fun to catch up with reading your blog again! Thankfully, Lynn has redirected amothersjournal back to her blog. Hoping she starts blogging there again soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you LJ. Lynn always kept such a pretty and interesting blog. I hope she will go back to posting too.
DeleteOh, YES, we did that with June bugs! I think you are the first person I ever heard of doing it other than us kids. It made me wonder, did you Fish for Camels ....oh the fun we had without buying a single thing.
ReplyDeleteHey Rose. I don't think there were many who flew June Bugs. :) I don't know what Fish for Camels is. Hope you will tell us. Maybe we played it and called it something else.
DeleteI don't think we have June Bugs around here, maybe not in Canada at all. Cicadas are found in Ontario, not west of the Rockies anyway. We did have fireflies in summer when I was growing up. They were fun to capture in mason jars.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find a way to stay cool on Saturday! Bring a fan and an extension cord.
Hey Granny Marigold...Guess it's a good thing to not have June Bugs. :) Shelby has ordered a 10" X 10" battery operated fan. There is no electricity where we will be. Not even close enough for a drop cord.
DeleteJune bugs on a string - that's a new one for me. I have seen June bugs here but we do not have cicadas.
ReplyDeletePlease don't melt away.
Hey Linda. I wish this festival would cancel because of the extreme heat.
DeleteOMGOSH-That is funny! A few years ago a June bug got snagged up in my daughter's long beautiful heavy curly hair. We thought we were going to die before we got it out of her hair. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breath and she was screaming to beat the band. lol Too funny...thanks for the memories...and keep your bugs there. lol xo Diana
ReplyDeleteOh Diana, that is funny. So you know what I am talking about. The June bug's legs are strong and move all the time. They can get really tangled in hair.
DeleteWe played with grasshoppers . There are many species so we saw a large variety of hoppers.
ReplyDeleteI loved grasshoppers too. Thank you Red.
DeleteWe played with mosquito hawks (or that's what we called them). I think they are actually dragon flies. And we're seeing Cicadas here now too.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny. Wonder if children today play with bugs? Thank you Rian.
DeleteWe saw June bugs, but never tied string to them or played with them. I remember getting them in my hair and I didn't like it one little bit! We had to try to get in the house without the June bugs getting in; they were attracted to the light. I don't think I'd call cicadas pretty. The ones we have here have red eyes. That's kind of spooky to me. We kids had fun trying to collect their dried shells that were stuck to the trees. I can hear them singing outside right now, but I haven't seen any yet. I haven't been out in the yard. I broke my foot a couple of weeks ago and pretty much stay in the house and it's cool in here. We're supposed to have heat indexes close to 105 the next 4 days so I don't plan to get out much for a while except to go to and from the car. I read other comments and saw that Poppy's daughter and her family are moving to Virginia. I know he's got to be happy about that (you, too). We lived out of state for 9 years and were so happy to come home; home really is where the heart is!
ReplyDeleteOh Peg, I'm so sorry you broke your foot. That for sure would keep you from doing much of anything. This heat wave has been awful. I really am worried about doing a craft fair this Saturday. Don't want to have a heat stroke. We are happy to have Dan's daughter and family moving closer. Thank you Peg. Take it easy with that foot.
DeleteI remember June bugs from my childhood but I never heard of tying a string on one! I loved the sound of the cicada's in the summertime. You've brought up some good memories.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy
Nearly even over here, just made my first lemon
ReplyDeletetea of the day..Nice! :).
Bugs! Yes! I think all of us as kids played with
bugs, especially my generation, as we were quite
poor, did'nt have many toys, so we made 'mud' packs,
and played with bugs..! :).
Your June bug over here is commonly known as the shield
bug or stink bug..though l've never smelled one! :).
And the Cicada..l remember seeing on Bizarre Foods America,
with Andrew Zimmern going out out in the woods, collecting
them, and deep frying them and eating them, surprise..surprise,
it was only the females, that were collected and eaten..! Sorry
ladies! :o).
So...The Cicada spend most of their lives as underground nymphs,
emerging only after 13 or 17 years...Though The annual cicadas are
species that emerge every year. Though these cicada have lifecycles
that can vary from one to 9 or more years as underground larvae...!
So there you have it...!
Good luck with the three 'P's this coming Saturday...!!! :o).
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨) ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨) ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨) ¸.•´
Oh Willie, deep fried Cicada bugs!! How do you find all the jokes that fit perfectly with my post? Thank you! :)
DeleteHenny! Your posts are so, different and diverse..
DeleteLook forward to them, and with a still active mind,
such as mine, there's always a funny side..as 'Monty
Python' sang once..'Always see the funny side of life'.
