Solstice is Immanent, Beware of Snowmen Bearing Guns

  Today I saw a hummingbird circle high above my head as I waited for the number 33 bus on Clancy Loranger Way by Queen Elizabeth Park. I hope that means I'm in for some good luck--better luck than I had this morning when I fell down our front stairs on my butt. Just when my back was beginning to recover. Merde.

 I love seeing wind-ravaged wasp nests and plump kiwi fruit silhouetted against the dusk at this time of the year.

Turns out Frosty the Snowman has carnivorous aspirations and enjoys hunting moose in his spare time.

The Elusive Green-Eyed Sand Wasp

 At the beginning of summer I tried to get a photo of a sand wasp at City Hall Community Garden. Finally on Wednesday I took some pics of the Bembix wasp on rudbeckia at the Moberly Cultural Herb Garden.

These sand wasps have a bulge in population every seven years which really freaks people out. They are confident, but not aggressive creatures, provisioning their solitary nests with caterpillars and fly larvae. I think they're quite beautiful!