Captions: 1. Action! 2. Pshaw! There's something wrong with this shotgun. I keep hitting the fire button and nothing happens. It just blinks. 3. It's ok to smile. 4. Open wide and let me have a good look at your tonsils.

No ants on my peonies. I have not see any of those large black ants anywhere on the property. However, those itty bitty things are all over the yard and this rain has got them making big hills all over the place. On the peonies, I rarely see anything on them except an occasional flying insect.

I was similarly skeptical a few years ago when people were saying that the 17-year cicadas damaged many trees the previous time they were here. I reasoned that since adult cicadas don't eat anything, how could they possibly damage a tree. However when the massive brood emerged, the resulting damage looked exactly like susan_wv's image. As you say, the females do cut slits in twigs and deposits eggs therein. When the eggs hatch, larvae drops to the ground to begin the cycle anew. The key is when the 17-year cicadas emerge, there are lots of them -- as many as 1.5 million per acre. Each female proceeds to lay about 500 eggs choosing branches that are about 1/4 inch in diameter. Consequently in heavily affected areas all of the branches of that size are completely covered with slits to that point that the branch dies.

Cruise ship off Portofino, Italy. 2nd photo is a more distant view of the city. It was a beautiful evening as we sailed away on our ship and as we left, many people were strolling around on the pier enjoying the view.