Found a Polyphemus giant silk moth tucked in the switch grass, presumably to beat the heat or lay eggs. She’s about six inches across—the biggest moth I’ve seen in the garden. Named for the cyclops of Homer’s Odyssey, they use those transparent eyes to distract predators via mimicry of the great horned owl. This morning […]
NYC for the first time in fifteen months. The smell of burnt candied nuts and subterranean subway air as it comes wooshing up the stairs. So. Many. Humans: laughing, shouting, embracing, badly playing full drum kits, on wheels and in the streets, in poet’s revery and tutus. We walked most of the island below 14th […]
On my studio doorstep, in afternoon sun, I found half a luna moth’s wings. I’ve longed to see this favorite in the wild, and this is as close as I’ve come. It was left at my feet, like my cat used to leave birds and lizards, in offering. Like most, I haven’t been feeling especially grounded, and […]
A Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) purloining from a single Drumstick Allium (Allium sphaerocephalon). It kept flying away to sample others in this cluster, and even my hand at one point, then returning to its steady focus. Today I learned these critters are nectar thieves—they don’t pollinate in return for their delicious dinner. Even worse than […]
Teeny tiny acrobats braved the summer breezes in my Karl Foerster grass this afternoon. Japanese Beetles are known to ravage gardens (as though the damn deer and woodchuck were not sufficient), but are also of the Scarabaeidae family, and so, feel lucky–especially when (determinedly) getting lucky.
This weekend, dear friends came up to stay in our guest digs and meet us on the porch for some experimental socially distanced revelry. On the fourth, we spatchcocked a chicken (along with grilled peaches and grilled Caesar salad) and christened our new-to-us bbq, but first hiked a nearby conservancy we’d yet to visit. The […]
A few days ago, at the peak of the monsoon that shrouded my birthday, I went to my garden to refill the birdbath and found a tiny, silvery moth floating on its surface. Thinking it hindered by wet wings, I slipped a leaf beneath to offer a bit of traction, but the moth seemed beyond […]
O Cuntadino Sutta lu Zappuni by Sicilian Soprano of the South Rosa Balistreri.
The view from our best dust, mid-trip, with gorgeous light and a murmuration of swifts.