The Metro

On Saturday instead of going to a party to "honor'" people who donate to a certain charity dear to our hearts we canceled and continued celebrating the big anniversary with a trip to The Metro. Certainly satisfying, relaxing, and better than small talk with people who are nice enough but I just don't know that well. It's back to being HOT! That makes me uncomfortable! Summer here is like winter up north without having to wear all the gear, so I guess it's easier to bear, no shoveling either! It's just that to really be comfortable I need to stay in the AC. That's a foreign concept to me staying in when it's sunny outside. It's the norm here. Go to Sonic, order up and sit in the car with the air on...talk about waste!

Hummingbirds are still here. No more black swallowtail caterpillars on the parsley. Flowers are starting to come back from the early summer heat and more intense sun. My plantings always look best in September. the grass in the front yard is unreal-GREEN! We had several inches of rain just after the fall fertilizer went on and it really kicked in. It usually looks bad at this time, even if it remains green it doesn't look happy when it hasn't rained in months. Sprinkling just doesn't do the same thing the rain does.

How does everyone out there keep up with all the interesting blogs to look at? I just can't keep up....

Cheese

Forward Foods in Norman is the newest food discovery for our family. Morbier Lait Cru is a delicious soft cheese with layer of ash, who knew? It is very stinky, but good! It has a rind, and looks like a brie with a layer in the middle. Aged Leyden is a cheese from the Netherlands like I remember form the Copper Kettle Shop in the little town where I grew up. It was a specialty at Christmas time and the shop owner would descend into the store's basement to retrieve a chunk of the wheel of cheese for special customers who appreciated good cheese (it was the 70's!), it is spicy with lots of caraway seed. Aged Manchego is a very good harder cheese for grating and it was most expensive at $18.00 per pound. The last one is Taleggio Caravaggio, a soft mild cheese from Italy with a rind. The store also had a selection of fair trade coffees, spices, condiments, natural cleaning products, fresh bread, and a few produce items.

We ate a very late breakfast at The Diner on Main in Norman and it was excellent. We will definitely go back. We brought our bounty from Forward Foods home for a snacking type dinner of bread, olives and cheese.

We had another crazy storm this afternoon. On the way home from Norman the sky was very dark in the west and after we were home for a little while it just let loose, we probably had another inch of rain and some winds were clocked at 95+ miles per hour. It wasn't that bad at our house wind wise, but there was a lot of damage in the metro area. A very wet and wild August. It is so green it seems like spring.

A not so ordinary Wednesday in Oklahoma

Hummingbirds still here. Boiling hot on the patio until the sun left then it was enjoyable watching them.

The yard guys came. Wednesday is mowing day. The grass looks splendid. A sentence I never thought I'd utter in the month of August in Oklahoma. The front yard is always passable, we keep it up to the standard of the neighborhood, but the back is let's just say "natural". When we have winter and all the crab grass dies that is filling in all the gaps in the Bermuda it will be another story, especially when the dogs make a race track in the bare spots. The horrible but necessary tick spraying service was also here today. Every time I think I will cancel the spraying a certain Schipperke appears with a tick or two! Yuck! Anyway, I'll just enjoy the current lush green look, mostly thanks to Erin and some fertilizer. I think I'll add some pictures so I can look back when we go back to our usual dry and dusty July and Augusts.

A boy drowned during cross country practice Wednesday afternoon, he was from Putnam City West high school. The boys were running around Lake Overholser , their path was flooded and they tried to swim across and the boy who lost his life was swept away. Hug those loved ones. His parents could probably have imagined every tragedy but that one befalling their son.

Today's birds

I didn't go outside much today, but when I was out I saw at least 3 hummingbirds, 2 cardinals, ring neck doves, mourning doves, sparrows. I guess that's it. Lots of butterflies today and the racket of the cicadas is extreme. All that rain from tropical storm Erin has allowed me to enjoy the yard without the usual constant watering required this time of year. It was 90+ today I'm not sure how hot, but it was pretty bad around dinner time trying to cook on the grill. I am missing Edith's tree that gave us at least a little shade late in the day.

