Life is in the Details

Life is in the Details

Patricia L.Cummings

While taking a walk today, I noticed the new plants used to landscapr a neighbor's lawn. The house just sold to some new homeowners and they have been fixing up the interior and exterior of the home to suite themselves. While they spread loam which I suppose will be a lawn area, I noticed five large ant hills. The ants have been busily bringing sand to the top of the loam. The activity is made incredible by the amount of effort exerted by each ant.

Though they are very little, ants seem to be quite strong. Have you ever seen an ant carrying a "comrade" that has died in combat (with a human)? One ant will begin the process and soon others will try to help to bring the ant (somewhere?). Is there a special ant burial ground we do not know about?

Ants love anything that smells sweet as does this Peony bud. / Photo by James Cummings

Ants of all sizes are running around my kitchen area. They are finding plenty of ant bait which they bring back to the nest and eventually, we see less or nothing of one kind and then a larger set of ant appears. Like everything under the sun, ants are game for depicting on a Crazy Quilt. I did.

Close up of a Crazy Quilt by Patricia Cummings shows "ants" fabric and two ants made with silk ribbon and embroidery
Photo by James Cummings

Until next time, may your days of summer be ones of fun! Winter arrives too soon. The ants are seen no more in the colder months. Do they hibernate? In the meantime, we shall have a distant memory of them, enough to add them to quilts, unless they reappear in person. This weather seems to be bringing out a multitude of flying insect creatures, too. "To everything there is a season..." and life is in the details!