One of my more spectacular finds this last summer was finding a goatweed leafwing (Anaea andria) chrysalis tucked up under some croton (Croton lindheimeri) that had come up in our front right-of-way over the summer. I had noticed some leaves curled up on the croton but could barely make out the caterpillars, only knowing by feel that they were inside. And then I found the chrysalis! I looked for more and found an empty one and never did find any other chrysalides later on in the summer so either the caterpillars I later found never pupated or they crawled off elsewhere to pupate. And then a few days later I…

Catching up on the last bits of our trip to east Texas last month as I am going to have more photos again soon because we trekked back over there today to see snowy orchids in bloom and to walk around a tupelo swamp. I still have photos from a trip to San Bernard NWR a few weekends ago to process as well, so more is coming! New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus – This is a plant I’ve heard a lot about from gardeners in the northeast but I had never come across it before. Lovely little plant—I wonder if deer like it? Swamp Titi, Cyrilla racemiflora – The flowers…

+In My Head I’ve got a lot on my mind these days, namely some things surrounding pollinators and separately, plastic. Both of these deserve their own blog posts to be expounding upon but I’ll get to that at a later date. Regarding pollinators, my main qualm is hornworm hate and the lack of interest in other pollinators other than the big two: monarchs and honeybees. Now, don’t get me wrong I love both—I grow milkweed for the monarchs and we have a honeybee hive. But I’m also very interested in creating an equal opportunity (mostly, I’m not sure we need mealybugs or scale.) wildlife habitat and trying to come to…

+In My Head Not a lot, actually. Well, I take that back. A lot, actually, it just switches often. Let’s see if I can bullet point it… Privatized prisons: This is thanks to OITNB, more commentary below. Brexit: For once it was nice to see my social media feed filled with another country’s/dominion’s politics. I wish I’d known a little bit more about the implications before it happened—that’s my fault for trying to keep my head in the ground with the news these days. Eating/Conversing while a toddler is present: I remember watching my SIL (and this still happens, actually) as she got up and down, up and down, while…

Been several months since I’ve done one of these! Thought it was time to do a good old-fashioned brain dump! +In My Head Summer’s here! So, mostly I’m now thinking about gardening, yardening, and keeping up with everything outside. It’s going to be a chore but we’ll see how it goes. Last September I joined a gym near my work so I could work out better/differently at lunch. It hit me a week or two ago that I really needed to quit the gym for the next three to four months so that I could work outside on my lunch breaks. I can still do some weightlifting here (when I…

Happy Sunday, folks! +In recent weeks there’s been several write-ups about sexism and harassment within several governmental agencies. It would be great to think that a lot of that is fading out, and it is, but there’s still blatant and covert sexism out there. Ask any female you know and you will be guaranteed to get a story about harassment or sexism. The covert comments are the worst because sometimes you don’t grasp it while it’s happening, only later upon reflection…that some random comment or action was sexist. It isn’t just government agencies, any industry that has been historically dominated by males with females integrating within it, you’re guaranteed to…

Another photo from the old hard drive. This was in front of our old apartment in Melbourne, Florida, circa 2003. We caught these off of Vero Beach while scuba diving. Probably one of the most fun things we did in Florida and we surely didn’t do it enough. Good times…