It's the last week of November already! Click to enlarge. |
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In the blink of an eye, we went from this... |
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And now -- to that feeling of being watched. |
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In the light of the big holiday that is coming up this week, I'd like to ask if everyone knows how Thanksgiving always ends.
It ends with a "g" !
And have you heard this one?
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Norma Lee.
Norma Lee who?
Norma Lee I don't overeat at dinner!
Anyway...
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Happy.
Happy who?
Happy Thanksgiving!
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This could be the last pine barrens gentian flower of the year in our area. Click to enlarge. |
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And a very pretty one it was. See you all again next September, gentians. |
I love how the sun shines through it like stained glass. Note the fancy black dots with white centers near the front edge of the wing. Click to enlarge. |
And its long October shadow. |
A buckeye butterfly sitting on a puff of white asters. Click to enlarge. |
Also check out its pretty orange bars and bands. Buckeyes have a wingspan of about 2.5 inches and are found throughout North America. |
They move south this time of year to avoid the cold weather. |
I have seen a lot of buckeyes this week. Even this pair, mating in the middle on the path in the warm autumn sunshine. I wish them all a safe journey to warm places. |
This is the underside. The web was about two feet across. I cannot tell you how glad I was that I saw the spider before I accidentally walked into the web. |
Here are a few cypress trees at the edge of Lake Drummond. Does not look all that dismal on a sunny day. |
October is off to a good start here. It's cool and sunny and there are patches of goldenrod. |
This angle-wing butterfly was flitting between asters and a white butterfly bush. Can you guess why it's called an angle-wing? (It's the jagged wing edges.) |
There are a few kinds of local angle-wings. This is an Eastern Comma. It is similar to one called the Question Mark butterfly. Together they are the punctuation butterflies. |
Here's why -- that little silver comma-shaped mark on the hind wing. Click to enlarge. Also note that it looks like a different butterfly with its wings closed, dark and drab. | |
Here's a question mark butterfly for comparison. Check out the punctuation on this guy. |
Amazing, right? |
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Autumn arrived yesterday afternoon. More precisely, astronomical autumn arrived in the northern hemisphere, with the autumnal equinox.
By the reckoning of meteorologists (who divide the calendar into
three-month quarters) autumn already started at the beginning of September.
Either way you reckon, autumn is here. Bring on the pumpkins, the cool nights, and the colored leaves. Click to enlarge. |
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As Raquel Franco wrote: "...the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep, and Autumn was awakened." |
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There is the smell of sun-baked pines. |
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And tranquil quiet. And then... |
The first blue flower sighting! |
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Find one and there are usually others scattered nearby. This one just beginning to unfurl. |
This one fully open. |
This one with the sun shining through it. |
All beautiful inside with spots and dots and sprinkled stars. |
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All slightly different shades of blue and green. |
A black and yellow garden spider is currently spinning webs and trapping insects in my yard. Click to enlarge. |
She is very pretty, right? She's also very BIG; I estimate just over and inch long. The web she's on is more than a foot across. |
Let this be a reminder that fall is coming. That Halloween is around the corner. That spiders have been working all summer and have grown large! Here's a disturbing little poem to celebrate. |
The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly
by Vachel Lindsay
Once I loved a spider
When I was born a fly,
A velvet-footed spider
With a gown of rainbow-dye.
She ate my wings and gloated.
She bound me with a hair.
She drove me to her parlor
Above her winding stair.
To educate young spiders
She took me all apart.
My ghost came back to haunt her.
I saw her eat my heart.
I'm not the only one who likes zinnia flowers. They really attract skipper butterflies. Click to enlarge. |
Skipper butterflies are sometimes mistaken for moths. They are small and usually drab. |
At rest they hold their wings open and angled up or spread in various jaunty ways. |
By butterfly standards they have stocky bodies and big heads. |
The name skipper comes from their habit of skipping rapidly between perches. |
So plant some zinnias. You'll get skippers! |