Babies and Beauty

In preparation for afternoon tea I made two different kinds of cookies. I was busy with my project and I heard a ruckus through the South facing kitchen windows. At first I just ignored the noise but as the wild turkey was persistent I went out the front door to see three baby turkeys (not even 3 inches tall) walking across Page Street. YIKES! no wonder mama was adamant they join her and their siblings.

 

In the above photograph you can see Mama standing on one side of Page Street.

All walking by were naturally curious. One gentleman with camera in hand was taking pictures and Mama Turkey charged him. He reported he counted six babies. We all assume Mama brought the babies through Delano Park but why, why, why was she meandering into the manufactured home park across the street?

Today I can report no sightings of turkeys of any size. WHEW! I'm sure they have returned to the safety of the fields a block and a half away.

Moving onto the beauty happening in the Japanese maple tree located on the West side of our front yard: when I was living in Palo Alto (the first time) many years ago, a friend raised red flowering epiphytes. She was kind enough to share one (like this pictured below now hanging in my Cotati front yard).

While living at MuRefuge I began collecting different colors. When we relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I gave my collection to my friend Diane who lives down Hessel Avenue towards the North. Now I am back where I can grow these unusual plants that thrive in trees located in tropical rainforests where they settle into forks of trees where big branches come together. They do not need soil.

The three peach colored flowers pictured below I did not have in my collection. Diane's sister gave her these peach colored epiphytes. She in turn passed along one to me.

And I have one plant I gave to Diane that has not bloomed for her. My plan is to divide the plant and repot it. Then hopefully it, once resettled and root bound, will bloom. What color?

A Pipevine caterpillar update: 

This caterpillar seems to like
to munch on not only the leaves
but the stems of the 
California Pipevine(Aristolochia californica)
as well.

Yesterday I had a dear friend over for tea which was the reason for cookie baking. We sat outside and sipped tea at our glass top table. She had not seen our Cotati house nor garden so we had a walk about. She marveled "you have done three gardens and my husband  and I are still working on one." And I was sharing that the remaining caterpillar was gone; that I was certain something had eaten it since I found some tea colored thick stuff on one of the big California Pipevine leaves that had been munched on by the caterpillar.

My friend was looking about on the West side of house and pointed out what is pictured below on the side of the addition to the original 1950s bungalow.

Rob gave me five caterpillars some six weeks ago. I had unhappily texted him earlier in the day about the demise of the remaining caterpillar. Once my friend who had located the caterpillar left I texted  Rob again sending him the above picture. His response was "he's getting ready to form his cocoon." 

The above picture was taken on Friday. Both Dwight and I are worried that the caterpillar once enclosed in a cocoon will be too hot from the West sun. Rob says "just leave the caterpillar alone." So we both just go out and look many times a day but we have not disturbed the process of transformation from caterpillar to butterfly which, when you really consider the process, it is quite a phenomenal event!

To dissipate all the angst and worry I