an angel ghost, an unexpected guest

[asakiyume]

I did a chalk drawing of an angel offering an apple to a fox (... if foxes can crave grapes in Aesop, then they can be offered apples)--I had the angel leaning out of a sky window because I love that conceit. The fox came out VERY wonky in the body, but I like his face.

The feet belong to the next-door neighbor girls






I finished right before a good, drenching rain, so now the angel is a ghost:



In other remarkable news, a plant grew in the pot I had planted calendulas in. It looked vaguely familiar--some kind of nightshade-family plant, but what? Not a potato; you can't accidentally plant a potato. The leaves were wrong for tomato, and they didn't match up with common nightshade that I see around. They were fuzzy and lovely. Recently it got buds, and finally a flower, and with THAT I was able to take to the internet.





It seems to be Physalis peruviana, known in English as Cape gooseberry or golden berry, and first encountered by me in Colombia under the name of uchuva. It was available as a compote every morning for breakfast where we stayed, and I bought a bag of them at the market the day we left.

It's a kind of ground cherry. A more common-for-here ground cherry is Physalis pruinosa--in fact, the first place we lived in western Massachusetts had those growing wild. And the flowers look pretty much identical--it would make more sense for P. pruinosa to pop up unannounced in my flowerpot than a plant that's native to Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

But the local ground cherry ... grows along the ground. It doesn't stand up straight. This is standing up, proud and tall--which is what P. peruviana does. And although it's not ***native*** to this area, it's **cultivated** all over the place.

Either way, it's edible. But I'm going to think of it as P. peruviana, and look forward to some home-grown uchuvas at some point.

Never mind: I remembered that the plant we had at the other house was a "clammy ground cherry," and THAT plant's botanical name is P. heterophylla and guess what. THAT is what I have. It stands up tall, too. Ahh, well. This one is edible too! Will see if I get any clammy ground cherries ;-)

Comments

[sovay]

I did a chalk drawing of an angel offering an apple to a fox

That's really good! I am glad of your ground cherry, too, even if "clammy" is not the most reassuring of colloquial adjectives.

[asakiyume]

Thanks! I might try more angels in windows another time. (Though it's fox bodies I should practice!)

And I'm hopeful about the clammy ground cherries. One advantage to their being native is that they're adapted to the climate. I could put this one in the ground somewhere in my yard and it might come back next year.

[amaebi]

Aren't they annuals?

[asakiyume]

These native ones are. This one grew in a pot, so I'd need to stick it in the ground.

[sartorias]

Lol re the mystery plant!

I love that medieval trope of angels leaning out of the sky!

[asakiyume]

There was a twitter thread about bird names that made you wonder if the namer hated birds, and the same might be said about whoever gave the clammy ground cherry its common name!

And yeah, me too, re: leaning out of the sky.

[ellenmillion]

I love your chalk art so much!!

[asakiyume]

That is a huge compliment coming from you, who does such beautiful stuff!

[anna_wing]

Your fox is lovely! His face is beautiful, and his body is just fluffy! It's his winter coat!

I'd be really interested to know how the clammy ground cherry got its defining adjective. Or is it one of those local-language names that got anglicised into something inadvertently silly?

[asakiyume]

I know uchuvas do have a perpetual wet feeling, and I imagine the clammy ground cherry does too. Tomatillos (alos called Mexican husk tomatos) are also in this family (P. philadelphica and P.ixocarpa), and they're sticky too when you first peel off the husks---so I think this is a case where all (or anyway most?) fruits in this family are sticky/damp, and poor old clammy ground cherry just got stuck with the name. Or maybe it's more so than others!

[asakiyume]

(also, thank you very much for the kind words about the fox!)

[cmcmck]

Fun!

[asakiyume]

^_^

[amaebi]

I love both the concept and execution of the fox offering an apple to a fox-- I love the fox's face, and I just think that it's a less-skinny-than-usual fox who's bunched up a bit, unsure whether to be forthcoming with an angel. Which seems wise to me.

If angels would stick to giving apples to foxes I wouldn't be so apprehensive of them. Maybe the fox feels similarly.

In what sense do the fox's feet belong to your neighbours?

[asakiyume]

Not the fox's feet, but the pastel-sneaker'ed feet at the top of the first photo--those are literally the feet of the girls next door.

[amaebi]

Ah! That's kind of a relief. :D

[asakiyume]

hahaha, yup--the fox was totally its own creature.

[mallorys_camera]

I love yr little fox! And yr angel is quite Blakean.

[asakiyume]

Aw, thank you! I like Blake's angels.

[minoanmiss]

I love everything about the art, from its luminosity to its planned evanescence.

[kore]

YES. Beautifully put.

[asakiyume]

Thank you my dear. So much that's beautiful just disappears; I like being part of that. Also, if you make a mistake, it's soon gone, heh)

[kore]

I loved this on insta! It's so beautiful.

[asakiyume]

Thank you! I'm really glad--I had this idea in my head for a long time.