Almost Hidden Treasure

Can you see her? I almost did not.

Every morning my dogs and I walk the fields and woods behind my house for about an hour. When we got back this morning I spied this female garden spider (Argiope aurantia) as she was just finishing up her zig-zag pattern in the center of her web. I wish she had set up shop in my tomato beds about 20 feet away. These spiders are great additions to gardens because they eat the bugs that like to chew on plants.

Fresh Produce

From the Market, originally uploaded by lelisa.

For the past several weeks I have been putting up locally grown fresh produce to store for winter. I ran across this beautiful photo mosaic on Flickr put together by lelisa.

I love the colors and textures in the shots she chose for this mosaic. Makes me hungry and it also makes me curious. I had never seen Japanese eggplant before. I wonder how it tastes.