Ladybug Lady

I attract weirdos. I do. For example: This past weekend, on the train home from Southern Virginia, I ended up having a woman sit beside me who brought her own wine, drank lots of it, and told me she was a fire dancer....and had previously taught herself to be a ballet dancer on pointe. (That means she danced ballet on her toes....in toe shoes.) She probably weighed close to 200 lbs and was a chain smoker. So....take what she says for what it's worth.

Yesterday, I had another encounter with a member of the CRAZY LEAGUE. I was sitting at the bus stop, waiting for the Metro Bus to show up and take me home and this odd woman that I see about once a week came across the street with a big smile, 2 bags of groceries and a big empty Smart Water box. She sat down beside me, started right in talking about the sun and how she has read reports that getting into the sun early in the morning is good for MS patients - I could only assume she was talking about people with Multiple Sclerosis - and mid-thought, she looked behind her through the glass of the bus stop, turned back around, dug in her purse and then RAN behind the bus stop. She scooped down with the card she had pulled out of her purse, rolled what looked like a bug onto the card and came around and put it in the box she had brought with her. All of this action happened as the bus was pulling up. So I stood to get on the bus and as she moved to put the bug in the box, she said, smiling, "I just caught another ladybug!" I glanced at her, probably with my inability to hide how crazy I thought she was glowing on my face, and she smiled and said, "I'm collecting as many as I can and putting them in my garden. It's good to have a garden with ladybugs."

Hmmmm. OK then.

We boarded the bus....I sat near the back and immediately acted like I was engrossed in my book, and Ladybug Lady sat near the front. As she sat there, a poor, unsuspecting passenger got on, sat across from her, and she started RIGHT in to the 'ladybug in the box' situation. And as she told her story of ladybugs and gardening to the new passenger, she kept interrupting the story to peek INTO the box and check on the ladybug she had caught at the bus stop....only moments before. I guess she was just making sure the ladybug wasn't planning some elaborate escape plan or something.

And because I KNEW people would never believe me....I snuck my camera out and snapped a couple of pictures. Lucky YOU! And lucky ME....for my stealth camera skills. Notice the edge of the seat in the first shot. I was under pressure...don't judge.

Here is Ladybug Lady telling the woman across the aisle her Master Ladybug Gardening Plan.

And here she is interrupting that Plan to check on the ladybug in the box.