Spider?

In the last year I have developed a red spot on my cheek. My friends ask me if it is a pimple. My elderly grandaunts all wail that mosquitoes love me because my blood is sweet (it isn’t, I licked some once). My Pediatrician used a blurry magnifying glass from my CSI kit and had a close look. Guess what it is?

It is a spider nevi. That means a collection of burst blood vessels! I wonder why I am exploding? I might outgrow it and if I don’t, I guess someone can zap it away. Alcoholics have lots of these. I am not an alcoholic. I’m not even allowed coffee!

Anyway, take out your CSI kit. Have a look at this. What do you think it is?

I thought it was a spider, but it wasn’t. It was a nasty crunchy beetle. I tried to catch it but it hurried away!

 

Guess the Fruit in Grandpa’s Garden

Clue – the bats like it. You can tell from the net.

Give up? Here’s another clue.

Yuo. That’s right. It’s lychee!  Grandpa got fed up of the bats that decimated his crop so he threw a huge net over the tree. Guess what? Tha bats managed to eat the fruit anyway!

Chillies Willies

From 3 very healthy chilli plants, which even Novice Gardener praised, we now have defoliated leaves as if someone has sprayed Agent Orange on them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at the close up:

And yet there is new growth (below) and even some flowers (left):

 

 

 

 

Grandpa says it is because Mummy squashed 3 plants into a pot so the roots are choking each other. My trusty book from KL (Grow Your Own Vegetables by Lee Chew Kang) says it could be a chilli veinal mottle virus or a mite infestation! It doesn’t look very mottled to me though.

I look mottled though – this week I caught either an unidentified virus or chikungunya! I had a temperature of 40.2C and my skin looked all spotty and mottly. I wouldn’t let my Pediatrician take my blood so I am not sure what EXACTLY I had. What a waste of my school holidays!

Fat Cushions

Our helper has been wondering why her desert rose plant had chewed up leaves. Guess what we found this morning? A team of 4 perps. Here are some individual mugshots and group photos.

 

 

Copy Cat

Just because Novice Gardener had her leaf miners, our luffa plant decided to keep up and have some too. Our luffas never had leaf miners before, only our long beans. But just look at the copy cataluffa:

Banana Benders

First I must say sorry for disappearing. I have been very busy travelling. Now I am in my grandparents’ house in Australia! Grandpa has a wonderful garden, but in spring it is not as exciting as in summer. In summer I get to harvest lots of fruit and vegetables, but in spring there are only a few like the lemons and bananas.

Here are the bananas:

And here is the bug and the spiderweb on the bananas:

Mealy Horrors

Just look at my turkish orange eggplant leaf!

Another Perp

Here he is. He has also been eaten by our pet. Yum Yum.

Another Crime Scene

The caterpillars had a go at our long beans too. Here is the crime scene, with the perp caught green-legged (it had no hands, so we couldn’t catch him red-handed). I am very into crime and CSI.

Chomp Chomp

Remember I told you Novice Gardener had a snailfest? And we had our caterpillarfest?

Guess what they did to our fufu sunflowers? No prizes. But don’t worry. We found two fat gorged caterpillars at the crime scene, so we fed them to our pet. He had a nice snack.