Something’s eating my canna leaves.

Looks best in masses, which can only be achieved with enough sunlight. Sadly, I have just a few, but they come back each year.

Pat comments:

Fantastic on dry, poor soil.. Translucent blooms light up sunny garden. When bloom ends, shear close to ground, and plants will green up quickly., and, in northern California, rebloom. I’ve never found it invasive. If it pops up unwanted, pulling it out was no chore. I start it from seed, interplant with shasta daisies and lantana on a dry slope. Very pretty.

Yes, Pat, I see the gorgeous blooms in other people’s yards, and am very envious. Mixed with lantana, that must be stunning.

In the opening moments of The Princess and the Warrior, a character has a major collision with an 18-wheeler. Quite a few shots looking down long, lonely roads.

In the opening moments of Central Station, a character has a major collision with a bus. Quite a few shots looking down long, lonely roads.

The Princess and the Warrior has a lot to do with coincidences. I’m wondering what were the chances that I’d get these two movies together.

I saw them both knowing only what was on the video box. The movie left for tomorrow is Lovers On the Bridge, so tonight I decided to look at a couple of reviews first. The NY Times one reveals that there is an early scene in which the hero is injured by a car. Since a lot of it takes place on the Pont-Neuf Bridge, both real and a replica, perhaps there won’t be the road shots. I’ll know tomorrow.

The flowers don’t last very long, but they are quite unique.

Once again this morning, the mantis is the only moving thing in its home. Last night there were 3 live fruit flies. It seems content to sit on the side or the bottom, not on the twigs. I go outside, and when I return, it seems to have disappeared.

In a manner of speaking, it has. In its place is a much larger version, paler, but the eyes are much more prominent. Then the flash accidentally goes off, and they seem even more so.

Looks like I’ll have to go hunt some more food. I found an injured lacewing yesterday, but rejected it, thinking, nah - that’s too big. Hmmm. Not so today.

Depending on your setup, this site may be slow to load, but be patient. It is well worth the effort, if you like the combination of science and art. Click on the image to begin.

The remnants of flu clung even as the week ended, so I mostly wanted a movie that was mindless but entertaining. At the small neighborhood library, I came out with three foreign movies: this one, The Lovers on the Bridge, and Central Station.

Luckily, I ate first. Early in the film, there is a harrowing segment that can only be described as a ‘fork frozen in mid-air’ combined with ‘deer in the headlights’ scene.

Mindless it certainly isn’t, most definitely entertaining, with music that only heightens the foreboding (reminiscent of the opening chords of Top Gun). More than once, I either turned away or muttered, ‘no, no, no’.

It’s an exhausting movie to watch. But if you’ve not seen it, you should. Just don’t eat.