The House with the Pink Shutters – Painted Ladies.

Yes we do have painted ladies on the island – they drive around in a phallus shaped car, wear skimpy fake leopard skin tight clothes, have dyed blonde hair with extensions and wear pole dancing shoes. No wonder they have so many dings in the car – how can you drive in those things? Anyway I’m talking about a different kind of painted lady which currently refuses to sit still long enough for me to take a photo. A few days ago clouds of butterflies flew over the house and I mean hundreds of them . I thought they were red admirals but was reliably informed they were painted ladies – although I’m sure there were a few admirals. So far April has been amazing – the downpours have created a paint palette of colour. Mauve, pink, yellow, orange, white, blue, crimson and red flowers set off by a multi green hued back drop of vegetation. Now I’m not a flora and fauna buff but I was very happy when I found my first orchid on one of my morning treks with the dog (see above picture) and I even borrowed a book to identify it . Well actually the reason I borrowed the book was more food orientated. I read on the net that there was wild celery growing on the island but the flowers looked like those of the nightshade plant. Wanting to save friends and family from an ugly death by soup , I decided to check my facts. Although, the method of killing would make a great addition to Cludo. Mrs White, in the Dining Room, with the soup. Unless she picked the nightshade by mistake and killed herself along with all the guests – game over.

Well the book has lovely photographs which are labelled in Latin and no obvious alphabetical system to look them up. I decided to give the search for wild celery a miss . However, I did find a picture similar to my photo. Yes it is an orchid possibly related to the scolopax scolopax or sphegodes. Personally I think the flower I found should be call socutiex picachewesk. It looks like a friendly little insect to me.