WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Every evening, I go to the pond to feed the creatures. It started out feeding the geese. Before I knew it, I was feeding the entire pond. Zillions of fingerlings come to the edge of the pond to eat the leftovers. They even beat the geese there now. The larger fish stay back a few feet, but make sure and get their share too. Then the turtles became bolder. There are many different species and all have distinct personalities. Who knew? This one is the boldest now. Covered in pond sediment, it swims mostly around the geese feet and the geese trip all over it. I thought the turtles might bite the geese, but it is the other way around.


















Mmmmm. Fish pellets or chili relleno?

These are the fingerlings. Now, start the Jaws theme song...
Here comes trouble. This Snapping turtle doesn't want bread or fish food. It only likes live fish - creeps closer with its long alligator tail and waits, then - SNAP. These really are ugly creatures.

Oh well, this one is too cute and decides to go back and bother the goose.
This is what I do for fun on the farm.

THEY'RE HERE

The aliens have been here all along - we just didn't know what to look for. The tops of my tomato plants were sticks today and some of the green tomatoes were half eaten. Squirrels! Had to be. So I started looking at my plants and found this big guy munching away. It is bigger than my thumb. Needless to say, I removed it to a sunflower and it immediately tucked its head down and played opossum. Unlike Great Grandma Merriot, who used to pinch them, I released this Tomato Horn worm into a patch of volunteer tomatoes. It will grow up to be a Sphinx Moth.

In the moment of roses...

White roses, tiny and old, hover
among thorns by the barn door.
For a hundred years under the
June elm, under the gaze of
seven generations, they floated
briefly like this, in the moment
of roses.

Unknown




Psst ~ I really don't think I have a romantic bone left...so this is for you.

THINGS THAT GO BOOMP IN THE NIGHT

This Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora Cecropia) fluttered down to my farm in May. A giant silk moth, it is the largest moth in North America. She has a full 6 inch wingspan and is a beauty. Or, was. They have no mouth parts and can not eat: they are here for only 7 - 10 days; their raison d'etre is to mate and lay eggs before they go where moths go to die (it is in my drawer in this instance, that is, post mortem). The offspring, huge green caterpillars, spend all their time eating, I suspect, on hickory leaves, before spinning a cocoon then waiting out the winter to repeat the life cycle.

This is a close up of Cecropia. The males have larger antennae and the females, larger bodies. I painted her in gouache and am going to sell prints in my etsy shop. This life sized print is the first in a series of flora and fauna paintings I will be doing - and of course insects too. It measures 9 x 12 and is printed on ivory colored card stock paper. The print will be signed and numbered and sell for $18.00. PS ~ as an aside, may I comment that this print looks so much better than I have been able to photograph. I have tried every setting on my camera and not been able to get a decent reproduction of this print. Does anyone have suggestions? I have a Nikon Coolpix S630.

SHARING THE LOVE

I am really very impressed by my fellow bloggers. It takes a lot of time and effort to make the posts interesting and hopefully pretty; some of them so well done and professional looking. I, on the other hand, can only do the basics. Oh yes, I would love to have little falling stars across the written word and borders to die for. I just don't want to take the time to learn plus I fear what I have done will go poof. Also, this time of year, I am too busy gardening. Sooooo, have a look at the flower/seed pod of a leek. I planted a stand of them last year and they didn't get as large as the ones in the store, so I just left them in the ground. Voila! This year they have huge purple heads on long stems - like something out of a Dr. Seuss garden.


And, these daisies have been coming back like old friends year after year for the past 27 summers. So what pray tell, do these specimens have to do with bloggers and blogging? Well, I get to share them with you...

Antique Heaven

I have finally found Eldorado; was invited to the home which embodies the epitome of collecting and displaying treasures. My friend had been telling about her mother's home and collections for years. Sue has been collecting the world over for decades and I must say I covet everything she owns. From beautifully patinated early American furniture to early baskets, samplers, clocks and Quimper pottery, and did I say early American samplers? Ooooh!

Every nook and cranny has a beautiful arrangement; a tableau to linger over. More baskets, a dog lamp and a beautiful old oil painting of a girl.

Old wooden bowls full of chocolate molds and butter molds, so many in fact, many are packed away.

A main theme in her collections are animals. Dogs, cats, cows, horses, chickens are but a few, but repeated all over the house.

Sue collects majolica and has different displays in different areas of the house, not to mention cupboards full of it.

This is the smallest cobbler's table I have ever seen. I thought it must be a salesman's sample. The tole ware trays show up throughout the house.


I was just getting going, my head swimming and eyes glazing over when I ran out of camera space. Just like that. It has never happened to me before. I could not believe it as I was just getting started. Luckily, my Maggie, Sue's daughter, used her iphone camera so as soon as I get the pics and figure out how to load them on my blog, you're in for a treat. Till later...