The Mind Cupboard

                                                                                             Wasps
 

 Dear Reader,

I am a little puzzled by last week's reaction to my blog.  For instance over 2,000 hits have been recorded from Hong Kong.  Thinking about it I can only assume that it was the poem : 'The Mind Cupboard'   that attracted people, perhaps painting a picture of something they could relate to.  So I have put it on again this week so anyone who didn't read it last week will now have a chance to see it.  There is some reference to wasps in it and I thought I would learn something about them for myself and for the blog. 

Wasps play a vital role as predators controlling the number of potential pests like greenfly and many caterpillars and protecting our crops and our gardens.  But wasps are also now increasingly understood to be valuable pollinators, transferring pollen as they visit flowers to drink nectar.h

It seems that they don't live long.  Adult worker wasps can live between 12-22 days while the queen will survive for the entire year until the cold causes the colony to die off.  The common wasp is found throughout the UK in almost all habitats, including woodland and urban areas. 

Unlike a bee, which can only sting once, the European wasp can sting repeatedly.  Around one in 10 people who are stung two or more times become allergic, which means they will experience severe reactions to any subsequent stings.  Wasps can become territorial if they feel their nests are threatened or when availability of food is low but most of them are not aggressive.

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From John Ruskin  March 19th 1807 in Surrey

'Desperately cold, with huge-flaked snow.  The worst of January, November and March all in one.'

From Richard Hayes  March 21st 1762 in Kent

'This day I saw a yellow butterfly.....My rooks, by the cold weather and snows, did not begin building till last Sunday (14th).'

From Gilbert White    March 21st 1775 in Hampshire

'Earthworms lie out, and copulate.'

 

From Dorothy Wordsworth   March 21st  1798 in Somerset

'We drank tea at Coleridge's.  A quiet shower of snow was in the air during more than half our walk.'w

  

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The Mind Cupboard

 

 

 My mind cupboard overflows

with unwanted debris.

It needs a spring clean.

 

I will brush away the cobwebs

of cheerless thoughts.

Scrub out the stains of childhood.

 

I will replace the brass hooks

corroded with salt tears,

empty all the screams

hoarded through the years.

 

I will replace the accumulated ashes

from the worn shelf-paper,

with virgin tissue.

 

I will chase and catch the wasps,

relieve them of their stings.

I will refill this cupboard

with love, and learnt, brighter things.

 

 

 

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With best wishes, Patricia