preFruits?

I was elated to find this teeny white fuzzy buds on the peach. It’s not even as tall as I am, and it set fruit! I never saw which bees did the pollination, but thank you, little bees. And it’s really too early to get excited about a tomato flower, but there’s a tomato flower! […]

Night in the garden

I’m out looking for the cat. It’s late. It’s dark. The world is full of strange sounds, from the occasional crinkle of leaves, to the piping of birds, to half-heard talk and laughter. The cat is nowhere is sight.

Sons of Sue

My guppy named Sue is turning out to be quite beautiful, if I may say so. I love his flowing flaming tail, the rainbow shimmer on his sides, and the blue-white flags of his fins. If you can believe these blurry pictures. Despite my earlier fears, the tank hasn’t filled with baby guppies yet.There’s still […]

Collards in flower

Have you ever bought some bok choy and left it in the fridge while you figured out what to do with it until it opened up bright yellow flowers? That’s why my collard plants did, only six feet tall. Tall, outspread candelabrae of flat yellow flowers just begging for big fat bees. It’s covered in […]

Leafcutters?

I do believe the leafcutter bees are active. When I leaned closer to admire all the blueberry blossoms, I spotted this precise little circle cut. It’s a good sign for blueberries, as leafcutter bees are good berry pollinators. And I saw similar signs last year, but I haven’t quite spotted the bees themselves yet.

Mayhem under the Bleeding Heart

I’m sorry. So sorry. Not one, but two young Mourning Doves got turned into sprays of feathers under the Bleeding Heart. How appropriate. And my evil cat is not sorry at all.

Snail locomotion

On a snail hunt the other night, I caught these snails leaving interesting trails. You can see clearly how they actually lifted bits of their feet as the waves moved through them. If you have aquarium snails, or watch a snail climbing up a window, you can see for yourself how the waves in a […]

Surviving, thriving, staying aliving

Spring continues to reveal more survivors. This mound of Bleeding Heart not only survived being dug up and moved, it’s about twice as big as it was last year.

A veggie patch in May

Here’s my tiny vegetable patch, which may give you some idea of how little ground I manage to keep neat.

Bee v. Bee

There’s a big, fat bee that likes to hover over the patio controlling the territory. He looks like a large bumblebee, but the white spot on its face and shiny butt mark him out as a male Carpenter bee. I’ve been buzzed a few times passing through. Lucky for me, I’m not another bee.