The feral nasturtiums are just about done for the year, so I thought I’d keep the memory here in my sketchbook.
flower parts
Month: July 2023
a boy and his boat
My son bought an old boat, and invested much sweat in getting her seaworthy. He tells me she now ’sails really nicely’ — yay!
the sideways tree
Hazy sky blurs into sea
Beyond the sideways tree.
elfin forest
We’re thinking about a Central Coast visit, including some time with the little trees of Los Osos.
hummingbones
the fernery
Revisiting one of my favourite corners of the garden.
coyote in the mist
Foggy morning at the park, with the pale coyote statue howling into the mist.
desert dreaming
It’s been way too long since we went to the desert, and looking at the current temps out there, we clearly missed the spring window. Gotta schedule a trip for autumn, for sure.
Agaricus bisporus
I decided to sketch, and learn some more about, my snack.
Lithobates catesbeianus
I’ve heard bullfrogs a couple of times recently (at Malibu Creek and the pond at Rocky Oaks), so got curious about them. This amphibian is invasive here, as well as in South America, Western Europe, China, Japan, and southeast Asia.
Bullfrogs are voracious, opportunistic, ambush predators. Their stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small lizards and snakes (including the young of the California endemic giant garter snake, a threatened species), other frogs and toads, amphibians, crayfish, other crustaceans, small birds, scorpions, tarantulas and bats, as well as the many types of invertebrates, such as snails, worms and insects.
Earlier this year, the Utah Department of Natural Resources began tweeting tips on how to catch and cook bullfrogs in an effort to encourage residents to help control the growing population by catching the invasive frogs for food. Bullfrogs are also used for dissection in science classes, but this demand is never going to outstrip the supply!
Would you ever eat bullfrog?
Sketched from a Creative Commons photo by Carl D. Howe
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