From the other day:
An eastern swallowtail.
And a blurry red admiral, taken from a distance. I’ve never seen a red admiral on the property. I had to google to figure out what kind of butterfly it was. Very striking! Thank you for visiting!
The news that the monarch butterfly is on the endangered species list is heartbreaking. We do our part here by letting all of our milkweed plants stay in place, wherever they pop up. Currently, they’re hiding a lot of the flowers in the big garden bed, but that’s the way it is. I’d rather provide a habitat for monarchs.
The fact that the honey bees are back in the catalpa is good news. I realize that the eco system on our property doesn’t reflect the rest of the country and the planet, but I take heart when, right here on our patch of acreage, a caterpillar transforms into a monarch butterfly and honey bees fly in and out of their nest in the catalpa.
Speaking of the catalpa, we had a storm last night with unbelievably high winds. While Don was outside, a limb from the catalpa fell to the ground. It’s a smaller limb. Nevertheless, my heart breaks a little when any tree limb falls.
We’re supposed to get more rain today. I welcome it. The ground and trees and plants and animals sorely need it.
The phone call from my sister yesterday was to let me know that Little Z tested positive for Covid. He was exposed earlier in the week at camp and started to feel poorly on Saturday after a morning at the beach. But he tested negative. By Sunday morning, he was feeling miserable and Mere tested him again. Positive. So she’ll have to stay home this week to be with Z. He’s been vaccinated, of course.
Poor little guy! At the age of eleven, he’s not quite so little anymore.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
