Hungry?

While the family is off visiting other parts of the family, part of my vacation to-do list is to keep the outdoor plants from frying in the sun or wilting into oblivion with this heat (today 95 with a heat index of 102!).

On Monday, I was really actually looking at the plants as I watered them, and noticed that some of the Italian Parsley looked as if it had been picked.  I figured Mom had taken some with her to my brother Rick... who doesn't LOVE to receive a fresh bouquet of parsley???

Then, on Tuesday, MORE was gone!  I began to think someone was snitching our parsley!  Then I looked closer...

These caterpillars were munching away on the parsley

You can see that now (Wednesday) they have eaten quite a bit!

Not just one...

And not that one and this one...

 In this photo, if you look closely... there are 5... but that's not all...

More than this!

They were EVERYWHERE!

As I looked around the plant, there were a total of 10!

I looked them up in the Butterflies of the Carolinas book that Mom has... I wanted to be sure that they were not destructive (to anything other than the parsley, that is...)...

They are the caterpillars for the Black Swallowtail Butterfly!

WHEW!

Then, I went about my business and let them eat the rest... it was mostly defoliated already... I can always get Mom a new parsley plant...  I took the photos late yesterday, and they had munched all night and there isn't much left... some of the caterpillars even left the plant to go find something else yummy.  (And yes, the plants in the carrot family - of which parsley is - are a common food for this caterpillar)  







I am keeping an eye on the basil now... though the book says nothing about them liking basil...


OK... so now I have gone back out in the sweltering, muggy heat and looked at the parsley again... the pretty caterpillars are all gone now...

And so are ALL the leaves!

Are those little green round things on the top of the soil what I think they are??? 
(see the new sprout coming up on the left?)

And here is one of Mom's miniature roses... just covered with blossoms!

A Mountain Get-Away

About a week and a half ago, we (Mom, Dad, Terri, Rodney, DragonBen and I) went up to the mountains to spend the day with my sister Sue, her husband Jim, their children Bobby & Karen and their respective spouses Shelly and Matthew.
We were in the western NC mountains just north of Cashiers in a place called Lake Glenville.

This first photo is of Matthew, Shelly, DragonBen, Karen & Jim out on the dock fishing... Karen & Ben caught more fish that day with raisins than Jim did...









This is a view from the lower yard looking up at the house...














...and this is the spectacular view of the lake from the back deck of the house...

Vacation Get-Away

Well, this wasn't originally a vacation, Dad was taking a class in Oklahoma and we all went along. This photo was taken at the Woolorock Museum.

The only one of us kids not pictured is Regina and she is the one who inspired this walk down memory lane... But she was just a baby and may have been sleeping at the time of the photo. I am the one all the way to the right. My new hair cut is even shorter than that one!

Things I remember from that trip... Remington Bronzes, giant jaw breakers, tortise races, 'Can y'all come out and play?', tornados, watermelon seed spitting contests, many hours in the car travelling from western NY to Oklahoma and back, Howard Johnson's restaurants, 'vanilla please', and that short set (one of 2 or 3) that matched Terri's.

One of these days I need to sit down and scan a bunch of print photos so I will have access to them here. Not just of me in younger years, but some with things I have created over the years.

Vacationing in my mind

Our store vacation will be the first week of July. I know that is not too far away. But, (there is always one of those...) I have lots of sorting and cleaning out to do. So what most people think of as a vacation (aka 'get-away') is not going to be feasable.

So, I think I may take some of that time to 'get-away' locally for a few hours. I may take a quiet walk at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens in Clemson. They don't have as large a stream as the one in this photo (that came on my computer), but they have some tranquil ponds with ducks and carp and wonderful plants to look at. Or I may walk with friends at the Hartwell Dam. Whatever I do, even for a few hours, I will soak in the quietness of my natural surroundings. This will refresh me so I can put my nose back to the grindstone and finish that cleaning and sorting project.