Painting of the famous rhyme Little Red Riding Hood by French painter Fleury Francois Richard (1777-1852).   Louvre Museum.

We recently were talking about this rather surreal tale in the Patch, (my eldest hobbit is reading “Little Red”) so I thought I would check it out in a little more detail. As it turns out there are quite a few different variations of the story, variations teachers would never dare to read to you in school, for fear of being arrested, and making prime-time news.

In these older variations the antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a werewolf, making these tales relevant to the werewolf-trials (similar to witch trials) of the time. I could go into detail here with the infamous “Peter Stumpp” case, but I won’t, for fear of making everyone spontaneously vomit. Lets just say Peter makes Hannibal look like a vegetarian!

“Served over grits perhaps”?

In these early renditions, the wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there.  In others, she sees through his disguise and tries to escape, complaining to her “grandmother” that she needs to defecate, (you can’t really blame her) and would not wish to do so in the bed, (pretty quick, albeit nasty thinking on Red’s part, in my opinion) The wolf reluctantly lets her go, tied to a piece of string so she does not get away. However, the girl slips the string over something else and escapes.

My, what big eyes you have!

All the better to see you with, my dear…

My, what big donkey’s ears you have Grandma!

All the better the hear you with, my dear.

My, what big out-of-focus teeth you have Grandma!

All the better to eat you with, my dear!

Little Red Riding Hood  makes the clearest contrast between the safe world of the village and the dangers of the forest, something that the Naboo are only too well aware of.

Moving mysteriously on…

My Copper Canyon Daisy,

Compositae Tagetes lemmonii

finally gave it up this week and started to bloom. It looks really good with a shady, dark, back-drop.

I caught this small Goldenrod Crab Spider on the same plant, at first I thought it was one of the plant’s unopened flower buds, it looked almost identical especially with it’s legs tucked in…a remarkable adaptation and camouflage, that I can only think is by design?

This spider was extremely shy and looked almost tick-like in appearance. Another first in the ESP.

This purple plant continues to confuse me as to it’s identity. I checked out your suggestions Germi, but it still looks different.

The underside of this plants foliage is even more impressive than the top side. It really looks like it has been pimped…”pimp my plant”? It has the most iridescent metallic coloration that wouldn’t look out of place on a motorcycle tank, complete with the blood vessels, naturally. The plant does form some unremarkable, tiny flower/seed-heads at the very end of it’s leaves, you can see one of them in the first image.

The burgundy plant makes a really great cutting combination combined with Mexican Bush Sage.  Yes there are those confounded yellow snippers again that cause all the arguments and continously “finger-nip” the Shire’s hobbits.

Now, if I can only figure out what exactly this is, I could go and get another one… I love this Gothic plant!

While I am on a roll with unidentified plants, I thought I would throw this little rocky-looking one into the decomposed granite mix.

This Satsuma tree is currently providing fruit at almost every meal time.  The Hobbits take great delight in picking a few (it is on their level after all), taking them indoors, peeling them and subsequently devouring the fruit from their evening plates…it is the best!

Talking of Hobbits…

Bilbo Baggins usually picks the Satsumas off the small tree with his unusually large right hobbit foot…(very dexterous are those hobbitises’ feet like that).

My other Frodo has been busy in my middle-bed, hunched over with the “Jewels of Opar” creating a cool pattern on the back of her tee-shirt. (You knew I had to get the plant in this post, somehow or other!)

Now I know how to photograph the “jewels” of this hard to photograph plant, they need a back-drop!

What is she doing?

Conversing with a tribal member of the Naboo?

Paying respects to the Cactus Man?

Mopping the Botox Ladies mouth? 

Tell me the Botox lady has not manipulated her into this unimaginable task!

Oh no, none of the above…thank goodness. She carefully went in and planted her very first succulent, a cutting from her “JuJu” and she did it all by herself…I had goosebumps. I did not want to say anything about her over-watering it afterward, but being the control freak that I am…I had to.

Hey, she has to learn!

Stay Tuned for:

“Baggins & Tape”

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