Tired of the Same Old Same Old Picnic Dessert?

Here's a little something you can throw together for the Memorial Day Cook- out that will really take their breath away. This is a recipe my mother made for us when we were kids.  I hadn't had it in like a  million years but

I had an emotional need for a big pink cake recently. So I dug out the recipe and gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised that my adult and slightly jaded palate still thought it was yummy. I used frozen strawberries since I was trying to clean out the freezer but if you have good local strawberries already, they would be great. Just `chop'em  up fine before adding. If you make cupcakes, feel free to stick little paper flags in them for the holiday festivities, then salute yourself for creating such a fine feast for the eyes and the palate.

Big Pink Strawberry Cake
1 White Cake Mix ( I used Duncan Hines)
1(3 oz.)pkg. strawberry jello
1 T. flour
4 tsp. sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 c. water
5 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained( save the juice)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 3- 8" cake pans.
Combine cake mix, jello, flour and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add the oil.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after easch addition. Add the stawberries and water and mix well again.
Divide between the pans. If you have a scale, weigh the batter so that the layers will bake evenly.
Bake for 25- 30 minutes until layers pull slighlty from edge and it passes the toothpick test.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then de- pan and cool on a rack.

Flown the Coop

I found the chysalis open and empty yesterday aftenoon when I went to check on it.

And this black swallowtail was flitting about enjoying all the tall verbenas in bloom. I don't think it would be too far- fetched to say that this beauty is the Cinderella that emerged from that cocoon.

Transformed!

Wow! How cool is this. No, this is not some trendy new kind of sugar snap pea. This is the final stage of the black swallowtail's metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. As they grow and mature as caterpillars they shed their skins. What you see covering it is the skin from that final molting. Note the fine silk thread sewn into the stem attaching the chrysalis to its changing room, so to speak.
Though I have had many butterfly cats before in the garden, I've never seen this stage before. It appears that this caterpillar moved along the frond of the fennel until it was able to cross onto the rose bush.
Two days before I took this picture, I had found him on the rose stem in a "C"- shape, totally still, stiff and frozen. The next day when I went to check, I found it enshrouded in this skin. It apparently takes 10- 14 days inside this cocoon for the transformation to butterfly to complete.
I'll keep you posted on the birth of the butterfly. I hope I catch it.

The caterpillar stage takes several days. They molt 4 times prior to the chrysalis stage and start out looking like very tiny bugs with lots of legs. This is a late stage caterpillar munching the heck out of my bronze fennel.

An Admiral Visits

A host (swarm, flock, passle?) of Red Admiral butterflies visited the garden yesterday and posed prettily for their close- ups. They were very tame. In fact, one landed right on the front of my T- shirt as if to check me out.

I may be watching too much "Project Runway" for my first thought when I saw the mottled coloring on the underside of their wings was what an inspiration it would be for a fabulous dress design or fabric pattern. "Designers, get out your butterfly charts! One hour to sketch your butterfly inspired creations."
Here is a link to identify your inspiring garden visitors. http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-species-page.asp?sp=Vanessa-atalanta