A Brief Intermission from Beauty

Portrait of my kitchen sink window, August 2008

Is your kitchen swarming with annoying fornicating fruit flies? OK, mine isn't swarming but there are quite a few, and they make me a little nuts this time of year. Yes, bountiful fresh produce that can't be refridgerated without degradation of quality sitting around on the counter, like tomatoes, fresh peaches, blueberries, etc., just providing ideal conditions for fruit fly paradise. Our friend Matthew, talented and wonderful Mr. Google, shared this homemade fruit fly trap to share with us when he visited earlier in the summer.

Take a small plastic bag, sandwich or produce varieties both work well, and poke 5 or 6 holes in the bottom of the bag with a sharp knife. The holes should be fruit-fly sized or a little larger.

Into a tallish glass, place some things fruit flies love: banana peels, peach pits, fruit peelings, whatever sweet stuff you have handy. Cover it a little with vinegar or beer, and voila, this is fruit fly ambrosia.

Now put your bag into the cup, with those holes close by to the ambrosia. Bunch the bag up a little, like this:
And affix with a rubber band around the rim of the glass:
(See how they're in there, some are even dead!) Notice that there is a bit of bag above the edge of the glass? That really fools them into thinking they're getting out---they equate Up with Out. But they are trapped. And that makes me glad.

Here's a harbor shot, totally Maine. It's pretty, so I don't know how it ended up here other than we were watching the Windjammer Parade today: