Bugs in the yard

Sunburst, bustling with excitement, pulled me outside yesterday to have a gander at this:



This is her bird's eye view from the wooden plank swing out back. Maybe I'm getting old-- I didn't see anything. She had to point it out to me.

It's RIGHT THERE!



Ew. Lovely.

What we have here is some kind of winged ant-like creature perched atop a white spider. Apparently Sunburst watched the entire battle scene with rapt fascination as the white spider fell. She thought maybe the victor would now proceed to dispatch a quarry of eggs in the spider's head... but it doesn't appear to be the case. We crouched there together and watched for a little bit as the victor worked at moving his victim ever so slowly along, and I was reminded of how much I take for granted. And how NOT at one with the universe I am these days.

But Sunburst? She noticed all this from the swing!

When she came in for lunch she began regaling me with tales of nature. How the mouse she found in the yard that morning was covered in maggots, and did I know that pirates used to eat maggots?

"We're eating lunch," I said.

"So were the pirates," she said.

And about that maggoty mouse in the yard? Without my knowledge Sunburst grabbed a plastic sack from the house, and used it to pick up and dispose of the mouse. AND she washed her hands.

Just when I thought I knew my kids... I think we've crossed some kind of threshold.