Please forgive me for not following my schedule this week. The beauty of making my own set of rules lies in my ability to forgive myself when I don’t feel like following them. Today, I really want to share this image with you. I suspect this is some sort of mushroom growing on the jalapeno leaf. I love everything about this, especially the ability of the camera to capture the delicate shape.
Have you ever seen an aloe plant flower? We stumbled upon this plant, which had been mostly dead all day, in an alley. We planted it on the side of the house and have watched it grow like mad. This is the third and largest stalk it has shot up, at least a meter.
Notice the jasmine growing up the side of the house. May is jasmine season and the whole of Savannah is fragrant with the blossoms. I wish it would last.
This is our beautiful smelling lemon tree. I am so excited to watch the little babies grow as the summer progresses. Here they are in their newborn state. I tried to give you some scale with my chipped nailpolish finger. 
The control group: In the south, we have palmetto bugs, which is a very cute name for a very large version of a cockroach. I have been told they are not near as insidious as their German cousins, who are tiny and colonize a house. Palmetto bugs have a body that is no smaller than one inch, not including their massive, copious and hairy legs, and mostly live outside. They will try their darnedest to get inside, especially when it is raining a tropical storm outside.
The Scientists: Johnny, my Rock Star consuming exterminator, is doing the lords work in ridding the greater Savannah area of such unholy creatures, but even he admits that summer is the busy season for Palmetto Bugs. Johnny stops by every month or two and via the wonder of chemicals, attempts to rid my premises of the demon bugs. He is mostly very successful, the only ones I see are dead ones.
The Laboratory: Somehow, in all of the rain we have had, the pride of the cockroach litter found his way into my bathtub. It is important to note that my bathtub, circa 1970, is a very compelling shade of electric avocado green, so how could he resist? It is also important to note that I was not occupying the bathtub at the time.
The Situation: Palmetto bugs have wings and can fly. Upon hearing a sound behind me, I investigated said electric avocado green bathtub and confirmed my suspicions that there was a large Palmetto bug in there. He was not even close to being dead, which surprised me. I had no bug spray to hand, and did not want to risk leaving the room, thus giving him the opportunity to escape and lurk not far from where I plan to sleep, very soon.
The solution: Whilst still carrying on a conversation with my sister, I glanced around the room for a suitable instrument of death. I ruled out blunt force or squashing, as I was afraid a motivated journey around the bathtub would give my little friend the impetus to make it over the walls of the tub. I looked around at shelves full of product, and immediately discounted almost all of them . Listerine? could work, but with no means of propulsion, I would have to pour it on him. Perfume? I am not sure if there is enough man power between Paul Smith, Issey Miyake and Marc Jacobs to kill a cockroach the size of a turkey. Mousse? Hairspray? I suspected this cockroach was strictly a gel and wax kind of creature. Hairspray might piss him off, make him feisty. On the bottom shelf, next to seasons 4,5,&6 of Gilmore Girls stood a spray bottle of Mountain Berry Windex. I picked it up and had at him. I sprayed like there is no tomorrow and Palmy, the Palmetto bug, kept running in circles and trying to get up the sides of the tub. It didn’t slow him down at all, just chased him. Clearly I needed another solution.
Enter X-14. I hate cleaning the tub, hence, do it rather infrequently, hence, require a cleaning product with muscle. Little did I know that muscle in X-14 is a death grip. Now I have a very clean bathtub, albeit one containing a dead yet streak free Palmy.
This is our magical mystery citrus. The label fell off at the nursery, so they were not exactly sure what it will be, other than a beautiful citrus tree. I love the not knowing, the wondering and the watching. It seems like magic to me that they keep getting bigger. I think this picture makes them look way bigger than they are (each about the size of a pearl onion).
This is the rest of our little garden that I am loving so much. From top left, clockwise, mint marigold, which smells divine; greenbeans, three tomatos, lemongrass; japanese eggplant; sage, parsley and oregano; citronella, and raspberry. What isn’t in the pic is some thai basil from last year I am trying to bring back to life because I can’t find it anywhere else.
