Secret Beauty

Ladybug, Ladybug fly away home! Your house is being made into jam!!!

This ladybug was secretly hiding inside the apricot I’m holding in the photograph above. With the bumper crop of apricots ripening on my tree I’ve spent most of the last two days preserving literally hundreds of them. At some point, I switched from tearing the fruit open with my thumbs and started using a small paring knife.

And, lo and behold! When I pulled the stone from this apricot, I found a ladybug tucked behind it!

Now, I’ve come across tiny ants inside of many fruits, but only when they’ve been soft and bruised with a noticeable gap in the flesh as an entry point. Somehow, this ladybug found her way inside without any apparent hole! Upon close inspection, I was and still am astonished by my discovery.