Snake Handling in the Park

One delightful thing about living in the city is the unusual characters you can meet in the park. One day last spring we walked to Overton Park for a most unusual day. One man was teaching another how to cast a fishing line- on land. It was fun to watch. The percussionist group showed up for background music, along with other musicians, including a Caucasian male guitarist with long dreadlocks. To top off the day of picnic and unusual sights, a couple brought their reptiles to enjoy the sun. My husband and I were graciously allowed to handle an albino python, pictured here. It was tame, and the snake-handling was quite fun.

Lovely Luffa

This is a view from inside the house of the luffa vines I grew this summer. I can't find the outdoor pictures, but they would show a tangle of vines growing over the fence, up the side of the house (hence this view from indoors and shelter for the praying mantis), and over the fence to crape myrtles down the way. They produced five-lobed, bright yellow, bee-attracting flowers, and about 30 gourds that look like large, lumpy cucumbers. When young, they can be eaten like zucchini, though my variety was rather tasteless. When the gourds are yellowish brown, it is time to process them. First, you peel off the skin. Hopefully the inside is white or pale tan and moist, smelling of cucumbers. You wash the inner skeleton with a hose or hot water to get rid of inner plant residue (squeeze and you get suds). Then bleach, especially the ones with dark or moldy spots. Allow to dry naturally, then shake out the seeds. Do not flatten the luffa before getting the seeds out! They'll get stuck. They are good for any kind of scrubbing, from pans (use as dry as possible for really stuck on stuff) to skin (let soak in water for a bit to soften the fibers). Compostable, degradable, scrubbable, expensive in the store, and practically free from the yard. Strange vegetable, but useful. This was a fun one to try.

Mexican Torch Sunflowers

These are beautiful flowers. The plants are short (4 ft tall) and branched, with many flowers per plant. I only had one plant survive transplanting out of 4 (one got accidentally weeded by someone else), but it proved attractive to people (until late in the season) and butterflies alike. If you like taking pictures of butterflies, they sit still on these flowers long enough to allow even a novice to get a good shot. It bloomed from mid-summer into the fall, but looked a bit straggly in the cooler weather, right up until hard freeze. Good plant.