It’s a badly-kept secret that I’m terrified of wasps.
My usual tactic is to try and stop their hearts by screaming loudly and piercingly.
A while back, I found myself in a great seaside café, when a certain someone said, “Don’t scream, but there’s a wasp on the table.”
I can cope with that as long as it’s not buzzing near me.
However, the very next moment, someone flicked the wasp away from the table so that it ricocheted off my forehead with the horrible force of a rubber ball. With a sting.
I leapt up, did a mad dance, and I might have let out a high squawk of some sort.
I’m not sure, but when I came to my senses, I realized that everyone in the restaurant was staring at me.
The anklebiters had taken refuge under the table.
And the guests nearest us switched tables in order to move away from the mad woman.
I don’t blame them… I wanted to get away from me her too…
I’m not sure why, but my kids say they find me embarrassing!
By the way, no wasps were harmed in the writing of this article…
For more stories, please visit: Camera Critters.
Lady Fi 
embarassing your kids…. you are doing just what your parent handbook says to do! 😉 Thanks for sharing !
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Tillåt mig le…jag är också livrädd för getingar och är dessutom allergisk. Förstår mycket väl din frustation. Läckra bilder från V:ås, där jag har bott, men känner inte alls igen den här platsen. Gissar att bilden är tagen någonstans nere vid hamnen, men så här såg det inte ut när jag bodde där.
Önskar dig en skön söndag!
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Ja – det är tagit vid hamnen. Det finns många nya byggnader därnere nuförtiden, har jag förstått.
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Oh I thought that’s what we were for — embarrassing the kids. I do that kind of screamy thing all the time. But you know I think it only started when I had my first child. Perhaps it’ll pass after menopause…
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I too run around like a lunatic annoying MOH who just sits there. I am the woman running up the road with a sandwich screaming, LOL
My deepest sympathy is sent to you!
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lol! sorry not laughing at your phobia but at the situation!!
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I’m intrigued by the fellow in your second photo – what IS he doing?
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He’s climbing up a bench that is designed to look like a caterpillar tyre and is designed as both a bench and a plaything for kids.
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hehe. i hear you….T is alergic to bees so she dances arounf to get away from them as well. smiles. the bench in that last pic is so cool….
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That is a very scary experience for you.
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Oh, what a story!;) My mom is the same, she is terrified of wasps and bumblebees and indeed she always gets stung, it is like they are attracted to her.;)
xoxo
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I dislike wasps too and they really hurt when they sting. As for embarrassing your youngsters, you could always threaten to do that again if they misbehave as their punishment. 🙂
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
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I think our children’s love for us grows each time we embarrass them!
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It is hard to keep calm, and carry on when your very horrible living nightmare is actually happening to you, LOL.
Oh you poor thing, I hope that it didn’t swell up to badly. I am very allergic to them, so I can sympathize with you.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
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I grew up with beehives in the back garden so won’t tell you the amount of times I got stung by either bees (or wasps attacking the hives!) when I was young!
On the positive side their stings are meant to be very good for arthritis and my grandfather (who was the beekeeper) used to purposely let them sting his hands to help his arthritis! He lived to the ripe old year of 99 eating lots of honey and happily getting stung!
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Haha…, well I should not laugh.
Wasps come to you because you don’t like them. It’s a Murphy’s law, unfortunately.
Alternatively grab your camera with macro lens attached and capture the face! When you concentrate on shooting, I am sure your horror’s gone. Yes, you can since you’re distinguished photographer!!!
Thanks for your confession.
Yoshi
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I LOVE the new layout! [you probably redecorated eons ago… that’s how long I’ve had my head under the hood] If we lived closer, I’d ask you to please come over for a cup of coffee or tea and help me. I need to redecorate my place as well. SO, the wasp thing. I’m terrified of them, too! I would have fainted if someone accidentally flicked one into my forehead. I would have been your partner in the scene you described. Happy New Year!
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I think I need to have kids, just to be able to embarrass them!
