Killer bugs, killer croquet

Distant Cousin of Creature From the Blue Lagoon



Last night I went out to lock up the gate and decided to take a brief stroll through the garden to admire my handiwork (I had trimmed back some of our flowers because they were starting to eclipse the lights -- welcome to summer in Israel). As I approached the elegantly lit pool, I noticed a large area of disturbance on the surface of the water. Hmmmm....I thought....that is interesting because the jets are off and the pool should be still. So, I moved in for a closer look. And that is when I saw the largest thing I have ever seen in our pool, humans excepted. I could not even fool myself that it might be a "water bug" or a "beatle," or even something as offensive and hideous as a cockroach. No....it was none of these things. It was a life form I had never seen before.



So, being the fearless type that I am, I got the pool net (conveniently located on the end of a 12 foot pole) and scooped it up. I tried in vain to dump it out of the net and into the neighbor's driveway. In the end, I just left it in the net and prayed I wouldn't need to use the net again for a good long while.



Killer croquet

Sweetie and I were invited to play croquet at the Ambassador's residence last weekend. I told Sweetie I was up for it, but that I hadn't played since the time my younger brother got mad at me for winning and hit me on the back with a croquet mallet about 25 years ago. I certainly didn't expect bodily harm would be involved among diplomats.



The first game was quite relaxed. The Ambassador acted as coach, while the rest of us fumbled along, until I came from behind and won the game with a string of brilliant croqueting. Nobody knew what hit them and Sweetie was virtually speechless.



The second game got a bit more strategic. I don't even remember who won, because the third game of the day sort of blotted out all memories of the second game. By the time we all reached the third game, participants were fully fixated on hitting and then whacking other participants balls into oblivion and it became a never-ending cycle. This situation was not helped by less-skilled players like myself, who, on the rare chances we had to actually make progress and hit a ball through a wicket, messed it up. Those who sat out the game were watching in shock and horror from the patio as the game dragged on and on and on....with no end in sight. It finally ended over two hours later with the Ambassador declaring that it was the longest game he had ever played.