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.... fly away home....
Your house is on fire, your children all gone,
Except little Nan, who sits in a pan,
Weaving gold laces as fast as she can.
In Medieval England farmers would set torches to the old hop vines after the harvest in order to clear the fields. This poem was a warning to the ladybugs that were still crawling on the vines in search of aphids. The ladybugs' children (larvae) could get away from the flames, but the pupae, referred to as "Nan" in some versions, were fastened to the plants and thus could not escape.
Pupae are the larvae when they have formed a cocoon and are changing into adults. "Nan" was originally an affectionate form of the name "Ann" (but it is now generally used as a short form of "Nancy").
Just a bit of info, to accompany the second ladybird pic... I never liked that rhyme I used to feel sorry for the little bugs being told their house was on fire... but now i know its a warning to them I like it 
Thank you for the lovely response on yesterdays upload, this was taken at the same time fortunately my helper in the form of Josh was removing them from a wall and placing them on a flower, not that they stayed there long but this one did.....
Karen
| Title: | Ladybird, ladybird..... |
| Username: | 
KKmoments |
| Uploaded: | 14 Oct 2008 - 7:51 PM |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 400D |
| Lens: | Canon 100mm USM macro |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Tags: | Bug, Close up, Close-up / macro, Flower, Flowers & plants, Insect, Ladybird, Sunshine, Wildlife / nature, Yellow |
| Votes: | 47 |
Comments
........................All except one and her name was Nan , and she crept under the frying pan.
That was the version I grew up with. Still follows the same theme.
Lovely image and write up
Helen
I always felt the same as you about this little verse, but now I also know differently, it souinds so much better.
A lovely capture Karen.
It looks outstanding against the yellow of the petal.
Josh chose a good palce for it.
Hilary
We have almost the same verse here in Germany, and I never knew what it had to do with the fire - now I understand the German verse too. Thank you!
This is a lovely little image, great focus on the ladybug and nice dof on the flower.
superb!
Johanna
and there I thought the word Nan was for "gran" in the UK.
Great photo and thanks for the write up as well
Marvellous macro work Karen and a most interesting write up. You learn something new on epz everyday
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