The end of last month I had a wonderful visit with Dick's sister - like a sister to me! - in Orange, California.
During one of our outings, her car was parked near a fence with the most unusual pod-like things growing on it. She is a gardener/flower-lover extraordinaire; I, an amature photographer, so we were both equally captivated by its uniqueness.
These pods, in various stages of drying and dying, were about the size of a small orange.
We learned only that this is "some sort of a milkweed", which makes sense, considering all its components. I have researched, and still do not know the variety.
Nor do I know the varieties of all the types of bugs which inhabited it!
We only saw the type shown on the left photo, below. The smaller ones did not show except because of my macro lens.
The left photo shows a sort of beetle, and a weensie mite:
Then we see, on the right, the mite and an even weensier "thing":
More mites and beetles: (as if we need more!)
Ahh...back to the beauty of just plain pod. I think the part in the middle looks like a feather:
Leftovers:
And lastly, the pod's seed spores, making sure the beauty will be there next year:
