epic garden delight

I thought my Butterfly Garden was a failure this year. Nature proved me wrong. Tall flowering plants took turns blooming throughout the Summer. Various winged wonders fluttered about occasionally, enjoying the grass flanked blooms. At times the wings chose grass over flowers. Not a surprise. Grass offers various needs. 

From a distance, I noticed what I thought were a cluster of larger butterflies. I wanted to take a closer look. Alas, I had two velcro Labradors with me. Sigh. It rarely works out to approach wild things with the two hooligans. The dogs always scare them away. Especially winged wonders!

About an hour later I returned. With my camera and without dogs. Much to my surprise, the flutterby's were still enjoying the garden! Now I only had one pesky loveable animal to thwart my efforts.

classic Leo wrap around

The cat who shall not be ignored got some needy attention. It is never enough and I had to ask him to pluueze leave me alone! I wanted to focus on this:

Monarchs and friends

trio of Monarchs

Leo obliged, but did not go far

Just like potato chips, I had a hard time choosing just one Monarch photo.

see four

and five

The many Monarchs and friends were very entertaining!

fluers and a fuzzy bee

I would have stayed longer, but was getting eaten alive by the latest crop of blood suckers. Leo and I headed back to the house/barn for cover. 

If I did have to chose one photo from this series, this would be it:

8.26.25

A fun reminder our Butterfly Garden does not need to be manicured to be an epic delight. 

land of wonders ~ august 1/2

The first half of August just flew by...where on earth did it go? Poof!! I can answer that, into the past!

The rapid passing of time is in part my why to highlighting a series of land wonder finds. That and losing years of phone photos when my phone landed on Water Street. This Winter I hope to draw some of these dated finds in my Phenology Journal :)

Leaves have already started changing
8.1.25

a familiar afternoon sight

Koda (L) & Harmony (R) not so patiently waiting to get out of the elements.
Hope is out of frame.

Harmony makes it clear she wants inside. The horse who for the first 6 years of her life was part of a large outdoor herd. The rest of her years were with us, and she preferred rough board. Not that she always got it. My how things have changed. When Harmony wants to come inside these days, she wants in NOW! Just ask her.

The three sallies have spent the Summer in the back pasture. They are nearby and can hear when Cierra and Nemo come inside early. Some days the duo is ready for indoor barn relief by early-mid afternoon. As you may recall, they both have allergies. In certain undesirable conditions one or the other (or both) are a mess if we wait longer. Our other three horses stay out until early evening. Sorry Hope. Just because a fly lands on you doesn't mean you get to come inside. She is a delicate flower.

second crop hay was put up/sold during rainless days
8.1.25

Our woodland ground dried up. I was able to walk dogs through our woods without a head net for the first time in over a month! It was a glorious few days. Common lingering mushrooms continued their random appearances throughout the pines. I thought perhaps the more unique (to me) fungi and ooey gooey stuff was done along with the rain. It wasn't.

tiny bubbles being enjoyed by Mr. Ant
8.2.25

they were sun baked the following day

I have come across a lot of feathers over this Summer, of all sizes. A lot of Turkey and some Hawk, along with common Blue Jay and Morning Dove feathers etc. Below is a more unusual feather find:

flicker feather

I also found some fuzzy wuzzies to ID...

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Virginia Tiger Moth Caterpillar

and some winged wonders...

Eastern Comma

Brad sent me these photos of a winged friend he made.

Tawny Emperior

Love it when Brad shares his nature finds!



8.6.25

it is surprise Lily time, better said surprise Aurora time!
8.7.25

These Surprise Lilies are also known as Resurrection or Magic Lilies. Their green Spring leaves die back. In August, flowering stalks appear. Not only pretty, but a fun surprise! 

colorful skies continue to delight
8.7.25

sumac leaves turn early
8.10.25

another "under sea like" find

something 'er someone chewed the ends

a rare 22 legged walking day
8.13.25

(Remi, Tank, Jameson and cat/s Tinkerbell, with Leo for a bit, plus me)

Rainy days returned. Gee, what a non-surprise. We received more than sprinkles. Over a two day stretch, we added another 5.25" of moisture. Our sandy ground just slurps it up. 

 white moldy growth started re-appearing
8.13.25

natures peculiar collection (not staged)

Remi taking a break (Tinkerbell photobomb)

For the first time, one of the cats left a dead present near our front doorstep. Blech! 90% sure the poor dead bunny's demise was Tinkerbell's doing. The cats usually share the "treasures" they find outside with Brad. They carry them INTO the barn and leave parts on the hay side.

While disposing of what was left, Brad called me over to figure out the most unusual and DISGUSTING wiggling things! 

not scat

You know those tiny sticky black Bot eggs that are hard to scrape off your horses? Well, it turns out these Bot larva are part of the Bot Fly cycle. They wiggled and were big (1.5-2"). Double Blech!!

Our daughter spent years working at our Vet clinic. She educated me further on what to look for on an animal. Eggs hatch and larva burrows inside. Leaving a hole. Reminded me of a vampire bite, with two holes close together. Cuz you know, I have seen a lot of vampire bites in my days ;) 

We are fairly sure the larva came from the rabbit, which I learned is a common host. Thankfully Tinkerbell didn't eat the actual larva and we found them before our dogs did. Good thing all our animals are vetted.

Enough of that. Onto other earlier August finds. 

patterns on this 'shroom caught my eye

Invasive weeds are on the increase, along with things that make me sneeze. My eyes non-stop water these days. Fun fun. More like rub rub.

 poisonous White Snakeroot

Goldenrod is loved by wings

large white mushrooms in the woods (and lawns)

nature claimed another tree
(and one less tree stand)

This tiny blue flower stopped me in my tracks. I have only come across them a few times. Apparently they are edible.

Asiatic Dayflower (aka Common Dayflower)

8.15.25

whatever it takes

I sent my hubby a calendar invite to go kayaking last week. True story. I told him I needed to get on his calendar lol. More/or less a joke. Brad accepted my kayaking invite and the rest is history. 

He is one busy "retired" guy. Brad had agreed to work the two days prior, helping our son with his excavating company. With all the added busy-ness, we planned a return trip to our favorite go-to location. Mirror Lake State Park. I've posted multiple times about this easy in/out paddling unique place. It is very popular. Water access areas will be closed for repair next year. We will enjoy paddling Mirror Lake while we can. 

I do enjoy brand new adventures and am in the process of researching a new (to us) location to try paddling. One has to be extra careful with unknown bodies of water. It appears to have a little of everything we like, but will require two vehicles. Will see if this trip ever happens. Maybe if I send a calendar invite ;) Hey, whatever it takes!

..............

I was not sure what to expect at Mirror Lake. It is different every time. Will the water be high from all the rain? or super buggy? Nope. However, it wasn't long before we discovered the stormy Summer had not spared this area. Several large trees had fallen into the water. One in particular changed the flow. We also came across larger down branches. 

Houston, we have a problem.

As we headed out, there was a big pine blocking the entire width of the narrows. We were not sure if it would even be passable. Until we got closer.

far left the tree top was under water!

Glad we were able to continue as planned. Paddling the other part of Mirror Lake is no fun in my opinion. It is noisy. It has many sad looking run down cottages, boat houses/piers. Not what one would expect on such a beautiful lake. Many first time kayaking renters paddle that area. We did. The worse part is it flows underneath the Interstate towards a roped off dam. Which is frightening and rumbles SO loud you cannot hear anything.

brad is waay up ahead

We had the narrows to ourselves paddling out. I found it very quiet. Perhaps the quietest yet. Like eery quiet. Quiet.

Maybe because the trees are in full foliage. Leaning towards the water and closing the sky up.

I hung back, soaking it all in. Did mention it was quiet? I glanced down at my phone, and smiled.

screen saver (Koda & I)

The lake eventually widens back up. We heard and noticed an excavator at the very end. I knew right then, there would be no eagles fishing or other larger birds sighted on this trip.   

a dredging boat heading over to the floating excavator

There were a few occasional ducks and other water loving birds flying overhead. I tried to ID them. Pretty sure one was a Kingfisher, but hard to know for sure at a distance.

