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Archive for the ‘Nature & Science’ Category

The crescent moon

Posted in Creativity, Nature & Science, Parks & Plazas, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The crescent moon keeps a watchful eye over the sand paintings in the Plaza de la Danza, by day…

Painting handing on wall above the Plaza de la Danza

and by night…

Crescent moon between the bell towers of San Jose church, in Oaxaca

 

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A shell of his former self

Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2011| 4 Comments »

Remember Argiope from 2-1/2 weeks ago?

Orb weaver spider on web in Stalpelia gigantea.

Turns out, she isn’t as sweet as she looks.  Today, HE came, HE saw, and SHE conquered!

Female argiope and shell of male hanging above her.

Leaving him a shell of his former self…

Shell of male Argiope suspended above the female in web.

Within a half an hour, she had finished him off… leaving not a trace that he had ever existed.

Female Argiope hanging in web alone.

And, she was alone again, naturally!  Alone, that is, until their offspring hatch…

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She’s baaack…

Posted in Animals, Gardens, Language, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2011| 3 Comments »

Argiope’s neighbor (of Orb Weavers blog post fame) has returned! Two days ago I spotted the Neoscona oaxacensis (Ms Oaxaca, to her nearest and dearest) nestled among the leaves of a succulent in the pot next to her original home. However, no large round insect catching web was seen.

Neoscona oaxacensis spider nestled in the leaves of a succulent

Apparently, last night Ms Oaxaca must have stayed up pretty late. This morning, when I came out to say, “buenos días,” I found her happily sitting in the middle of a brand new web.

Neoscona oaxacensis spider in the middle of her web.

According to SpidCat, the range of the Neoscona oaxacensis runs from the USA, down to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. They are not only beautiful and harmless, they keep the flying insect population down. So, if you’re lucky enough to have one in your garden, leave her be. If you don’t want to take my word for it, there was the study published in the California Avocado Society Yearbook (1980) that concluded,

…the significance of the orb weaving Neoscona in avocado orchards is probably not that they prevent dramatic population increases in the pest population or control the pests through the year. Instead, the presence of spiders, even in years of low pest populations, may dampen the increases in pest species during the later months of the season and serve as stabilizing agents to restrain the pest outbreaks during the interval between pest population increases and the numerical response of more specific parasites.

Anything that is good for avocados, is okay by me!

(ps) And now for something completely different… The answers to the Name that film quiz are:

  • Birds of America = Vecinos y enemigos
  • Brokeback Mountain = Secreto en la montaña
  • Easy Virtue = Buenas costumbres
  • Midnight Sting = El golpe perfecto
  • People I know = Noche del crimen
  • Tenderness = Asesino intimo
  • That Evening Sun = Una historia de traicion
  • Up in the Air = Amor sin escalas

Sorry, no prizes… just this bonus bizarre title translation my Spanish teacher contributed: Mrs. Doubtfire = Papá por siempre. Definitely a case of, lost in translation!!!

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Orb weavers

Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2011| 8 Comments »

Clothing, tablecloths, and rugs aren’t the only things being woven in Oaxaca.  The terrace has a new resident, an orb weaver spider (family Araneidae).  I think, because of the stabilimentum (the white zigzags on the web), she is in the genus, Argiope.

Orb weaver spider on web in Stalpelia gigantea.

She had a larger orb weaving neighbor in the pot next door…

Alas, after a couple of days, the neighbor disappeared and her carefully crafted web fell into disrepair.  However, that left more food for Argiope.

Orb weaver spider on web with wrapped up green bottle fly

Apparently, green bottle flies are a favorite, because this is one of several she caught in a single day.  She’s chosen the perfect site for her home — in the garden’s previously blogged about, Stinky plant, attracting flies (aka, Stalpelia gigantea).

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Adios, mosquitos

Posted in Home, Nature & Science, People, tagged , , on August 22, 2011| 7 Comments »

It’s the rainy season; that means it’s also mosquito season… and they love me and my ankles!  This year, I surrendered to the adage, the best offense is a good defense.  Using plastic mesh, duct tape, and velcro, I fabricated an ugly, and somewhat difficult to navigate through, screen for my door.

Green screen on door

Defense exhibit 1

It helped, I even got used to the green color, though the center opening was problematic.  However, heat and dry air followed by heat and humidity were not kind to the glue on the back of the velcro that secured the screen to the doorway nor to the duct tape holding the coins weighing down the screen.  After two months it began coming unglued, as did I!

So, I relented, loosened my purse-strings, and called master carpenter Juan, who has so ably come to my rescue on previous occasions.  He took measurements last week, drew up a plan, built the doors, and arrived yesterday to install them.

Juan, with drill, installing the new screen door

My hero, Juan

What a difference a real screen door makes!  Looking in…

New wood frame screen door

Defense exhibit 2

And, looking out…

Screen door from inside apartment

Defense exhibit 3

With my new door, stash of citronella candles, and repelente natural, it’s adios mosquitos!

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I’ll paint rainbows…

Posted in Nature & Science, Weather, tagged , , on July 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Intermittent rain again today; annoying and even a little depressing, until tonight…

Rainbow over Oaxaca

and from the far reaches of the brain, the John Sebastian song,  I’ll Paint Rainbows All Over Your Blues, came to mind… and I couldn’t help singing and smiling.

