Last bits of vacation last week

Common persimmon tree. A native with edible fruit! Yum! I will try to sprout some.
Yum. Gracie likes to eat fallen ripe persimmons.
Mom served blackberry cobbler with homemade no churn ice cream too.
A different day: leftover juice and berries from the cobbler with shortbread and whipping cream.
Judy gave me this Mexican sage which Paula helped me plant as soon as I got home last Saturday.
Good vacation but time to hit the road!
Reunited!!!! I am informed the cat was profoundly lonesome, clingy, and annoying in the absence of his big sister.

Last week Nov. 12 hike, no dogs

Gracie needed a rest so Mom and I went out to the Grasslands sans dogs last Friday.  My home ecosystem! You can see Mom’s photos on her blog in two parts (posts start Nov. 14 and then there is a second one after).

This Escobaria vivipara cactus is surrounded by babies!!
Without my silly human finger.
Escobaria missouriensis has red fruit.
Native white honeysuckle bush has red fruit too!
Great Spreadwings have big yellow stripes on the thorax.  This set of ravines and seeps has always been a reliable place to find them.
Looking up out of the ravine at the surrounding red oaks.
Mom showed me her exciting find of this 6+ foot tall waterfall with travertine stalactites, maidenhair ferns (zoom in to find), and frostweed (at front edge of picture).
On the way back up the ravine I saw this tiny pokey spider.  Gasteracantha cancriformis.
It was steep!

Saffron harvest

Wow!! Paula was just here on Friday and said the saffron crocuses were not open like this. This was on Saturday night.
We got 69 threads, for a season total up to 78 threads now.
Happened to be in the spice aisle today at grocery store. Planting your own is a pretty good deal after a year or two!

Peppers in the air

Purple beauty bell pepper in top planter and chocolate bell pepper in bottom planter. The Chef kindly hung the planters for me.
A broader view, with a dwarf tomato below.
The right side of the doorway had the other dwarf tomato, an extra purple beauty bell pepper, and the basil, along with my hat and some gardening tools in a basket.