A little over a week ago I was treated to these butterflies in my backyard. I went out looking for birds and discovered butterflies.
Not sure why they are suddenly attracted to my yard. Maybe I just never noticed them in past years.
From my readers, an update: red admiral butterflies – Michelle reports lots of migrating this year.
For more Nature Notes:
White Columbine with bits of Purple Salvia
I’ve been very busy with work and with a few (thankfully minor) family crises (an infected finger by one child, a tummy virus right before a big talk by another, a fall with only bruises by an older family member). Hope life goes smoothly in the future, (but it never does, does it?).
I saw my neighbor and again asked him the name of his tree. “Eastern red bud,” he said. I wrote it down so as not to forget, but I remembered without even looking at my notes.
Eastern red bud trees (Cercis canadensis L.) have lovely pinkish purple blossoms in the spring. I photographed these blossoms at the tail end of their existence – they were probably even prettier a week ago.
The flowers on his dogwood tree are quite handsome as well.
My other neighbor has a swing tied to her maple tree.
Just to show that I do have my own shrubs, here is our bright pink azalea.
Strawberry plants are cropping up all over my backyard. I planted a few about five years back – they seem very happy in our yard. Next month those little greenish yellow spots inside the white flowers will be bright red juicy strawberries.
And then I heard a song – I looked up, and I saw a crying catbird.
What’s in your yard? Read the notes of more nature watchers:
Creamy Yellow Soup with Curry, Celery and Beans
Soak the white beans overnight and cook with two pieces (about one inch) of kombu. Saute chopped celery and chopped garlic in olive oil or coconut oil. Cook the sweet potato; discard sweet potato skin. Puree the celery, garlic, thyme, sweet potato, beans and kombu in the food processor. Add the turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. Reheat the pureed soup on the stove. Stir in a spoonful of miso just before serving.
Garnish with scallion or whatever fresh herb you have available. In the photo are some leaves of fresh oregano from my backyard.
Have any leftover matza? See any matza for sale and wonder what one might do with it? Here’s an easy dessert I made with my daughter during Passover.
Ingredients:
If you want, you can soak the nuts for a few hours to make them more chewable. Melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan. Add broken matza and nuts and mix with the chocolate. Put a sheet of wax paper on a paper plate (the flat white kind that one puts in the microwave work best). Put a spoonful of the chocolate mixture unto the wax paper. Repeat until you have filled the wax paper (you can probably fit about 5 or 6 of these on a paper plate). Repeat on another paper plate (our mixture made two platefuls). Place flat in the freezer. Serve straight from the freezer.
Do you have any fun, creative matza dishes?
Warning: nasty scenes are shown. An evil doctor comes up with a treacherous plan to poison everyone.
How does the mind of a 15 year old work?