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Evelyn K. Brunswick's avatar

That put a smile on my face! It's deliciously lovely! And sweet, too. I do love your lighthearted style of writing. It's uplifting.

Of course some of those awful oligarchs are indeed trying to make people think eating ze bugs is perfectly acceptable, in their typical dystopian manner.

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Jeannine's avatar

I'm so happy you enjoyed it! It was another fun one to imagine.

Ah ha! Well that explains all the bug recipe web sites I found while percolating my story idea. I didn't make any of those recipes up! I'm a vegetarian, and happen to include insects on the "do not eat" list for me, but if time gets desperate I think it's good to know the creepy crawlies are edible. I still think they're cute, though. But yeah, I bet somebody, somewhere, is trying to figure out how to make money from them...

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Nick Winney's avatar

my goodness. just burst out laughing and smiling at this story. what a gem!

i love the mystery you create at the beginning and then... the matter of factness... yeah, im a 500 year old bat, fancy joining me? you do? great!

really enjoyed this! flapping around the kitchen now, being a bat! 🦇🦇🦇

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Jeannine's avatar

I'm glad you liked it! What does your cat think of your batly antics? 🦇🐈

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Jeannine's avatar

This is quickly turning into a Very Bad Day, but thinking of you flapping around your kitchen table makes me grin. 😁 Thank you for that image!

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Evelyn K. Brunswick's avatar

Also forgot to say (I'm always forgetting what to say) as usual I like your cute picture. We have pipistrelle colonies living with us here, especially out in the barn (which has one side open). They often come into the house in the summer and fly round and round until they work out how to get back out again. And of course they leave their 'keepsakes' in nice neat piles for us here and there. Yes, we have a crazy house.

I read a while back that these bats can eat several thousand of those little flying insects each night! Thousands! That's quite astounding when you think about it. So they are indeed extremely welcome here.

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Jeannine's avatar

I thought it was cute, too, and appropriate, even though they're not little brown bats, but again, all I had to do with the picture is to pick it out. Some clever, generous somebody named Nils Bouillard took that photo and shared it on Unsplash. I think you're lucky to have so many bats, our native little browns are being decimated by white nose syndrome. 😥

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Evelyn K. Brunswick's avatar

Oh dear. White nose syndrome doesn’t sound nice. Give them the best wishes from their pipistrelle cousins.

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Nick Winney's avatar

actually they have been scarce this morning. they typically eye me with disdain.

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Jeannine's avatar

Cats usually feel superior to us silly humans. We have my father-in-law's yorkie in this house - actually, now that I think of it, I suspect she might go hiding under the bed, but our previous dearly departed yorkie, Pippin, would have been joyfully running 'round the table with you, barking his head off.

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Ken Beyer's avatar

Such a delightful story Jeannine! For years, I’ve built bat boxes to encourage their stay filling the evening air with their acrobatic dance in the dimming evening sky. Thank You for sharing.

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Jeannine's avatar

Thank you for the compliment. And super thank you for building bat homes! The little guys need all the help they can get. 🦇

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Wayne Christensen's avatar

Too cool doesn't get to the heart of how stinkin' special this tiny story is. It's marvy. It's Nobel Prize worthy. It's worthy of a prominent role in the next Batman movie . . . .

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Jeannine's avatar

You just like it because there's food in it. 😅 Seriously though, thank you so much for the effusive praise, I'm blushing my head off. So will Batman be dropping by the Browns's cafe for a spot of cricket tea and ant cake?

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Caitriana NicNeacail's avatar

This made me smile! Such a sweet story.

I’ve eaten a few varieties of insect when living in China - cicadas and grasshoppers, and some grubs whose identity I wasn’t sure of. They were pretty tasty. I think repulsion at eating bugs is a cultural thing.

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Jeannine's avatar

Thank you, the world needs more smiles!

I agree, it's definitely a cultural thing. During my research (yes, I researched... that took me twice as long as it did to write and edit the story! 😅), I noticed that many Asian and African cultures are not averse to snacking on insects. I haven't tried them because I'm a vegetarian, so I don't eat any critters, but if I were a proper omnivore I might be tempted. Especially the powered variety, they can be baked into all kinds of things.

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Nicolas Sutro's avatar

Hey Jeannine, I dig this story.

Really cool.

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Jeannine's avatar

Thank you! I'm so happy you enjoyed it.

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