My little dragonfly buddy

Just to balance out my cynical gloomfest over in IMHO, here’s a cheery, sappy thread about an incident it makes me happy to remember.

This past weekend, my wife and I took an anniversary trip to New Orleans. We are of the very strong opinion that New Orleans is not, and will never be, disposable. It is a touchstone for American culture that must be preserved at all costs. We love to spend time and money there.

Anyway, we were meandering down Royal, looking for a hat shop that my wife was fond of (no longer there. Katrina.) Suddenly, she looked down and said, “cool!” There on the sidewalk was a gigantic dragonfly. It was a gorgeous green darner, huge and sapphire-blue. I mean, this thing had eyes that looked like marbles, and its wingspan was wider than my outstretched hand. The scales on its thorax shimmered green and blue, and looked like medieval armor. Its body had to be 4 inches long.

Unfortunately, it was an old guy, and appeared to be very listless and probably dying. I reached down and touched a wing, whereupon it panicked a bit and tried to fly off. It only succeeded in flipping itself over on its back, legs in the air.

I’m a soft-hearted sort, and this was a magnificent dragonfly, so I naturally couldn’t just let it stay on the sidewalk to get squished by some witless passerby. Inspired, I brushed his upturned feet with my index finger, and sure enough, he grabbed (tightly, too. It was fairly surprising.)

I lifted him up, and he worked his way to the end of my finger, flexed his giant wings, faced into the wind, and sat there, content, like a hood ornament. My wife and I continued walking in the Quarter for quite some time, and let me tell you something: the French Quarter is a place filled with spectacles. Street performers, musicians, living statues, painters, oddities, weirdos, and fringe-dwellers abound. But the biggest attraction on Jackson Square last Saturday was me with my little dragonfly passenger.

We walked around Jackson Square. We walked down Royal. We came back down Chartres. I ordered a muffaletta at Central Grocery with the little guy perched on my finger. We sat there and ate it on the levee, enjoying the sandwich and an Abita. He still hung out there.

It started out when one lady we passed did a double-take, and asked, in wonder, “how did you do that?” Being filled with the magic of New Orleans (and being a bit mischievous,) I smiled and said, “It’s a secret.” She was thunderstruck. Pretty soon, rubberneckers started wondering what she was staring at, and after a few minutes, we had quite the crowd around us. Some folks even tried to tip, thinking I was a performer.

It was really delightful. All these singers and artists around, and all this French Quarter spectacle…and so many people were fascinated by this rather dopey guy from Alabama, walking around with a little bit of wild nature perched on his finger.

Now, I know and you know that it wasn’t magic. It was a grand old dragonfly passing his last few hours before dying. I eventually let him crawl off my finger onto an out-of-the-way oleander, out of the sight of any onlookers, so that he could die with a little bit of dignity.

Sappy and stupid? Sure. Did the insect ever feel any connection or gratitude to me? Nope.

But at least nobody mindlessly squished him on the sidewalk on Royal, which makes me feel better.

That was a wonderful story, Ogre.
Thanks for sharing your insight regarding nature…human and otherwise.

:slight_smile:

Best thing I’ve read in awhile, thanks for that.

Great story. :slight_smile:

You’re a good person! :slight_smile:

Goosebumps. I’m covered in goosebumps. Thanks.

OK, that was cool. I love dragonflies.

I remember seeing lots of beautiful dragonflies in NO, but I could never get one to do that! Sweet story. I love dragonflies.

Beautiful story. :slight_smile:

Great story, made better for the gentleness and whimsy shown in contrast to your user name. Thanks for sharing and you can blame **WhyNot ** for me finding this thread.

I think I am finally returning to NO in February or March. I am looking forward to it. My BIL & SIL have lived there for close to 20 years and my MIL moved there after Katrina.

Where else did you go? I hope to return to the Zoo and the Aquarium when we go.

Jim

Thanks, all. It was pretty neat. :slight_smile:

What Exit?, we’re always sort of all over the map when we go down there. My wife has an old friend who lives on St. Charles down in the Garden District, and we went to see a colleague of mine who lives in Houma. We did manage to get to the Aquarium this time. It’s been repaired and is in really good shape again. The exhibits are sort of sparse, but neat. They had seahorses, poison dart frogs, and jellies, in addition to all their usual “Amazon Rain Forest,” Mississippi River," etc. displays. I did wonder how the animals fared during and after Katrina.

Lessee, what else? Brunch at Court of Two Sisters. Dinner at Pere Antoine’s. Beignets and cafe au lait (of course.) We ended up driving through the 9th Ward and some neighborhoods north of Uptown, and they still look like they’ve been bombed. In fact, the whole city still looks beaten up, but it’s still there. And I hope it always will be.

So very sweet, Ogre. Perhaps not Magic, but very magical. You gave that dragonfly the best sorta send out, NOLA style, with a good parade celebrating his beauty and people appreciating him. And, Dragonflies have some symbolism in Native American culture as a messenger, and harbinger of renewal after time of hardship. Hmm, and,:wink: , ya never know what you might think as Real around that Big River Mouth, from my experience in that great city.

And this; " onto an out-of-the-way oleander, out of the sight of any onlookers"…
You did right by a small creature, to let him ebb out in a normal time way. :cool:

Now you’ve gone and melted my militant, black heart a bit. Thanks for that story.

Aww… Dragonflies are so beautiful. What a nice story. You da man!

Life really is full of beauty. But sometimes you have to pay attention in order to see it. :cool:

A dragonfly story that my father-in-law tells:

He grew up in the sticks in Ilocos Norte, the northern part of the Philippines. When he was a young boy, one of the older menfolk told the boys that if they wanted, they could see Manila. Now, Manila was the Big Glamorous City, of course the little country kids wanted to see the big town! He told them to capture a dragonfly, and to hold it against their chest, on the left side by their heart, and they would see Manila.

The boys, excited, ran out and captured dragonflies. My FIL was the first to catch one, and as he’d been told he held it against his bare chest (too hot for boys to wear shirts there), and the dragonfly bit him, hard, right on the nipple!!

The older men laughed and laughed. My father-in-law always ends the story by shaking his head and saying, “That was my godfather, too, that sonofabitch!”

Ahhhh local versions of the snipe hunt…

You’re very kindhearted, for an Ogre. What a cool story!

I like to catch fireflies. I don’t keep them–I just do a catch and release, but sometimes they sit on my fingers for a while. They wink at me a few times, then they fly away. We usually don’t end up a with a parade, but it’s fun anyway.

That was a lovely story. Thank you for sharing it!

Wonderful story. Reading this was a great way to begin my day. :slight_smile: