ft. worth botanic garden center

While in Dallas for Aspen's cross country race, we decided to stop at the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden Center to look around. We had never been there, so we were excited to see what it was all about.



We pulled up to two pretty ponds with water sprouts and frog statues...a very pretty entrance...before walking in, I snapped this cute one of Chris and Aspen out front:

Once inside the garden, there was a great area with flagstone stepping stones and bright green grass between. Chris thought it would make a great photo background, so he had Aspen sit down on one of the stones. After one of her alone, he had me sit down with her for this cute one:

This is when things got interesting!!! Sitting like we were above, Aspen started shrieking and flung her hand...and something then landed on my hand that was resting on my knee. My hand immediately started stinging, and we couldn't figure out what was going on! Aspen was holding her hand like something had stung or bit her, and we were trying to find whatever it was she had flung.

We finally found it...it was small, about 1 inch...all curled up. We had never seen anything like it before, and didn't know what it was. The weirdest thing was that it looked like it had HAIR like a mouse...but it was some kind of insect. Aspen's hand was already getting red and swelling, so I scooped it onto a leaf and took it inside. Luckily a garden worker knew that it was a pus caterpillar...have you ever heard of one of those? Apparently, it has venom in it's hair, and as a defense mechanism, it injects a little when its touched. Lovely!!! This is what it looks like:

This is zoomed in, since the thing was only about an inch long. Have you ever seen one of these??? If you ever do, stay clear!!!! It leaves marks like this where it injects you with venom:

Aspen's hand stung all day, and was hot with fever for most of the day too. The mark became more pronounced as the day went on. The man told us that unless she had an allergic reaction to it, she should be fine in a day or so. Hm! Not a great start to our garden adventure, but we decided to press on and try to enjoy the beauty of the place.

Some cute ones of me and Aspen walking together...she is almost as tall as me now. It won't be long until she passes me...and I'm not a short woman.

I really like these next two...there's laughing Aspen and there's serious Aspen...

And Aspen saying goodbye to the frogs out front before we left...

I wish we could have enjoyed the day without the pus caterpillar, because he sort of put a damper on things. I know my hand was stinging, and he just barely touched me. Aspen rested her whole weight on the thing, and I know her hand was really hurting her. She was a trooper...and happy to report that the swelling is gone, the red fever is out, and the marks are fading. It's still sore to the touch, but I think she's going to make it...