Susan's Musings

Nature

Hand Grenades

uIt’s that time of year. My little hand grenade pineapples are ripening and this time I beat the raccoons and opossums to them. Hooray!These are easy to grow.  Every time you...

Nature

Mangrove Skipper Butterfly

Yes, even this far north

Nature

Unwelcome Guests

The persecution of a pecan tree

The Seventh Inning Stretch

Had a beautiful day at the fishing pier just a bit north of here. Several storms skipped just by us on their way towards Jacksonville on the opposite side of the state, and we...

Nature · Photography

One of the Tropical Orb Weavers

This is a young orb weaver that sports a startling neon green spot on its back. It’s the first I have seen here, probably because during the day this type of spider  sleeps in...

Recipes

Chili

Beans, beans and more beans

Nature

In Praise of Rain

Rain, at last! And, I am not the only one glad to feel it come pattering,  or even pounding down.  Once we recover from the drought,  and the ground gets saturated enough for...

Nature

Snatch it from my hand, Grasshopper.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, also known as Romalea microptera.There was an outbreak of these large,  flightless native grasshoppers at the studio this year. Usually, there are...

Nature

Nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure!

My wedelia ground cover nightmare

Nature

Wild Grapes

Well, the wild grapes, or muscadines, as some call them,  aren’t yet ripe - but they are filling out. They should be ripe, and very juicy, sometime in early August.  I’ve...

Nature

Love Songs

Finally, we had a soaking good rain, and the frogs in the swamp have been enjoying the puddles so much that they sang all night and are still singing late this morning.May you...

‘Tis about time …

All Played Out

Mom’s Ham & Beans

Fueling the fine fArt studio

Nature · Photography

Looks like I have new neighbors

looks like a pair of hawks have built a substantial 2-3 foot diameter nest high up in a tree here at the studio while I was otherwise occupied.I haven’t caught a good look at...

Nature

Beauty underfoot

Slow down. Observe. Life is amazing. This mushroom is just a tiny part of a massive organism. It is an interlocking puzzle piece from a much bigger picture, yet marvelously...

Recipes

Chicken and Dumplings

No Fluffy Stuff In These (or parrots either)

Nature

Trumpet Creeper

It is early May, and while our drought here in Florida continues to beat down many plant species and is taking a toll on wildlife, this native vine is thriving and providing...

Nature

The Morel of the Story

Lessons from a Fungi

Exploring history

Storytelling through documentary art

Nature

Change, Conflict, hope, and Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars

Artemis II!

Nature

The Battered Rose

My Mom’s old surviving climbing rose is in bloom. It has been through a great deal, frosts, droughts, floods, and the weed whipper, and now rambles up and about like a wild...

Nature

Smilax Makes Me Smile

One woman’s weed is another woman’s goldmine

Artemis 2 Lunar Mission

Today the Artemis lunar mission is set to launch, and I am praying all goes well. We have learned a lot since the first lunar missions decades ago and there is much to look...

Nature

Feeling crappy?

Giant Swallowtail Butterflies

Nature

Cuban Tree Frogs

I spotted this little illegal alien the other day when I was moving boards that were stacked up against the house. This is a Cuban tree frog and it is labeled an invasive...

Nature

Spiderwort is the Bees’ Knees

The best time to be in Florida is when the spiderwort, a variety of tradescantia blooms. It is typically covered with honey bees and native bees gathering its abundant pollen,...

Nature

Air plants

The air plants on the pecan tree are sending up these red stems … soon a few purple petals will come out.I use this pecan tree as a nursery for different kinds of native air...

Nature

Loquats

Twice a year we get a crop of loquats- sometimes called Japanese Plums. They are very good but the mockingbirds, woodpeckers, opossums, raccoons, and jays think so as well.Ours...

Recipes

Simple Iron Skillet Peach Cobbler

Sue’s kitchen

Nature · Photography

A Strange Sort of Web

Bowl and Doily Spiders

Nature · Photography

Of air plants and lichens

A pecan tree I planted several years ago has become a nursery of sorts for my efforts to propagate and learn about the air plants so common here in Florida. I you don’t have to...

Nature

Armadillo Dilly Bars

Just kidding… it was cold