25 Years of married life has passed!

August 21, 1982-August 21, 2007. I'm filled with a sense of awe at an important milestone achieved with it seeming like we just crossed that little altar in Hendricks Chapel a short time ago. It has been so fast and so feels so effortless at his point. I am full of gratitude for my wise choice those many years ago. My only advise is to marry someone you love. That makes all the difference.

Tropical Depression Erin

Suddenly a forecast of "chance of showers" becomes over a foot of rain in some places!!! The next thing I buy is going to be a couple of those special auto safety hammers, that break out the car window and/or cut the seat belts, to use if I am in a wreck and lose the power windows. I was looking at them a couple of weeks ago and I didn't order them. Earlier in the summer two girls had to be rescued from their car about a mile from my house and I figured it could just as well have been me. Even if you are careful you can find your self in the wrong place at the wrong time. This past weekend we had the crazy inland tropical storm Erin, so I am getting one for each car. This storm was extremely rare, it's not everyday that central Oklahoma has a tropical storm rotating round and round dumping hurricane amounts of rain, but we do have flash floods frequently. Three women drowned in their mini-van Sunday morning after it was swept off the road, I bet they couldn't get out. If you can get out of the vehicle at least you have a chance of surviving a catastrophe.

namesake

I vow to get a better picture of my blog's namesake, but for now "parsley eater" is it. I want it to come from my own yard so I will have to bear with my inept photography. Papilio polyxenes better known as the black swallowtail butterfly likes to lay it's eggs on parsley and related plants. I have 3 very pathetic parsley plants and I have seen at least 10 caterpillars. How on earth do they find the plants? There aren't many gardeners in these parts....lots of flowers for the butterfly stage, but slim pickin's for the eggs and caterpillars. I have seen at least one adult but a miracle may have to occur for me to snap the picture. I feel bad that in today's world butterflies have been reduced to cheap decor items and something to be "released" at one's wedding or funeral. Yes, I have seen an ad for the funeral butterfly release!

Take the time to look at the next butterfly you see. In my little corner of the world we will have more parsley plants next year. ...and milkweed, and nettles, and whatever else their little hearts desire...

bird list

Friday's birds: chickadee, cardinal male and female, hummingbirds 3 individuals at least maybe more 1 male others juveniles or females, lots of house sparrows, swifts overhead, ring neck doves, mourning doves, house finches, blue jays, and when I was out and about I also saw a boat tailed grackle...I'm forgetting lots but it's late I want to post what I see most days so I can look back and see who was around on what date. The birds in the yard really slack off around this time of year until we have cooler weather and some consistent precipitation. I am seeing lots of butterflies, I think due to rain in July and planting Butterfly bush, parsley and fennel. We also took out a large Sweetgum tree making the back yard way more sunny and inviting to weeds they like! Thursday my Lab caught and ate a big cicada, also caught and killed a mouse I was able to intervene before she ate that! People think they need cats or terriers for rodent control!

problems we create

...just a fleeting thought, stop buying all the future landfill material from China and elsewhere and the problem of poisoning our children and our environment with it is solved! How about some good old fashioned wooden blocks and some hugs and kisses? I haven't heard one media idiot mention that we could just stop consuming all the imported lead paint covered small magnet bearing mind numbing future garbage creating rubbish that takes our hard earned money and puts it in to the hands of today's robber barons! I'm going to look at the birds......they are clever and pretty and calming!

patio with a view

hummingbirds!!! they're only here in OKC for a short time each year and they are having a great time in my yard feasting on nectar and fighting among themselves for territory-the passion flower vine is popular with the birds and they like to perch on the pampas grass as they wait for a spot at the feeder, one day soon we will notice they have decided to leave and the feeder goes in to storage....