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The Pupa and the Plumbago

Posted in Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , on July 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Back on January 10th, I posted a photo of a pupa that had materialized on my plumbago while I’d been up in the USA for a month.Butterfly pupa hanging on a plumbago stem
What I haven’t mentioned is that the next day, it moved!  It began traveling up and down the plumbago.  I ran inside, grabbed my new Canon G12, set it to video, and began recording.  Video was edited, music was added, and the following resulted:

However, that isn’t the end of the story.  I kept close tabs on the terrace’s new resident, checking daily, but no more plumbago strolling; the pupa remained firmly fastened to one of the branches.

Then on April 17th, over 3 months later, I noticed a significant change in the pupa…

Butterfly pupa
A butt protruding?  Was a butterfly in the process of emerging???  Daily observations continued… no change.  I returned to the USA for a month, returned to find… NO change!

Finally, on July 2nd, I couldn’t stand it any longer.  With the Skype encouragement from my friend G, I snipped the pupa from its home of almost six months and began a dissection;  the industrial strength silk was peeled away and the woody chrysalis was cut into with my gardening shears… a hollow shell of the “butt end” and an empty cottony interior was revealed!

Open chrysalis, silk from pupa, shell, and leaves from plumbagoThe butterfly had flown…

 

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Colibrí and blossoms

Posted in Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , on July 17, 2011| 3 Comments »

A major source of entertainment these gray rainy days is watching the colibríes darting in, around, and through the African tulip trees surrounding my terrace; sipping nectar from the profusion of giant red-orange blossoms 3 times their size;


Hummingbird hovering over African tulip tree
… chasing each other as they protect their turf (Hey guys and gals, there’s enough for everybody!); catching insects with their rapier like tongues; and pausing for a brief rest at the tip of a branch,

Hummingbird hovering over African tulip tree blossoms

… but always on guard.


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Flame trees of Casita Colibrí

Posted in Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , on July 10, 2011| 3 Comments »

Way back in the very early 1980s, I was captivated by the PBS series, The Flame Trees of Thika, based on the Elspeth Huxley memoir, by the same name, about her early years in Kenya.

African Tulip tree reddish orange blossoms

We had a black and white TV back then and so, if they even showed the “Flame Trees,” they never “registered.

African Tulip tree reddish orange blossoms

However, here I am in Oaxaca, Mexico and I’ve got two African Tulip Trees (aka, Flame of the Forest) hovering over my terrace, bursting with color, providing a modicum of shade, feeding the hummingbirds, and adding to the enchantment of Casita Colibrí.

African Tulip tree reddish orange blossoms

There was something about the sky, the light, and the trees this morning…

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Beach vacation dreaming…

Posted in Nature & Science, Weather, tagged , , , on June 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Gray gloom continues to hang over the San Francisco Bay Area and I’m dreaming of a beach vacation…

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Playa San Agustinillo on Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast, October 2009.

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Stinky plant, attracting flies…

Posted in Casita Colibrí, Flora, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2011| 5 Comments »

Twenty-four hours in the life of one of the more bizarre, and almost prehistoric-looking, residents of the terrace garden, a Stapelia gigantea…

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Trying to identify this plant I did a Google search using the terms:  cactus, stinky, flies, star flower… because it definitely smells gross, has incredibly large zebra striped star-shaped flowers, and is a favorite of green bottle flies!

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Ahhh… the setting sun

Posted in Nature & Science, tagged , on March 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This evening… sitting out on the covered portion of Casita Colibrí’s terrace, birds are chattering, wind chimes are tinkling, the occasional flincher is exploding in the distance, horns are honking (who knows what is blocking traffic on Morelos), church bells have begun chiming, and big rain drops are plopping down on the tin roof.  The wind has planes, on their approach to Oaxaca’s little airport, flying over Casita Colibrí.  Am I really here… in Southern Mexico?

And then, the sunset…

sunset from the terrace

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Of trees, shadows, blossoms, and brooms…

Posted in Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , , on March 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

On my way to the Oaxaca Lending Library this morning, I was stopped in my tracks by tree shadows and dappled lavender jacaranda blossoms on the rust red of newly landscaped planter beds of Santo Domingo.  Light, shadows, color, texture…

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I think the broom suspended in the tree is a nice touch!

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Full moon rising over Oaxaca

Posted in Nature & Science, tagged , , , , , , on March 20, 2011| 3 Comments »

Last night’s Supermoon from Casita Colibrí’s terrace…

Full moon rising

And, happy Vernal Equinox to all!

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Nature’s Sound and Light Show!

Posted in Nature & Science, tagged , , , on March 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Thunder cracking right overhead; lightening flashing all around; rain pounding on the tin roof is deafening.  Sheesh, even with TV cranked up as loud as it gets, I can’t hear Anderson Cooper!  Torrential downpour filled buckets for Casita Colibrí’s garden within 15 minutes.Full rain buckets

Ahhh… it’s been so long, I’d forgotten what it looked, sounded, felt, and smelled like.  A beautiful night in Oaxaca…Stormy night in Oaxaca

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