This is the Texas eyed click beetle, or Alaus lusciosus, in my front yard on Thursday. I've seen them before but decided to look him up to learn a little bit about him and why I don't always see these in the yard. Notice where he is? Well, they are normally found in hardwood forests and this guy was right under where I had moved an Ash stump.
They're harmless, and hardly eat much once they're above ground but the eye spots can be spooky! This guy ranges from Texas to Florida and northward all the way into Canada. They have a special movement where they arch their backs and spring or snap out...which helps them to right themselves if found on their backs. The eye spots are just that...their real eyes are small and up front...apparently the big eyes helps thwart attacks from birds and other prey because it startles them and they usually move on.
Soon after snapping that shot I had a few friends over for a little breakfast nip...Bloody Mary's or what I call a salad with a kick! My friend Meredith had never had one, and I was determined that she should...though she did warn me that she wasn't a tomato fan. My thought is that if you add at least 4-5 veggies, you justify that wee shot (or two) of vodka...big whoop!
I always start with red onion (from the garden) and smash it up below the ice to spice up the juice...I prefer Zing Zang or Opal Divines...but the IGA was out, so V-8 had to do. The photo above show the veggies, minus the peppercini which I forgot!
So, we had carrot, celery, onion, olives, a sprig of cilantro, horseradish, tumeric, ground black pepper, lime, Worchestire Sauce a shot of potato vodka (I'm avoiding wheat or I'd have had one of our famous Texas Vodkas) tomato juice...stir! Yum, a great way to start an otherwise boring day, though I don't really think anyone can be bored if they just open their eyes.
We've been walking outside in the evenings around 8 to watch the purple martins dive, swoop and swirl!
(Photos by loving spouse)
A few years back, I talked the groundsman at the church, who is a retired carpenter, into building a Martin house and it's been 3 years now...and they hang out nightly! The church people are clueless, as the show isn't during operational hours!
Join us some night ! We'll be in our jammies, cocktail in hand enjoying the neighbors and the view!
While checking on the basil status, I just had to grab a shot of the ruellia I thought I'd removed when I changed the shape of the beds...it's just so hard to get rid of...anybody want some? It's the pink variety.
Above, is a Carolina Wren's nest that I found this week while watering my Cecille Bruenner rose, below: Machlaw eggplant...the first one!
...and the second round of Lebanese eggplant, these were delicious on the grill!
The "not so often seen" in the garden cat...Persephone Sage, my daughter Autumn's old girl, and the mother of my beloved garden cat, Bob. She's a yodeler, an indoor sleeper who gets a bath regularly...and loves it.
This is the place I dumped out the 'rest' of the package of basil seeds this spring!
Here's the harvest and the first round of pesto making today.
I don't put pine-nuts in my pesto because it's not good for my thyroid...so I've read, so I add organic walnuts instead and have come to prefer the bitter edge. Anyway, I'd include a recipe...but I don't really measure...it's a consistency thing and I think everyone does it their own way...anyway I have it, I love it!
And here was lunch today with tomatoes from the garden! What's going on in your garden? I hope lots of yummy food and spices!
Happy Gardening!
4 comments:
Cheryl, your garden is as lovely and inspirational as always, and the art all around was mesmerizing Don't feel bad that you didn't convert me to Bloody Marys -- it was a long shot! I could tell it was good, just not my cup of tea because of the tomato juice. On the other hand, the loquat margarita was divine and I was craving more! Thank you so much for spending the morning, and then lunch, with us!
Boy, those martins are something. As is that eggplant. Do you deliver that salad in a glass?
love the birds-we don't have as many as we did when we lived on the Oregon Coast. City birds are not the same! (even in tiny cities!) And someday I hope to 'spill' a packet of seeds and have them actually GROW! I think I have put at least 2 packages of cosmos in the ground and there are 3 tiny plants so far. And poppies? I know I have put a zillion seeds in the area I want them to grow and nary a one has popped out of the ground. Sigh! Lovely gardens you have.
Hey Kristen, it took me years of putting down poppy seeds before I even got one...they're hard to naturalize!
Diana, you know where to find a terrific salad in a glass now!
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