shock and awwwwww

 Shocker (for us homebodies)...another busy weekend, setting up at a local toy show.  

Nearly all of our business is online, but when a toy show comes right to your doorstep, it's hard to resist! I have to admit that I am woefully out of the sci-fi loop when it comes to Marvel/DC.  I have no idea who this guy is...

...but I love a good costume!  

Meanwhile, at home...delightfully foggy mornings continue...

...and most days are clear and sunny.

Late-season flowers are popping, and I'm stuffing the house with bouquets.

Copper mug at thrift store, fifty cents!  A perfect Autumn vase.

Of course, this is a major temptation to someone.

The usual fall visitors are out and about...

so much dew!

And evidence of those unseen...

Goldfinches stripping seeds and tossing chaff into a pumpkin leaf

A 4 foot hosta mowed down by bloodthirsty deer

One of my favorites...fall spiders.  You might want to skip the next three pictures if spiders give you the creeps!

I've been looking for crab spiders all summer.  They hide in flower heads and pounce on unsuspecting insects.  He's a masked bandit!

Besides crab spiders, my favorites are really daring jumping spiders.  Here's one chowing down on a small fly...

...and another one giving me the eyeball.  This is a male, pretty evident from his green chelicerae (mouthparts).  Isn't he a beauty?

I'm hoping to get more spider pictures soon.  The heat is going to be breaking soon (hello, September!!!) and it will be more comfortable to move around outside.  Although...the kittens much prefer indoors in all circumstances.

Awwwww!

Have a great week!  

snakes and chatter (ers)

 Time is marching on!

It's been a busy week.  A "Beatles" concert by the Fab Four:

For me, seeing a tribute band is the same basic experience as seeing the real band in concert...and this definitely feels like a positive thing.  In the same vein, seeing an animal at the zoo feels no different than watching that same animal in a nature documentary.  When we went to the Indianapolis Zoo earlier this week, it was nice to see animals (in the same way that a nature documentary is interesting), but I was mostly captivated by the shapes and textures that I saw.

The perfect curve of a warthog tusk.

The shifting and saturated colors of the flamingoes.

The arresting regularity of snakeskin patterning.

Spikes...

Triangles...

Stripes...

Hexagons.

The really pleasurable exhibit was the lorikeet enclosure.  They're friendly, as you can see a typical greeting here:

To more easily reach their favorite foods (fruit, nectar, and pollen), lorikeets have a long tongue that terminates in something like a miniature toothbrush head.  I got a good cleaning!

They're noisy ("The loudest rainbow you'll ever hear!") and social.  Super fun!

Back at home, late season flowers...

...blue skies...

...and lazy kittens.

Not too shabby for late August.

Have a great week!

knitted ladders and insect adders

As we get closer to fall and cooler weather, there's an uptick in my cold-weather craft projects.  I'm knitting a Kate Davies cardigan called Deco...

It's a stockinette cardigan without a steek, meaning that it's knitted back and forth instead of in the round (as a tube that is later cut).  Long purl rows are boring, but at least there's an interesting row of slipped stitches that form the front of the cardigan.

I've had a burst of energy with my postage stamp quilt, too.

Outside, the season is progressing nicely.  A volunteer pumpkin vine in a front bed...

...gives it a dash of fall.  My pumpkins in the back bed are going crazy, too.  The pumpkin flowers are open for business!

Once they're pollinated, they will begin setting fruit.  During my last inspection, I was surprised to see what I initially thought was a small group of spiders on one of the leaves.

These aren't spiders, though.  They're squash bugs, and once I knew what to look for, I found much more evidence of their presence:

Squash bugs are terrible for the garden.  They inject liquifying toxins into pumpkin vines, and even attack mature pumpkins.  I made short work of these invaders with a bit of soapy water.

Deer are everywhere...

...and we're seeing more and more geese, common in the fall.

I noticed a head sticking out of an overgrown garden section this week:

Turkeys are out and about, another frequent autumn occurrence.

I see a pair of singles quite a bit, and also this parent pair with their 11 - 12 poults.

  

Of course, Warren is out every day...

...and he's quite territorial, chasing away a younger rabbit who dared to approach our side garden this week.

As usual when the weather starts to cool, praying mantises are (gulp) hanging around in unlikely places, like this window screen:

Goldfinches, and although I've yet to get a picture, indigo buntings.

Hummingbirds, too, are out in force.  I'd say that a pair feeds pretty continually in the front and side gardens.

I've been watching them and I think that they're nesting in our apple tree.  I frequently see their silhouettes there.

I will definitely be nest-hunting this November!

Inside, we've got kitten mischief...

...but still, a whole lotta napping.

They're loving our open windows this week.  Atypical for August:  low humidity and cool breezes.  A nice transition into September. 

Have a great week!