Used to do a bit of stand up, write scripts for up and
coming comics..so..comedy comes to me quite easily..! :o).
"Mary had a little lamb...so her father shot the shepherd..
Bless!
AND..Always remember..
"Every Day Above Ground Is A Good Day"..
I've a few minutes before going into town....
ReplyDeleteA few 'BUG' jokes came to mind...
How did the police get rid of the bugs?
They called the S.W.A.T. team!
What did the psychiatrist say to the flower?
"So what's bugging you?"
Why was the grocery store out of butter?
Because Butter flies.
What kind of bug can't go into the men's bathroom?
A ladybug.
What do you call a homeless bug?
A bum-blebee.
No June bugs here, not that I am aware of anyway. How nice to have some lovely childhood memories to share. Hope the fair goes well and that you don't melt and disappear in the heat.
ReplyDeleteCatching up here lol . Wonderful post and photos . I love cicadas and June bugs our Misty June bug hunts in the grass in the dusk of the evening as she pounces like a cat on them and gobbles them up lol protein I expect for her lol . It is humid here to and my cameras fog up as well when I take them outside as we have AC and the cameras are cool then hit the humidity out doors and fog up till they get used to it then they are ok . What I love now this time of year here is watching the firefly's or lightning bugs as we called them as kids as they fly by all you see is a tiny flash of light they expel as they attract a mate we have hundreds in our yard every evening now and its fun to sit back and watch them.
ReplyDeleteI am one of those new followers of which you speak, Henny. I love your blog. Thank you for writing it and brightening up the lives of those who visit. Most sincerely, Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh please don't melt. :) It's hot and humid here and I have to say I'm loving it. We have long harsh winters here so I take every advantage of being outside as I can in hot weather! We don't have June Bugs here but I do remember fireflies and how beautiful they looked at night - a sure sign of hot summer weather!
ReplyDeleteYou have some wonderful memories to keep you company. I was a bit afraid of June bugs because in the morning when you went out the screen door the ones that had been hanging on the screen were doing the backstroke on the sidewalk. We would try to right them ... sometimes! Lightning bugs, now they were fun! We are melting here, too, Henny. Will i ever get used to the heat and humidity of South Carolina? I don’t think so!
ReplyDeleteI didn't grow up with June bugs, as far as I know, they're not native to England. That being said, my child and grandchildren enjoyed playing with them, as well as lightning bugs.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I loved frogs....my mum hated them, so that was something I had to try and keep away from her, but I was always fishing for tadpoles in the nearby streams and taking them home until they became frogs, and then I would release them back in the streams....
The things you do to occupy your time :)
Hope the heat and humidity is not too bad where you are, we are dying on the vine !
Good luck with your show this weekend, I hope it's lots of fun.
Hugs,
~Jo
June bugs make me think of West Virginia and growing up there with family on visits. And my brother's blueberry farm. The June bugs love those bushes, and we'd go through the rows of berry bushes, pick off the June bugs, put them into bags, and then take them to the chicken run and feed them to the chickens, who LOVE them. (Sorry!) I noticed June bugs on my new elderberry bush/tree this summer, and I did the same thing with them - fed them to my chickens, who gobbled them up. Had to defend my tree, b/c they were nibbling all the leaves off!
ReplyDeleteHey I changed search engines and now I think I can make a comment. Fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post! I so love taking a step back in time with you and thinking about the good ole days. Someone just mentioned the other day that there aren't many June bugs anymore. But, there have been plenty of Japanese beetles which are just as colorful but so destructive to garden plants.
ReplyDeleteI never played with june bugs, but I did with the lighten bugs. I still love seeing them in the yard at night.
ReplyDeleteLove those small insects..... very important for our eco system.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Pottery work still goes on there....
Thank you Haddock. Yes, there are still several pottery places along Hwy. 705. I haven't been there in several years. One of my first cousins used to make pottery but he has retired and closed down now.
DeleteYou definitely covered the bugs in this post! I can't stand touching them so you know I went "ewwwww" when I saw Poppy holding one. I grew up in California and we didn't have much bugs, but lots of snakes...even a rattlesnake one time.
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday Henny! Loved this post about the June bug- wow, a cicada - we don't have those here too much. Course it is too darn crowded around here for too many pretty bugs in the yard. It is way too hot, even here, it is in the 90s. Are you ready for a little cooler weather? Hmm. Love Terry
ReplyDeleteNo, can't say I've ever played with June Bug! : )
ReplyDeleteHope all went well on Saturday and it wasn't quite so hot!