On this float, we enjoyed a large variety of dragonflies and damselflies of all shapes and sizes. Zooming around. I wished for my camera & my own zoom! Every single time one came nearby and I turned my phone towards the winged action to snap a pic, they flew away. As if a reflection or motion warned them. Each and every time. There were striped ones, big ones, red ones, blue, green and smaller clear ones. Thanks to these guys, there were no mosquito's!

brilliant turquoise blue Damselfly resting on my kayak

red reflected Dragonfly in flight

Eventually, we turned our kayaks around and headed back. Just in time.

combined equipment created constant dull drudging noise

A large group of older kayakers were slowly heading our way. I would guess some of the new kayakers were in their upper 70's (or lower 80's). Perhaps a reunion of sorts? There were so many of them. I almost asked.

I can only hope I am still able to kayak, if I reach that age.

The older group did a lot better maneuvering than the last large younger group we encountered. Multi families were scattered and blocking the only passage area. Not moving. With kids on their own smaller vessels, whining and left to their own demise. Not the kids fault.

Good time to get off the water. We finally had some nice Summer weather and noticed the rental place was almost out of kayaks. 

In between the large groups we encountered, we stopped paddling to soak up more bliss. We watched light reflect off the water. Dancing on the banks. Especially the trees.

The light dancing is mesmerizing and always stops us mid-float. Brad mentioned at times the non-stop light dancing looks like a waterfall. Hard to capture the essence. It can be so dramatic. Much more than in the short video below. Not the greatest example. It is easiest to see a bit of light dancing on the left two smaller trees that are closer together. The larger the tree the bigger more vibrant dance. 

11 seconds

We also marveled at the water reflections. At times it looked like you could go down in between the reflected trees. Down, down, down into the deep depth of water and beyond.

8/14/25

 

land of wonders ~ july 2/2

Generous amounts of rain continued to fall through the end of July, along with unbearable high heat. My thin head net felt stifling, but used daily. I came back from shorter wooded dog walks completely drenched with sweat, and depleted.

As far as I am concerned, Fall can arrive any time!! 

I thought perhaps natures discoveries would slow down after the first half of July. They did not. At least the things that caught my eye kept me entertained between the swattin' & sweatin'. Some finds were unique, others not as much.

Orange Coral in our woods lasted almost an entire month!
July 16

still celebrating Christmas in July

As soon as my white/pink Amarylis blooms faded, the red one opened up. Silly bulbs.

delicate paper parasols

red top ribbed mushrooms popped up everywhere

these can be found where pine trunks meet the earth

rock climbing grips appeared, for those who can't fly

layers of delicate "paper" appeared for one day only

what determination looks like

this bright yellow caught my eye

it was covered with tiny red pin dot tips



view from the other side



it turned into a duckling that had buried it's head


No, I did not add the leaf. My discovery shots are all as found.



over several days the bright yellow morphed into this



nearby I found more interesting white growths

looked like white coated pine cones (or poop lol) and lasted for several days

this fun-guy was very tall!

it was gone in one day. guessing the critters ate it

Tankeee always waiting for me :) 

who knew there were dinosaurs in our woods

no more room in the inn

Jameson & Tank, walk it like it's hot

tiny salted golden mushrooms started regrowing

a different yellow fungi


remember the white phallic mushroom from July 11th?

it aged (July 28)

At the house one evening, our son pointed out at least seven hummer's suddenly fighting over the window feeder! We usually have two. One waits on the deck wires while the other one feeds. The multi hummers have stuck around. They are begrudgingly learning to share between the many flowers, this feeder and a hanging one. They are so funny to watch!

aerial show

In conclusion, most of our July days were either high heat with humid or buggy and smoky. Many days we had all conditions. Less time was enjoyed outside. We did not ride our bikes or kayak. Two of our favorite Summer activities.

We learn to adjust as our world changes. 

Smokey Red Sunset

July 30