Georgia, and a surprise in the laundry

I whizzed up to London on Tuesday to see the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at Tate Modern (which is on until 30th October). I was familiar with some of her paintings – the big flowers and skulls – but I didn’t know that she also painted cityscapes when she lived in New York and some amazing landscapes when she lived in New Mexico. Anyway, the exhibition was fab, and it was wonderful to have some time in London (taking the bus over Blackfriars Bridge, watching the world go by) but the best thing about the day was that I met up with fellow blogger, Jenny from Duver Diary. It was the first time I’d met a blogging friend in Real Life and I confess to being slightly apprehensive beforehand (I realised on the train that I had no idea what she even looked like!). But I needn’t have worried; she’s lovely and we got on like a house on fire and didn’t run out of things to talk about. Blogging, hey? So many benefits.

Back to domestic life – picture the following scene, if you will – there I was last night, calmly folding laundry that I’d brought in from the washing line in the late afternoon, chatting to my eldest, when he stopped mid-sentence. “Mum, those pants are buzzing…” They were indeed. A soft buzzing. I gave them a slight shake thinking a bee might have settled inside for a nap and been rudely awakened. Nothing came out. The buzzing got louder. I shook them more vigorously. The buzzing sounded distinctly cross. I put the pants (my husband’s underpants, if you’re wondering) on the kitchen table and carefully looked inside. Nope, I couldn’t see the source of the buzzing so I opened them out. A pair of antennae appeared. “Mum, that’s not a bee.” No indeedy, it was most definitely not a bee… It was an enormous hornet – a very cross hornet. “Quick, put something over it NOW!” I grabbed a glass and managed to capture the angry insect, trapping one of its legs in the process. It was REALLY angry now. I manoeuvred the glass and carefully slid a card underneath, carried it outside and laid it gently on the patio table. Then I grabbed the glass, scarpered indoors and shut the door quickly. Needless to say we didn’t stop to take a photograph(!) but this is what a hornet looks like:

 And it was about this size. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration 🙂 (Only ‘slight’, mind you.) So, let that be a cautionary tale. Check your pants for dozing hornets….