A rose (of Sharon) by any other name....

We've had some pretty torrential rains lately. In between the flash flood warnings and lightning strikes, even the squirrels have taken shelter to get out of the wet...

Sometimes, though, it's AFTER the rain when the action really starts. A few days ago I went outside after a particularly heavy downpour. It seemed that only one bedraggled squirrel was stirring...

...but I knew better. The broad, sturdy leaves of my Rose of Sharon bush provide great shelter for many interesting creatures.

A common blowfly (Calliphoridae) vibrates his wings to throw off any clinging drops of water.

This fly, from the Dolichopodidae family, waits silently for the sun to re-emerge. Dolichopodidae are beneficial to have in the garden...besides adding a little beauty with their lovely iridescent bodies, they also eat invasive insects like aphids.

One of my favorite spiders, the daring jumping spider, maneuvers its way around the puddles of water on a leaf.

Male daring jumping spiders have shiny blue green fangs, called chelicerae. They use them, in part, to help attract a mate. This spider's fangs are brown, meaning that it's a female.

She's a beauty!

Crouching beneath another leaf is this common brown spider. She's waiting for things to dry off so that she can construct another web.

Another small web weaver has already gone to work, snagging a gnat for now...

...and one for later.

A colorful leafhopper sits motionless near the center of this leaf.

Look closely. These tell-tale 'horns' give away the identity of who's hiding beneath this leaf.

An earwig!

Underneath another leaf I found a snout moth, Microcrambus elegans. Snout moths are so named for their feathery antenna that appear to make a long 'snout' in front of the moth's face, instead of riding atop their heads. I love snout moths for their antenna, but also for their funny bulging eyes.

Water droplets make beautiful patterns on feathery-leaf plants like my bronze fennel.

The frequent rain and alternating hot, humid days have caused rapid growth of these plants, which are slowly unfurling...

...and getting ready to open.

Insects hide here, too, like this green bush cricket (Tettigoniidae).

This tiny slug might be the reason why my zinnias are so nibbled this year!

It looks like there's been a little too much action for this small spider, who came out for a look around but quickly headed back where he came from! I love all the life that hides just beneath the surface in my back yard.

Speaking of spiders, I just finished these socks recently. They were a gift for my mother-in-law, so I couldn't post them before I'd given them to her! The design is a pair of garden spiders on the back of the socks...

...and various vines and leaves on the front.

This was a challenging project for me...toe up socks, and for the first time I had to work off of two charts at the same time (one for the front and one for the back of the sock). I finished the first sock and had to take a 2 month break before tackling the second one!

Because it's been so warm, I decided to make a light, summery dessert last week. Strawberries are in season...

Strawberry Summer Cake
from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients
6 tablespoons room-temperature butter
1 1/2 cup white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound strawberries, cleaned and halved

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar together for about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat well. Add milk and vanilla and mix until just combined. Gradually add your flour mixture and combine until no streaks are visible.

Grease a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Place strawberries in a single layer on top, cut side down.

Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then reduce your temperature to 325 degrees and bake until golden, 40 - 55 minutes (depending on your oven).

This is so good and just perfect with a dollop of whipped cream.

I'm not a big strawberry lover, but this was delicious. The cake was moist and sweet, with a nice crispy top. It was absolutely wonderful. YUM!

I hope you give it a try. Have a great week!

Pretty Flies & Spring Goodbyes

April showers bring May...mushrooms? The extremely wet spring we've had has caused tiny mushroom villages to spring up everywhere.

Lichen is growing on fallen limbs. This may be a common woodland feature, but it's not something you'd see in our hot, humid area!

It's really been remarkable. But the old adage does ring true, because the summer flowers are finally starting to show their faces. These feverfew flowers are going to be open in just a few days.

My achillea plants have woolly, cauliflower-like bunches that will flatten and spread as the tiny flower open. I like them in this state, too!

I have lots of mallow plants with bright maroon faces.

The wild strawberries, too, are ripening quickly.

In the late spring, I will occasionally see spiders, praying mantises, and a rare moth or butterfly, but mostly I see flies. This housefly is sucking up a drop of water left behind after our last rain.

A small, energetic hoverfly does the same here...

...before perching on the pollen-covered stamen of this four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa). Hoverflies are good to have around and many gardeners plant specific plants to attract them. They love to eat garden pests, like aphids.

I see lots of interesting flies in the spring, like this small iridescent one.

Even a common blowfly has an iridescent beauty in the sun.

The rain has also brought about a much longed-for event...the blooming of the peonies.

As soon as one bud bloomed, I picked it for a bouquet.

Small bouquets...

...and larger bouquets...

...all over the house. Every room was perfumed with their sweet smell, which I much prefer over that of roses.

Even when they're dying, the petals fade to a pearly pink and retain their charm. I have two glorious weeks with them...until next year.

Todd and I have been astonished at the healthy green growth of our amaryllis.

One week ago, it looked like this.

After just a week, it's grown up tall and green, and one of the flowers opened up.

An amaryllis bulb can last up to 40 years if cared for properly. That's a real incentive to fill a winter window sill with them! They can be tricked into blooming during the winter if you manipulate their dormant time.

I've done very little knitting this past week. I was working on a small project that called for pleating a collar. You put 3 stitches on a double pointed needle, then the next 3 stitches on a double pointed needle, and then knit the first stitch from each needle, plus the next stitch in line on your left-hand needle, at the same time. I tried twice and then put it away in frustration. I will try again this week. Not much cooking this week, either. Todd is hard at work on his dissertation and our schedules are turned upside-down during these final days of it. An out-of-state job interview and an upcoming camping trip has added to the chaos. Thankfully, our mid-afternoon naps - and lots of prayers! - help keep our sanity.

Enjoy your week!