Katy gets her comeuppance and commencing countdown

Now that I have a phone with a well-functioning camera, (the overly touted Galaxy S4 having been a crushing disappointment) I have been thoroughly enjoying the ability to take actual photos with my phone. My sister-in-law introduced me to the LG V10 (earlier this year when I was searching for a replacement phone) and I absolutely love it! I have to say that it's nice to always have a camera on hand. Although the OIS (optical image stabilization) is not of the same caliber as my still camera (a Canon), it is enough for me to take decent pictures fairly consistently (though no selfies, thank you). Even macro shots (which I love!) have come out pretty darn well (photo below). The Lord has blessed with some amazing photo opportunities over the past week or two, likely because I started asking what He would have me share each time I venture out. Most of the recent photos have been in the garden, since that's where I've been working. Occasionally, when I snap a picture, it takes me a minute to figure out exactly what it is I'm looking at. The other day, however, it took me several. Photo inset: A tiny baby Anole lizard looking up at me from the Chocolate Mint; the leaf he's sitting on is only about an inch long. Isn't he just too cute?

I was outside one afternoon lamenting the recent decimation of my Ageratum, (clearly, Katy had passed along our address) when I spotted a tiny white (?) something on the Garlic Chives. I whipped out my cell, squatted down, and took a picture. I blew it up and looked at it, scratched my head, and looked again. Initially, I thought it had to be the strangest looking bug I'd ever seen. I couldn't quite figure out the coloration and conformation, though it sort of looked like some kind of spider. It appeared to have a pair of "googly eyes" on top of its head, and some sort of green something-or-other sticking out in multiple directions from both sides of its middle. I could even swear I saw a tiny fang, but I couldn't be sure. Imagine my surprise (and delight ;o) when I realized that the green that was sticking out on both sides belonged to none other than Katy - or one of her evil kinfolk (this post). If you click on the photo to blow it up, you can just barely see the edge of the brown stripe; that and those knobby knees are what helped me finally figure out exactly what I was seeing.  One evil beastie snack coming right up. At least I'm 99.999% sure that's what it is. After that? Well. Then it was Ah-HA. Ha, HA, HA!! Take that, you greedy heifer! And I saw it with my own eyes, I thought with malicious glee. Not to mention managed to capture it for posterity; what a great day in the garden, eh? ;o) Gosh I sure hope he decides to stay awhile... Ooooh, maybe he'll give his friends our address. Evil beasties beware!

I've recently learned, while thinking about "takeaways" for our visitors (e.g. handouts, fun sheets, our website, this blog, and the Facebook page) that Instagram actually has people over the age of 15 that post real photos. While I don't mind things like family photos, a well-taken shot of a delectable dinner, a decorative dessert, or a cute pic of a couple (G-rated anyway), I find the perpetual "selfies" to be annoying and utterly ridiculous. I get the profile picture thing, I even understand that you might want to change it once in awhile, maybe you got a new haircut or neat glasses. I can even see taking one or two while trying on hats for fun and the like. What I just don't get, are all those [attempted] sultry moues. Really people? The new term is "duck lips" (and ew). I put it in the search bar awhile ago. I was curious to see just how rampant it really was: would you believe there are 810,976 photos with that hashtag?!? That's only those that were spelled correctly; there were 7,000+ more who forgot to add the "s", not to mention all the other variations on the theme. I did find a photo or two with actual ducks, but most were more foul than fowl (and ACK my eyes! ;o) I know for a fact I would look like an idiot, and I have exactly zero interest in verifying that with a camera; not to mention plastering it on a digital billboard that would probably haunt me for all eternity. For every person that can actually pull that sexy pout off (e.g. Marilyn Monroe), there are countless attempts plastered all over social media that leave people looking like they either got their lips caught in a shop vac hose, smashed in the mammogram machine (because they were way shorter than the tech realized), or maybe had some sort of freak botox accident. Not trying to be ugly here, and I certainly hope I didn't offend anyone, but I just don't get the selfie craze. Do you?

Okay, okay that's enough. End quasi-rant and apologies all around. *wince* The point (which I totally missed by having that soapbox moment) is that I am now posting fairly regularly on Instagram and have gotten some really neat photos (in addition to the two posted above) that I want to share. I planted some Rue (in the bed from this post) to attract butterflies, and boy-oh-boy did it work! At last count, there were six - insert excited SQUEE here - Black Swallowtail caterpillars eating their way around in the Rue. I'm hoping I can keep taking photos as they develop; only one has matured to the last instar so far (photo inset - taken with my fabulous phone). I'm also hoping the Rue holds out, since it's still a pretty young plant. Isn't he just too cool? The caterpillars are all in various stages of development. I even found a couple of tiny eggs underneath the leaves; though they've hatched. So awesome. I can hardly wait; I sure do hope we get to see the butterflies! If you'd like to see more of the cell phone photos, you can either look for Epic Farms on Instagram (it's epic_farms), click on the "view on Instagram" button (right-hand side of this blog; click here for email friends), or, if you've "liked" us on Facebook I've added the Instagram feed there (just don't ask me how ;o)

I have quite a few more photos (from the regular camera) I'd like to share too, if time allows. I have an awful lot left to do, and precious little time left in which to do it. There are now less than two weeks until the start of a new school year: Let the countdown begin. Oh, I'm sooo not ready yet. *sniffle* Have a blessed week, and (as always) thank you so much for reading this far!