These two subjects don't have anything to do with each other, but I happen to have photos related to both that I took on a recent sunny morning. The artichokes are the ones that grow in our back yard. We planted them years ago — five plants — and two have survived over the years. One of them grows especially vigorously. They can be grown as perennials here in the Loire Valley, given our mild winters.
In both these photos, above and below, that's our vegetable garden plot in the background. It doesn't look like much yet, but it's been planted and the seedlings are growing well.
Not in our back yard, but a few hundred yards away, out in the vineyard, I happened to see this group of shield bugs — also called "true bugs" or "stink bugs" — feeding on a wild carrot plant (Queen Anne's Lace, we call it).
In French, these beetles (coléoptères) are called punaises, and this particular one seems to be the punaise arlequin or the graphosome d'Italie. I've learned that "stink bug" is an American term. British people don't seem to use or even know it. Here's a link to a Wikipedia article about such bugs.
I don't know if these "harlequin" bugs stink or not, because so far they don't
seem to come into the house and have to be picked up and put back outdoors. We
get a lot of other kinds stink bugs in the house in fall and winter, seeking warmth — often several a
day that we have to grab using a kleenex or a paper towel and throw out a
window (or flush down the toilet!). They really do stink.
Punaises is easy to remember as "pu" is slang for stink, I believe. Your artichokes look perfect. At what point do you cut and cook?
ReplyDeleteThe verb puer as in Ça pue ! isn't really slang. It's just the verb to describe something that literally stinks. Not to be confused with the figurative expression "That stinks!" as in "That's a pain!" (C'est moche, ça !) Do you ever look at reverso.com?
DeleteThanks Ken, reverso is a great web site. Don't think I'd seen it before.
DeleteI guess their beauty is nature’s way of making up for their bad smell. Is their bad smell a defense mechanism to ward off prey? Do they fly or crawl into your house? How big are they? Why am I so curious about stink bugs?!
ReplyDeletechm, do you think it’s time to get in touch with Marthe? As a fellow gardener I hope she is doing well. And I hope you are improving every day.
ReplyDeleteeven the stink bugs are more fashionable in France
ReplyDeleteThat does seem to be the reality.
DeleteSeveral years ago we had an invasion of brown marmorated stink bugs. Fortunately each year there have been fewer in the house. I do not like those shield bugs in your photograph either...Ugh!
ReplyDeleteA French friend uses "punaise!" as a swear word. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Punaise can replace the more vulgar putain, just as mince stands in for merde. It's like darn and damn, or heck and hell.
DeleteBTW, punaise also means "thumbtack".
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