Monday, February 02, 2009

Ants in Palm Beach

My friend Susan is in town and she's a terrible influence (mmmm, baby back ribs -  that diet is going to wait) AND a lot of fun. Yesterday we visited an estate sale. It was boooring. Can't believe all the heavy dark wood furniture down here - this is supposed to be Florida beach cottage territory! And they want how much for this mass-produced fish "sculpture" I could go over to Pier One and buy new? ha ha ha ha.

After that disappointment we took a drive through Palm Beach, an enclave of rich folk living on a barrier island just off the mainland of Florida. Most of the houses are hidden behind hedges and walls so they're really hard to see except for glimpses down the driveway. There are no sidewalks for the most part and narrow streets - not the best place for a photo safari. Plus I wondered if they'd call the cops on me...

Did get a quick shot of this house covered in beautiful climbing bougainvillea:

Somewhere along the way we caught a glimpse of a giant ant invasion. Susan was determined to find them again so after about another hour of driving around we found them. Eeek. I figure even if you aren't fascinated by the ants you at least get some interesting foliage to look at.




I love these ants - I so wish there was a Louise Bourgeois giant spider nearby. Anyway, I believe these overgrown bronze ants are the work of Susan P Cochran. Her bio says she used to do bead art - intriguing, I wonder what that looked like.

In other doings, I am now completely caught up on the current season of Top Chef. I really enjoy that show and I'm thrilled they got rid of the guy who was annoying me the most (after the fiasco that was Gail's Wedding Shower). 

If you like Top Chef have you tried Chopped on the Food Network? Four chefs/cooks show up and are given baskets of mystery ingredients that they have to use to make first an appetiser, then an entree, and finally a dessert. And it's not like they're ingredients that would be easy to use together. Of course a chef is kicked off after each round. The show reminds me of Iron Chef and Ready Steady Cook - fun. 

12 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I love the ants - they are unique I think.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

Clare said...

Wouldn't the spider look fantastic with those ants!

I love Ready Steady Cook. DH thinks I've lost the plot completely. I keep on telling him it's good, wholesome tv LOL.

Judy in Michigan said...

Beware the RED ants - the little size!!! Thanks for your first photo safari - you always find the neatest things!!

Judy

Judy in Michigan said...

Beware the RED ants - the little size!!! Thanks for your first photo safari - you always find the neatest things!!

Judy

Dionne said...

Those ants are awesome! Florida looks so lush and warm ~ as opposed to lush and chilly in the Pacific Northwest! Oh, to be warm again!
Love Iron Chef, must check out Chopped!
Cheers,
Dionne

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh man, I LOVE those ants! Way cool! And thanks for the suggestion on the 2 shows - I love cooking shows like that! But since I don't get cable I have to watch them on the internet! For me all I get is Hell's Kitchen on network tv.

Fabric Fanatic said...

tonya I have a technical question. On your blog list it shows a picture from the most recent post of each blogger you have listed. How did you get that? I have a blog list, but it doesn't show that. I'd like for it to, so that I can see if they have posted since the last time I checked that blog. can you help a techno-doofus?

Millie said...

I love the huge ants! As long as they will stay where they are.

My Little Family: said...

interesting sculpture. i have ant fabric, LOL

jmb_craftypickle said...

I love the sculptures...they are so funny. At first I was worried that you were going to show just a big swarm of them crawling around...and THAT would have sent me over the edge! These are so cool!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

bummer, i would have thought there would be some great estate sales down there! we had a florida like day today. Just what i needed... but snow is on the forecast for tomorrow again.

BOOOOOOO!!!!!

what'cha stitch'n miss tonya??

Kristin L said...

I thought of the spider too as soon as i saw your first ant picture. i am constantly battling ants here in my tropic clime, so it would be really funny if we had one of those giants in our yard! I too have been watching Chopped -- I can't believe that there's another American out there who knows Ready, Steady, Cook -- I was hooked years ago, before Ainsly was host. Did you ever see episodes with Fern?