Babybug

Two weeks ago I took some plant clippings from the yard to root in containers in the window. Yesterday my seven year old cried, "Look! Baby ladybugs are all over these plants!" Sure enough, I spotted five ladybug larvae crawling around on the windowsill and the leaves.

(Click to see a larger version; the ladybug is in the center of the photo.)

Ladybug, ladybug

This year we have an abundance of ladybugs in the yard, so many I find them by the fives and tens without searching on every plant I touch. Red ones with black spots, black ones with red spots, and scads of armadillo-like larvae. I'm happy about this, as they eat the aphids on the rosebushes. As of this morning, I'm also moved to tears by it. Because in an e-mail conversation about something else, my daughter's stepmother commented that Meghan chose the ladybug as her sign to let them know she was around.