Flotsam and Jetsam - nature and garden photography

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is probably my favourite book. I first read it when I was twenty and I’ve re-read it many times since. I’m not very original in this. The L.O.T.R. has been read by millions of people worldwide and is most likely one of the most read books of all time.

This is my copy that I bought in 1993.

There’s a chapter in the L.O.T.R. called “Flotsam and Jetsam”. In this chapter the hobbits Merry and Pippin finally meet again with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas at Orthanc, the lair of Saruman. They share the stories of their adventures while enjoying food, drink and smoking some pipe-weed of course. The famous “Longbottom Leaf” that was found floating around in two small wooden barrels.

Flotsam and jetsam can also refer to items or things that people reject or view as worthless. Over the last couple of months I’ve collected a number of pictures that don’t really deserve their own post but I like to share them anyway.

In the mythology of Tolkien there are dragons of course. And although we have a lot of dragonflies here, the animal that resembles a dragon the most is the cayman. There are quite a few in the canals close by. The smaller ones are about two feet in length but this one is approximately 5 feet long. Because of the lack of reference, you can not tell from the picture but this one is big.

When they are small, like the one in the next picture, they are no threat to humans or dogs. But when they get that big, I’m not so sure anymore. One of my dogs likes to swim in these canals. I haven’t seen any other dog do that yet. When he was a puppy he learned that swimming cools him down. This might not be such a good idea anymore.

There are smaller dragons in the garden as well. Like this whiptail lizard.

One of the antagonists is Shelob, the giant spider that dwells in the secret passage way into Mordor above Minas Morgul. Luckily we don’t see too many spiders here. A lot of them are eaten by birds. This one made its web in one of the pineapple plants. It’s about 2 inches long.

The pineapple plants are doing great but a lot of weeding needs to be done. We had a lot of rain recently and then it becomes a nightmare to garden. The whole garden turns into a swamp more or less. We can have over 100 mm of rain in less than 24 hours. Luckily we are now at the beginning of the short dry season. Time to do some weeding.

There are many references to herbs in the L.O.T.R. The most important one is Athelas or Kingsfoil that not only saved the life of Frodo but also the lives of Faramir, Eowyn and Merry after the siege of Gondor. We have our own healing herbs. One of them is this basil that I cloned from some fresh basil we bought on the market. It’s doing ever so well, even without shade cloth. I noticed that shade cloth is needed less and less. I can now grow tomatoes and peppers without. That was not possible a couple of years ago.

In the movie, when Gandalf is trapped on the pinnacle of Orthanc, the wizard whispers to a moth that will warn one of the big eagles that then rescues him. That is not the original story. In fact almost everything has been changed in the movie. I did enjoy them when they came out but in retrospect I wished I never saw them. The books are so much better and it’s a shame that the imagery of the movies influences my original understanding, imagination and views about the story.

But here we have a weird, creepy looking caterpillar from a moth. I searched extensively on the web but I was not able to identify it. It builds a cocoon around itself on the tree bark.

As you can see there is a whole cluster of them. Once the cocoon is completed they pupate. In the next picture we see the empty pupae that are quite scary looking. I’m sure it has become a beautiful moth.

On Steemit it’s a big no-no to do just (butterfly) photography. I’m not so sure why that is. Somehow writing is so much more appreciated, that’s why I put down all this waffle. But I cannot resist to show you this one.

When the hobbits meet Tom Bombadil and have supper in his house together with Tom's wife Goldberry, there’s bread, butter and honey on the table. This is not a bee, although it kind of looks like one, so no honey there. But this solitary wasp is showing some very interesting behaviour. It carries pieces of leaf that it puts into a hole in this stick. My guess is that it builds a nest but the hole is too deep and too small to know.

In the L.O.T.R. there are a lot of mystical and magical creatures that can be either friend or foe. We have the giant eagles that carry Frodo and Sam to safety after the ring was destroyed. On the other hand we have birds that are the spies of Saruman.

If there’s one magical bird in our garden it must be the hummingbird. I know that the lovely people on the @ecotrain can probably not stand to see one more picture of a hummingbird. But this is the baby hummingbird. It fletched on day 22.

My next birding post will be completely dedicated to this little hummingbird. There are a lot of personal observations that I would like to share.

Much Love,

Gardenbsquared

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