Saturday Morning Stroll

Saturday mornings are a glorious time.  No rushing out the door.  No deadlines.  We go at our own pace.  The cows and chickens aren't overly concerned that we are a couple hours later than we usually are.  We get our morning chores done at a leisurely pace and then enjoy a good cup of coffee on the front porch in the rocking chairs while talking.  After a bit, I'll go out and just walk around observing God's creation all around me, soaking it all in and seeing things that I might otherwise miss.

I spotted a lady bug on the post in the garden.  Seeing this glossy red bug is fortuitous because this girl is a beneficial insect.  Most insects I see in my garden are not friends, but this one certainly is.  She eats aphids and other destructive insects.  She lays her eggs amidst the aphids and her larvae eat up the aphids too. I'd like to encourage more and more lady bugs in and around the garden.

As I closed the gate to the garden and noted that the entire picket fence is in disrepair, something bright and yellow caught my eye.  I walked up and saw this sight:

These bright yellow flowers belong to our Birdhouse Gourds that are growing on a trellis. The vines are resplendent in big yellow flowers opening to the sun.  They must be full of sweet nectar, because as I was standing there admiring the beauty, honey bees flew amonst the vines going from flower to flower.  As I looked closer, I could see fire ants climbing on the flowers as well.

Those flowers will soon be transformed into birdhouse gourds, named as such because the gourds from this plant can be easily transformed into birdhouses.  In fact here is a tiny one below.  While it is only two inches long right now, at maturity it will be two feet long and large enough to house a family of birds.

On the same trellis just six feet over, the luffa gourds are also growing.  Their flowers aren't as pretty and look like off-white crepe paper.  I don't see any luffas yet, but they'll be full of gourds that we will use as shower sponges.

It's interesting all the things that you can see if you slow down and enjoy the garden.  I noticed a serpent in the garden.  It was coiled up on one of the bell pepper plants.  Tricia told me she wouldn't be picking peppers when this guy was around. He's just a harmless garter snake and not a bad one.  He was not up to any evil and he certainly didn't talk or tempt us into eating fruit in the garden.  We all know how that ended up.

Just a few plants over there were other cold-blooded creatures sunning themselves on the leaves of the eggplant.  Check out the lizards at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions of the picture below.

In addition to observing nature and enjoying the morning, I'm also making notes of things that I need to do.  For now, at least, I'll enjoy the coolness of the morning. Pretty soon the sun will rise above the oak trees to the east that keep the garden in shade.  Then it will be unbearable in the garden until the late afternoon and things once again cool down.