More Bugs and Unrealted Pictures

This weekend was the weekend of Tom's birthday. We had a get together on Saturday evening which was really fun. Then Sunday a small family lunch which involved Tom and I bringing home a few of the  little cakes. Which incredibly enough ties in with my latest discovery. For the last couple days my basil plant has been evaporating. Every morning I notice it seems to be smaller. At first I thought this was due to the heat of the window I had put it in and moved it to the kitchen. Today around lunch I thought I'd have one of the birthday cakes and as I was eating it and holding it in my left hand and trying to pour water with my right I glanced up at my basil plant and noticed a very strange looking leaf. A big juicy very healthy looking leaf. That was eating another leaf.
It was a very big caterpillar devouring my poor plant. I suddenly had a problem, my chocolate mousse cake was quickly melting in my hand, I didn't want to stop eating it but I needed my camera. So I find my camera, which was luckily on automatic and snapped pictures between bites. The caterpillar meanwhile decided I was a threat and stopped eating. It's pretty cute. I've decided to let it stay until Tom comes home so he can see it too. Then we'll release it outside.

I did some research and this is a Sphingdae or Hawk Moth caterpillar of which there are many varieties. I think this one is Acosmeryx anceus. Here's a little blurb about the species from a very handy site. They are "called Hawk Moths because they can fly very fast, and can also hover in flight. They use this latter ability to sip nectar from flowers using their long Haustellum (tongue), when they fly in the evening. They are large moths with long narrow fore wings, and smaller hind wings. When at rest, they hold their wings over the body like a tent.
Many Hawk Moth caterpillars are easily recognized by the dorsal horn on the last segment. It looks quite dangerous, but is quite harmless. Many of the caterpillars are brightly coloured, with diagonal stripes and eyespots. The caterpillars grow to a length of 5 cms or more. When disturbed, they commonly rear up with their anterior segments arched and their head facing the disturbance. The scientific name of the family is derived from this sphinx-like posture." My variation is one of the few that do not have eye spots. Also I found a picture from a school website of one that was spotted on a mint plant. So they clearly like herbs.

I was a bit disappointed to find out it's going to be a moth but the hovering ability of the hawk moth sounds pretty neat. Here's what it'll look like when it grows up.

I'm kind of in love with it now. Ever time I see it in a new position I need to take another picture.

In other news, I'm starting to take some pictures of the local buildings that I really like. This is the fire station. It's just up the street from where I live and I find it totally adorable.  The fire engines are cute too, very different from Canadian ones.

These trumpet-like flowers are pretty big. Like my fingers tips to elbow big. I think they're beautiful but every time we walk by Tom always tells me to keep my distance because they look exactly like ones that are very poisonous. Way to go Oz, make everything that's pretty also deadly. I think they cause hallucinations pre-death so I'd probably have to ingest them to actually be in danger, but Tom takes no chances. 

This is just behind our building. I liked how parts of Tom's shirt matched the sky.

In closing, I was having a quick chat with Simone and my internet had a few hiccups resulting in Simone freezing. It also resulted in Simone becoming a rock star. Awesome!