We saw this house on old Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman, Arizona. I have always loved southwestern style architecture. This house is quite a bit like one that I would love to live in someday. On a quarter acre not too far out of town with a spectacular view would suit me fine.
We always go to the Botanical Garden in August to view and photograph the gorgeous Dahlias. The garden has a special dahlia garden, exclusively for them, but there are dahlias out in the annual planters as well. This nice example of a wonderfully symmetrical flower is only one of several hundred flowers in the garden and one of many, many varieties of dahlias.
For the second time this year, this epiphyllum gave us this lovely white flower. Click for full-size.
p.s. Happy Birthday to my son, Gerald, who turns 30 today.
Fifteen of ’em, by my count. These Cereus cactus flowers were waiting when we got up this morning. With so many more little flower pods coming out, we should be getting new blooms every day for the next couple of weeks. That’s a good thing, ’cause they only last the night and early morning hours before they wilt.
Click the image below to see high res version. You can see the bees gathering nectar in many of the blossoms.
We don’t get a lot of hits here on Cap’n Bob & the Damsel when compared to some of the hit powerhouses on the net these days. But, thanks to the 200+ hits per day we get most days, we’re finally into six digits on the SiteMeter counter.
Today, Damsel took this photo of our Devil’s Tongue barrel cactus, which just got its first flower of the summer. Do ya think there might be 100,000 of those little pollen doodads in the middle of this little buttercup? Well I don’t have the time, inclination or image resolution to count ’em, but it looks like there could be.
At any rate, thanks to you who are regular visitors and thanks to all the Google image and search referrals, we’re now past the 100K milestone. Also we made another milestone earlier this month when our Never Forget Tribute, seen on hundreds of websites worldwide, passed the 40 million hits threshold.
Thanks to Damsel for all the beautiful pictures she takes, including this one. Click on the image for maximal magnamification.
I’m wasn’t actually sure that ‘spider lily’ is the common name of this flower, but when it opened up today, it reminded me of a spider – well with six legs instead of eight. So, I searched on ‘spider lily’ and found out that this flower is actually called that:
Hymenocallis caribeae is an evergreen bulb that is native to the West Indies. It does best in full sun or very light shade. The fragrant 3 to 4 inch intricately designed white flowers are borne on top of 18 to 25 inch tall stalks in midsummer.
In the garden, the green beans are growing. By the weekend, we will most likely have enough to serve as a side dish for our traditional Chicken Fried Steak entree.
Each spring for the past several, I planted ‘Kentucky Wonder’ green beans in the garden. Most years they produce enough beans for us and our neighbor who gladly accepts the excess beans.
Image: Kentucky Wonder Bean Buds.
About Kentucky Wonder beans:
This old-time country pole bean with brown seeds is a favorite. Beans are approximately 6″-8″ inches long, slender and stringless. Will produce heavily if harvested diligently. This bean has been popular since the mid 1800s.
We prepare the beans according to a recipe we both like a lot.
Chop the beans into one-inch pieces, bring them to a boil in an inch or so of water in a large pan. After boiling for three or four minutes, strain the beans and set aside.
In the same pan, render a couple of slices of chopped bacon until almost crisp. Next, add a couple of cloves of garlic and a quarter of an onion finely chopped. When the onion becomes carmelized, add the beans back to the pan. De-glaze the pan with a tablespoon of white vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar or sweetener of your choice.
Thoroughly stir the beans to re-heat and coat with the pan drippings and then serve.