Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 994 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Nature Day

August 20, 2016 at 10:03 am by Claudia

Yesterday will now be called Nature Day.

Morning found us outside standing near the Funky Patio (dubbed Funky Patio in 2010 when we threw it together on a whim) watching an Eastern Swallowtail butterfly float, fly, hover and circle the maple tree. He landed on the poison ivy leaves, on the leaves of other non-flowering plants, obsessively circling and landing as if he was absolutely sure that these plants held nectar of some kind. I kept saying “No. That’s not going to work. Go to the phlox.” But still he circled. At times, his circle widened and he came very near us as we stood absolutely still. This went on for at least ten minutes. Magical.

Then I spied this on the section of picket fence that functions as a door on our front porch.

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Two Stick Bugs, or Walking Sticks, one much smaller than the other, which led me to believe – in my naiveté – that one was the mom and the other was a baby. Off to Google I went, looking up Stick Bugs. Nope. Babies don’t hang around moms. In fact, moms drop eggs hither and yon and don’t stay with them.

No. My second instinct was the right one. They are mating. And, according to Wikipedia, this ‘mating’ can take quite a while. Days. If you were able to be on the porch looking downward on the bugs, you’d see that the little one is hooked around the big one near the bottom. In fact, if you look closely here, you can see it.

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They were there last night. I haven’t been outside yet this morning to see if they’re still at it.

Then we took a mile and a half walk on the Rail Trail.

Then, I saw this beauty on the butterfly bush:

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It’s a Great Spangled Fritillary – which has to be my favorite butterfly name of all time.

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All in all, a lovely Nature Day.

Not one bird in the birdbath yesterday. I fear we’ve reached that time in the late summer when they begin to take off for other climes. I miss them. Henry? Who knows where he is? Bunnies? Not a one. But the mourning doves are still hanging around. Thank goodness.

Some of you saw the comment from my reader April Baldwin yesterday. I had mentioned the fire that destroyed the home of our dear friends earlier this week. Well, April – who lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Northern California – lost her home to a fire this week. A fire that was started by an arsonist. They also lost their four cats in the fire when rescuers couldn’t get to them.

Words fail me at times like this. What can I say that is even remotely helpful or soothing or caring? My heart goes out to this friend who has lost everything. Sending prayers and love and a hope for healing to you and yours April. And thank you to those commenters who reached out to April on yesterday’s post.

Happy Saturday.

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Potpourri on Friday

August 19, 2016 at 10:05 am by Claudia

• Late start today, as I slept in a little and had a nice long phone conversation with my sister. My nephew is going away to his new college today. It’s a big day and a big transition. I’m very proud of him.

• Yesterday, I weeded for about 2 hours, cleaning up all the garden beds. Usually, at this time of year, I’ve given up on the weeding. But, though it was tiring, I’m so glad I did it. Everything looks much better and more defined – and my rambling, country garden needs some definition.

• Around the property:

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The limelight hydrangea blossoms are the bigger than ever this summer. Very impressive!

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Another zinnia is opening.

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And the wild Queen Anne’s Lace is blooming down by the mailbox.

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It always evokes memories of my childhood, when there was still an open field across the street from our house, and I’d see Queen Anne’s Lace everywhere.

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• Look! There’s a baby springing up from the soil! This is the mother-in-law’s tongue that my parents nurtured for over 40 years. I was so happy to see this little baby that I had to send a picture via text message to my sister. Mom and Dad would be pleased.

• This morning I woke up missing my dad’s voice and our phone calls. The other day, I lost it and sobbed about Scout – about all my dogs. I explained to Don that I missed talking and singing to Scout. I talked to her all the time, explaining what I was doing, explaining what I wanted her to do, telling her about my adventures, telling her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her. And I sang to her all the time; little songs I would make up on the spot.

I miss that.

I know that some of you will say, “You can still talk to her.” I do, at times. But, let’s be real: it’s not the same. I did it all the time. And there’s a quiet now, an emptiness of sound, that sometimes knocks me down and brings me to tears.

• Our dear friends of many years lost their home to a fire a couple of days ago. They live in Los Angeles: it wasn’t due to a wildfire but most likely an electrical fire. I think that has yet to be determined. Thank goodness, all are safe, including their two dogs. I can’t even begin to imagine how devastating this is for them. They will rebuild. They are in our prayers. Everything can change in a moment.

• For all of you who missed Don on Mr. Robot: You can see it On Demand, if you have that option with your cable package. Or you can do what I’ve done in the past and will do again. You can watch episodes on the USA network’s web page. Here’s the link to his episode. He did some fine work in this one.

Happy Friday.

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A Monarch & Mr. Robot

August 18, 2016 at 9:36 am by Claudia

Patience is a virtue that I don’t always have. But I do seem to have it when trying to capture flora and fauna on my camera. I’ve noticed that butterflies tend to come to the butterfly bush in the late afternoon/early evening. Around 6 pm I ventured out to the porch and peeked around the corner at the butterfly bush. Aha! A monarch! (And a hummingbird moth, I might add.)

I ran into the house grabbed my camera and then proceeded to contort myself into a position that entailed leaning out over the porch railing and then torquing my body to the right with camera in hand. For a long time.

Here’s what I got:

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And, in flight:

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There’s more, but I picked the ones I thought were the most interesting. I like to think this one emerged from our very own milkweed plants.

This butterfly bush has been a joy. I planted it a few years back and now it grows very tall each year, with blooms emerging in August. I love its graceful lines. It draws small, beautiful moths, all sorts of butterflies, hummingbird moths – and hummingbirds. If you don’t have one, consider planting one next year. The bloom time isn’t all that long, but boy, is it worth it!

The morning glories and moonflowers are lush with green leaves and are climbing all over the place. Still waiting on some flower buds….

We mowed yesterday and it was exhausting. Since the grass was so long and wet because of the humidity, the mower kept clogging and we’d have to repeatedly stop and scoop up all the cut grass from underneath the mower.

Just under two weeks until the newest Louise Penny is published on August 30th. I will be at the bookstore that day, that I can promise.

Don was on Mr. Robot last night and we kept flipping back and forth between the Olympics and Mr. Robot to try to catch his scene. We were successful! He was wonderful in a scene with his daughter; heartbreaking, sad, bewildered, angry – very real, which, on film, is much more difficult than you might imagine. I’m very proud of him. We haven’t actually watched any episodes in the second season as of yet. We will. So we didn’t try to understand what the heck was going on with the rest of the show; we just caught his scene.

By the way, we didn’t find out that his episode was airing last night until mid-afternoon. I edited this post to include that information and mentioned it on FB and IG. Sorry if you missed it!

Happy Thursday.

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Nature Day

Potpourri on Friday

A Monarch & Mr. Robot

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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