*Behold, crappy phone photos ahead!* After I started raising the monarch caterpillars last year I read about tagging them with tiny stickers from Monarch Watch so that those counting the fall migration back to their roosts in the mountains of Mexico could attempt to put together the pieces of where the final generations of monarchs […]
Return of the Monarchs
It was another camping weekend. This time we drove an hour and fifteen minutes east-northeast to Lake Livingston State Park for a single overnight camping trip. Being so close to the house permits this kind of camping trip, getting up early Saturday morning and spending the weekend at the state park. Saturday was glorious, still […]
Return of the Orange Dogs
Back in the summer I noticed giant swallowtails laying eggs on our citrus. This was late May/early June and we were still trying to get our citrus trees to rebound from the harsh freeze last year. I still hadn’t purchased alternative host plants such as prickly ash or rue. Luckily another butterfly loving friend had […]
Closing Out September
I know that I write every month (almost) that I can’t believe a month has come and gone. And truly, September breezed by. I feel like we were just having a holiday weekend in Galveston for Forest’s birthday and then bam! we’re celebrating Chris’ birthday while camping. Again, I was a bit lacking in the […]
Lovely Lycoris
The timing came together perfectly last weekend, the blooming of the yellow lycoris and the moody autumnal skies. The lighting was perfect post afternoon rain, when after keeping an eye on the lycoris flower buds for several days, the blooms burst open. I always forget that we have these planted here, tossed into the location […]
Scenes from the Summer Garden | 4
The last in my summer garden series! Thanks for keeping up! I promise to be more prompt in my posting of garden photos from here on out—or well, I’ll try! 😉 And like that, August brought ripening beautyberries, signaling the approach of fall. The gulf fritillaries like to pupate on the front porch pole, blending […]
Scenes from the Summer Garden | 3
This has been the Summer Of Okra for me. I put it in the place that okra loves—full sun—and let it go to town. Being as I’m the only person in the house who enjoys okra, I planted three short rows from seed we had from several years ago. We’ve only ever grown three types: […]
Scenes from the Summer Garden | 2
It’s been a good year for cicadas around here, lots of exoskeletons and dead full body cicadas can be found. As it is still quite warm here, they are producing their lovely sounds in the evenings, too. One of the last Formosa lily blooms. I’m going to save seed again this year so if you […]
Scenes from the Summer Garden | 1
I had goals this summer to write regularly about the garden instead of letting my photos languish in their folders on my computer without processing them. Instead those goals came and went and I only ever processed photos in large batches and then never made the time to write about the garden. The result is […]
The View From The Front Porch
This summer we’ve been spending a lot of time on the front porch. It’s Forest’s go-to location to hang out and play, mostly because he likes to run around barefoot and we like him to wear shoes in the yard here because of snakes, so the porch is one place he be without shoes. I […]
