WATERMELON DAY

I ate almost half of a pretty big watermelon today. I didn't drink or eat anything else.

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It wasn't part of some crazy diet, it wasn't for a bet or to see If I could do it. Nope. It just happened.

The day was hot from the beginning, I felt thirsty in the morning so I decided to eat a slice of watermelon, and that's it. I was hooked. I didn't feel the need for any other kind of food for the rest of the day.

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Here's where it all started. Liznjan's harbor. The small fruits & vegetables stand by the side of the road. A local farmer offers his fresh local products in the refreshing shade under the evergreen oak. A friend was also there with me. She was buying while I was busy photographing to get the material for today's post.

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The watermelons looked juicy and inviting. A quarter of one of those big fruits was cut out from the rest and the vivid red interior was absolutely irresistible. I ate these watermelons before and I remember them as extremely sweet and tasty, so I asked the man how come they are so much better than any other watermelon I bought elsewhere in the area. He explained to me a sugar trick he learned from one of his colleagues that's doing farming in Italy. He's watering the plants with sugary water for seven days before picking the fruits. That's not the only reason why these watermelons are great, though. The reddish soil and the sunny environment of the coastal fields of Marlera (that's what the area is called) surely have some merit too.

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In this photograph, I caught the moment of the transaction. A friend is giving the money while the watermelon man is ready to give her half of the juicy fruit.

It was still morning, a little past 9 AM when I ate my first sweet slice.

That watermelon breakfast was served and consumed in the kitchen.

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In the early afternoon, I ate the watermelon on the bench in front of the house. My sleepy cats were scattered all around the yard. You can see two of them, Tzvrchak & Farabuto, in the above photograph.

While I was barbarically enjoying the watermelon dinner in my room ...

... a few juicy little pieces and a few sugary drops fell on the floor.

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It took only a couple of minutes for my pavement ants to discover the food that suddenly fell from the sky. Here you can see them feeding on the sweet water from the watermelon's interior.

The scientific name of this species is Tetramorium immigrans. The primary habitats of these ants are arid grasslands and rocky terrains with sparse vegetation, but they also thrive and prosper in urban environments where they often nest between cracks of concrete or asphalt.

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Houses also can offer plenty of suitable places for a pavement ants colony.