This beautiful, papery thin and fragile white flower belongs to Sagittaria latifolia (Broadleaf Arrowhead), which I captured on my shoreline on ... Lake Arrowhead. I've tried to identify the caterpillar that is appreciating it, but haven't had any luck - I can see what looks like a row of brown arrows along its back. Is it an Arrowhead caterpillar on an Arrowhead plant on Lake Arrowhead?
Update: the caterpillar appears to be the larval stage of a Eupithecia moth, could be Eupithecia miserulata.
We had a rainy day yesterday. We've needed this kind of a soaking rain for so long. Just look at how much wine-colored rain collected in the glass I accidentally left out after the previous night's Al fresco dining:
The garden had needed the rain so badly, but so had my indoor "projects." I'd been neglecting them because the outdoors, and the ongoing great weather, kept dragging me away. So, the wet weather gave me a chance to tackle my cucumbers and pickling cukes before they shriveled up, to squeeze the lemons before they wrinkled, to simmer a pot of steel cut-oats for a few hours, and to bake a loaf of bread, without overwhelming the house (or myself) with excess heat.
I had a fun time completing these tasks and it actually made me feel ... fleißig - that's German for industrious, hard-working, or productive, but somehow fleißig encapsulates the essence of how I feel about today's tasks, too. It seems more apt, and conveys the sense that I've accomplished something. I think that's the real 'feel' of the German word - I feel accomplished.
Here are my 'products" - A lemon meringue pie, wholegrain bread, slow-cooked steel-cut oats with dates and golden raisins, and two different types of cucumber pickles. The cukes are still pickling, but they should be ready in just a few days. Oh, and I'm still intent on making a batch of boiled fudge, but I ran out of large basins (temporarily). I also got around to cleaning all the ash out of the woodstove from last winter, doing exactly what Aschenputtel (Cinderella in English), was named for - being an ashy, dirty girl! So I guess that makes me an accomplished Cinderella!
After having some fresh baked bread for lunch, I sat down with a cup of coffee (and a sliver of lemon meringue pie) while I decided which book to start reading next.
And tomorrow, it's back to the outdoors ...
Spiral up to the surface,
Showing their flowers.
Floating Bladderwort
With its radial platform
Supports its small blooms.
White Water Lilies
Overwhelm with sweet fragrance
Their cup-shaped beauty.
Pipewort multitudes,
White buttons on erect stalks -
Aquatic hatpins.
The hazards one encounters when making homemade pizza dough! I guess this is why I usually wear an apron, but then I often find myself eating my meal with it on - tsk, tsk, so improper!
