Five Is Not a Vegetable

I had the weirdest dream - I woke up this morning with the idea that I was going to cook five.  I thought to myself, "Five of what?  Five is not a vegetable!"

Possum!

For the past week, I've set the Have-a-Heart trap to catch whatever cat is beating up the feral cats I take care of, and I haven't caught him yet.  I have caught raccoons twice and two of the feral cats.  I thought the feral cats would remember that trap because that's how I caught them and had them tested, given rabies shots, and had them fixed.  But they didn't remember.

This morning, I uncovered the trap, and lo and behold, there was a possum in the trap.  I was opening the door to the trap, and the possum hissed.  I heard them do that before, but the next thing that happened scared me.  The possum growled!  I've never heard a possum growl before.  

Very carefully, I eased open the door to the trap.  I walked away.  The possum was frozen.  Eventually, he ran out of the trap.  That was my adventure for the day....

Spring Blooms

The flowers are beautiful this time of year.  Each time I go walking, I appreciate the colors of the blossoms. 

Bottle Brush Tree

Yellow Irises

Snapdragons

Lorapetalum (Chinese Fringe Flower) 

Japanese Magnolia

Pansies

The Light in Early Evening

I love going for walks in the early evening, right before it gets dark.  I love the way the light looks. Everything seems magical:

And then the sun starts to set:

Drawing Class

I'm taking a drawing class through the community education program.  One of the exercises we had to do for homework was to complete a drawing upside down.  The point of the exercise was for us to focus on shapes and spaces, not actual objects.

Our teacher gave us a very detailed drawing of a knight on a horse:

It took me 2 1/2 hours to do my drawing:

I was amazed when I turned it right side up:

Hail in April!

Today it hailed!  It's April 8th in metropolitan New Orleans!  

Here is a picture, if you don't believe me:

Two Who Made It and One Who Didn't

Every spring, I see baby turtles on the road where I walk.  They're the same size of the ones we used to be able to buy at the T,G, & Y store for a quarter.

I'm so happy when I see them walking and so sad when I see them squished.  Here are two who made it:

and one who didn't:

Swiss Chard & the Big, Hairy Spider

I went out to my garden to cut down some Swiss chard.  It was beautiful.  I brought it in the house and washed it, laid it on the cutting board to slice it, and what did I see, but a big, hairy spider!  I screamed so loud that I think the spider heard it, and I don't even know if they have ears!  It may have shuddered when I screamed.  I haven't seen one of these types of spiders before - it was like a small tarantula.  Normally, I don't scream for spiders, but it was so unexpected to see this hairy spider, that the scream was involuntary.

Gifts from the Cats

Today, the one of the housecats left me a present on the floor: a huge hairball.  And one of the feral cats left me a present on the welcome mat: a gecko body (the head and tail were bitten off).  Weren't they thoughtful?