A KC Cat and Landlord

On a warm spring afternoon in Kansas City this fellow found a ventilated bed where he could consider the coming sunset. On the ground level he has a partner who's not so bold, but certainly is as confident and friendly. How can cats own so much property and do so little to maintain it? They make up a blessed race.

Live Oak Alley

This live oak has a dozen or more syblings along the "alley" at Brookgreen Gardens. The daffodils had gone by at the time of this visit, and that looks like an azalea in the crook of the live oak's arm. These trees are at least 200 years old and date from the era of rice plantations, farmed by slaves imported from west Africa because they knew how to back up rivers to flood the rice fields and feed and harvest the crop.
After the Civil War the slaves either left or no longer could be driven to do the dangerously hard work. Rice farming here stopped and the plantations folded. In the early 1900's several of the old properties were consolidated and the old riceland turned into hunting camps for the wealthy. The buildings are gone, except for an old kitchen at Brookgreen, but many of the walks, walls and springs survive. Note "Spanish moss" hanging from the limbs of the live oak. Guides will tell you the plant that drapes from the trees is neither Spanish nor moss, but the name sticks.

Azaleas in May at Brookgreen Gardens

Azaleas look good wherever they show up, and a lot of them live at Brookgreen (no relation) Gardens. This was taken in May when dozens of huge bushes or trees were covered with thousands of blossoms. We've visited these gardens for a dozen years at this point in spring and always got here after a heavy rain, so we often saw most of the petals on the ground. But this time the rain waited, the plants burst out and the flowers held. Timing means a lot when Mother Nature is in charge.

Swallowtail Caterpillar on Duty

In July we planted parsely in a strawberry jug on our patio hoping caterpillars and then butterflies would come and visit, and they did. This is a two-inch long swallowtail caterpillar, who had about ten brothers or sisters or whatever and they ate our parsely up, which is what it was there for anyway. We missed seeing the swallowtail butterflies emerge and found when they'd gone only a few sloughed skins. (The butterflies are black with yellow ornaments and look like Stealth fighters only smaller.) We're happy to have them as guests, and when my camera is working again and a swallowtail visits us, I'll snap a photo and put it here for you to enjoy. Until then, this fellow ranks as a pretty handsome caterpillar.