Kay's Musings are always a treat, but her post today gave me a topic just when I needed one. It was about mosquitoes or other little flying biters as yet unidentified.
I remembered a bit of doggerel floating in my brain for somewhere:
Wouldn't Noah have been wise
if he had swatted those two flies?
Can anyone really say they wouldn't wish the same for mosquitoes?
The mosquitoes in Vermont can be quite large and there are areas where are clouds of swarming, biting dive bombers that are nothing short of torture. I recall wet summers when they were a plague, making camping a total nightmare.
My most recent encounter with one of those swarms happened about three or four years ago.
When in Vermont, I attend meditation practice led my residents of a monastic academy They travel to Burlington on Sunday evenings and give dharma talks, guided meditations, and chanting at the Friends' Meeting House.
This is a beautiful spot atop the hill overlooking Lake Champlain, an historic home of Mary Martha Fletcher with lovely grounds. The links are for history buffs, nothing to do with this particular post.
So, back to Sunday night meditation a few years ago. It was a warm summer evening. Half way through the practice there is a walking meditation when people often go outside and silently walk through the garden. On this evening dusk hit about five minutes before the bell would ring to gather everyone back for sitting.
Apparently mosquitoes have their own bell. A cloud rose up like a marauding army in full attack mode.
The pace of meditative walking sped up considerably.
There was no way for people to get back inside without opening the screen doors. Mosquitoes followed their blood feast right in.
There we were -- back to still sitting. Back to the expectation that we should be respecting all life. At the same time, painfully aware of mosquitoes landing on faces and bare arms.
The monk continued with his guided meditation, but there was the ever so quiet slapping of hands agains skin from every corner of the room.
Namaste, little suckers!
Obviously a known problem:
Or it could be a practice in itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBlppCk7Dx8
Mosquitoes are an interesting subject... and why they seem to choose some people over others is interesting too. DH and my daughter are mosquito magnets. But the little critters don't like me (I guess I should thank God for small mercies). I'm not saying that I never get bitten, but it's seldom... kind of only if the mosquito doesn't have any other victims he'd prefer.
ReplyDeletePeaceful quiet meditation with mosquitoes. Hmmm....
ReplyDeleteToo bad I wasn't with you - they all would swarm around me and you'd all be fine. My husband tells people this all the time. He has seen me around a fire pit in the summer and no one is bothered and he sees a million of them all around me. I don't get why I attract them more than others. Sweet Meat my husband says. I don't know about that. :-)
Kind of hard to respect life that is trying to make you a pint low. One of the reasons I moved here. I heard there are no mosquitoes in the Ozarks and I have only been bitten once in 16 years.
ReplyDeletei have heard, but can't say it's true, that low levels of Vitamin Bs make one more attractive to mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people - if there are mosquitos around they chew on everyone else and leave me alone. Why, I have no idea but I sure appreciate. But even I wouldn't have been immune to the swarm you describe. Yuck!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Kays post yet. But I hate mosquitoes while they love me. It is not good to be loved by mosquitoes. We have them here in our yard for about three seasons. We can not sit outside on warm summer evenings after dusk.
ReplyDeleteWe are strong believers that the consumption of large amounts of garlic eaten fend off mosquitoes. Also vampires. Aren't they one in the same?
ReplyDeleteOuch! I haven't even thought about mosquitoes for at least six months. Guess now it's time to start ... make sure there's no standing water around the house. Thanks for the warning!
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I couldn't help but giggle. We've so many here, living in a wetland!
ReplyDeleteThe Lord in his wisdom made the fly,
ReplyDeleteAnd then forgot to tell us why.
A favorite from Ogden Nash
a/b
Man, I hate mosquitoes too. Fortunately, there are none in my neighborhood. No place for them to breed.
ReplyDeleteIn a crowd of a thousand people, the mosquito would find me.
ReplyDeleteMosquitoes have always loved both myself and my brother. And now my granddaughter seems to have the same sweet blood that mosquitoes love. Thank you so much for your blog mention. I still haven't heard back from our state vector control people about those teeny mosquitoes that might be the culprit giving us though welts.
ReplyDelete