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How frightening that must have been! Don’t know if you know, but there is a very good homeopathic substance you can use against wasp stings. Don’t stop such incidents (for that you’d have to be really zen), but it does diminish the effects rapidly. We always had horrible amount of wasps at the children’s playground, and so I’d carry the substance around all summer. It really helped.
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FYI,
I’ve closed my blog and opened a new one, also called The Other Side of Paris. This is my new home:
http://theothersideofparis.wordpress.com/
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That’s hilarious!
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You had me laughing! I know that kind of fear. It turns me into the embarrassing relative, too. My thing is a fear of a sound, though. The sound of someone scratching on fabric. Sends me into an altered state altogether.
Your photos are stunning. Your blog is always a treat.
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funny story, and great photos.
I love the header slideshow.
http://milepebbles.blogspot.com
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Well – we must keep our heads level at all times so the children are not embarrassed. When mine were young, they would sometimes pretend to belong to someone else. Now, my Grands can pretend I’m demented!
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That “mad woman” pic is one we would like to see 🙂 Too bad the kids were too busy being embarrassed under the table to grab the camera.
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how can a mad woman trying to swat off a wasp in hysterical madness be embarassing?? 😉
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Wow! What a scaredy cat? 🙂
Not really. A wasp sting can be quite uncomfortable. My Dad was an electrician and he fell off a ladder at a powerpole once into a wasp nest and they attacked him. He drove his vehicle home but was very ill for about a week afterwards. It was lucky the stings never killed him. Take care… – Dave
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Yes, I’m a total scaredy-cat! And proud of it… (And I didn’t even get stung!)
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Hey … you do what you have to do!!!
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You and my husband do the exact same wasp dance– He hates them too. Glad you got away safe.
Love your pics. The colors are brilliant.
Cheers, jj
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Wasps are mean! That is a scientific fact. I heard that as they end their life cycle they get even meaner, because their less afraid to die.
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They’re. My vanity could not let that stand uncorrected.
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I like nothing better than to embarrass my children. Isn’t that what we are suppose to do? Your dislike of wasps sound like my dislike of snakes. Now talk about a mad woman!
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How else are you supposed to react?
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LOL – I totally agree!
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Tsk…tsk…tsk…embarrasing your kids in public!!! How dare you!!! Acts like these can scar children forever…
If a wasp bites you, just stay put and say with happiness…”By golly! I have been stung.” Don’t forget to smile while saying so.
🙂 Thanks for making me laugh out loud!
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I’m not afraid of them,
but trust me , I find ways to embarrass my kids regardless.
and that bench is so cool!
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I’ve been known to step from a moving car because there was a bee inside. Now your garden variety bees don’t bother me much, but wasps! Oh, man. I’d have been doing the two-step right there with you!
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Poor you but I might have paid to see a video of that. 😉 And not to worry about embarrassing the kidlets. We’re supposed to do that.
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Too funny! I don’t mess around with animals that can hurt you…or that’s their main objective. My son got stung right under his eye last summer…it was nasty but we were so happy he wasn’t horribly allergic. Really bad place to have your first experience on your face!
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OUCH!!! Mad dancing and screeching allowed in this scenario!!!
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Ouch! What are the wasps doing being awake on these cold days? I’d be afraid of them too. (And if it weren’t that something else would embarrass the kids.)
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Kids are easily embarrassed.
I recently had a wasp burrowing into my hair so I’ve plenty of sympathy for you!
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I am quite afraid of bees and wasps also..so I don’t blame you. My Mother used to say..”Stay still and they will leave without stinging you” Well that never happened ..I always got stung.
Parents should always embarrass their children, it is part of their job! Did you screech like a girl or an opera star:)
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Poor you 😦 Wasps are not nice… I’m glad ours all seem to be hibernating still.
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We just watched a movie last night about a bee/wasp that caused a multiple car colision. It was a British film. Long and drawn out but good just the same.
Di
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