Weird and wonderful

Even the weirdly creepy are kinda cool, because you don’t always see them unless looking in a museum or someone’s collection. Sometimes they “honor” you by making an appearance. Thus said, we were walking the same way we always do, from the Farmer’s Market and there was a huge, being relative, but a small stone sized “bug” but really a beetle.  It started to make for me as I tried to capture it on my phone camera, and I moved…but I got it several times and then let it on its way. It’s a “Common Staghorn Beetle.”

Common Staghorn Beetle…not sure what is common about it!

DH was sure it was a “June Bug” but nope, didn’t seem right…this character looked mean-he/she? had pincers in front.  (BTW June bugs are large browner, not mean just big characters), they run and hide.

June Bug

Hard to say scale, but think  about a medium size pebble-rock coming your way! Thumbelina had every right to be terrified, I was and I’m loads bigger.

Here’s a pretty docile character I finally got on the Nikon digital camera…weirdly cool, the Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Gracing us with it’s presence, I felt honored, and it sat slurping up the last of the bee balm nectar.

I was glad to get the flutter in motion. These characters are really neat and I consider it a good omen for the garden.  It’s long tongue is what is really fascinating.

There’s the Monarch on the Globe Thistle (Echinops bannaticus). It is prolific, tall, related to the sunflower family and has deep roots but it is  a weirdo with spiky leaves but not hurtful, and then it rests until months later a ball forms and then the ball’s “spikes”  become tiny flowers. And the bees go bananas. (I haven’t seen so many honey bees in forever!) They just don’t pose or wait, they’re busy.   While I was watching and thanks be to the butterfly for waiting until I got my camera, I was able to get clean shots…but there was a cheeky finch demanding attention. I was quite close-but he posed:

Satisfied, he flew off and left me to enjoy watching our wee garden full of life.

 I managed to snag a very pollinated bee on OUR (not the neighbors’-we won-first bloom) sunflower.

I love the weirdly and wonderful…sometimes at a distance!