Garden of Galadriel

We took a picnic out last weekend and we packed:

• baguettes
• French-style potato salad
• cold whole lobster with:
• marie-rose sauce and freshly made tomato and basil mayonnaise
• imported cheese
• marinated tomatoes, olives, and cornichons
• summer fruit salad

Partner packed it for us, but he got distracted by the thermos (its seal malfunctioned) so he neglected to bring something to open the lobster with. However, we managed to get into it using our butter knives, forks, and some patience, and it was lovely. I haven't had lobster in years. I'm very sorry to say that although we did bring the camera, we didn't actually take any pictures. Most of the day was spent lounging on the picnic blanket, though we did a bit of walking too.

The fruits of my labor in the garden this past week include some very nice carrots: just a little too big to be considered baby, I think.
A few tomatoes finally. As they were given to us free, we didn't have any clue what kind they'd be, but it turns out they're romas. I had one grilled last night with my dinner and it was delicious.

And finally, my beautiful broccoli is all in this condition. Let's play count the caterpillars. Those little black streaks are indeed larvae; the photo can be enlarged by clicking.
It was the strangest thing, but a few weeks ago Partner discovered a hornet eating a butterfly. It actually was munching it up, all the way from the abdomen to the head, and once it got to the wings it just bit them off and dropped them. And we have seen both a lot of these hornets and butterflies (the cabbage white ones, whose caterpillars are demolishing my broccoli), so I'm wondering. If the hornets like to eat butterflies, why aren't they gobbling up the caterpillars? I mean, caterpillars have got to be a lot more meat per weight, and no crunchy legs or antenna or pesky wings to get in the way.

And then this afternoon I witnessed two different hornets on the same rosebush simultaneously chomping on conspicuously holey rosebuds. I was unclear as to why, when I saw one acting distinctly entomophagous (it's a new word I learned today; it means insect-eating), that any should be eating my flowers.