Is it summer already?
Critters, garden produce, and bugs!
A tiger swallowtail nectars in the evening on the tiny but sweet blossoms of bittersweet.
The dew point pushes 60, which the TV weather guy suggests is more like sweltering in July – even though the calendar says summer is a couple of weeks away.
Is the catbird in our pool trying to cool off – or just bathing happily?
Twin fawns prance and play outside my bedroom window.
I can’t help but wonder if the little buck with the velvet nubbin antlers could be their uncle.
Mama robin scolds when I get too close to her nestlings that are about ready to bail out of their nest.
What’s for supper? Fresh lettuce salad, topped with equally fresh radishes.
With a side dish of the last picking of asparagus.
And dessert? The first strawberries of the season!
Baby house finches – brown striped birds with brown striped wings – feast on sunflower hearts, with grape jelly for dessert.
Rabbits have been churning out baby bunnies since March – which means there are several sizes of cottontails eagerly eyeing our garden and flowers through the chicken-wire barriers we’ve erected. But rabbits don’t live forever – as is the hope of the ever-vigilant turkey vultures who regularly patrol our farm.
I’ve lost count of the number of ticks I’ve had to pluck off my scalp. The pesky arachnids apparently seem to thrive in wet weather.
The moisture also causes the daisies and hawkweed in our side yard to flourish. They’re so pretty – and alluring to pollinators – that I haven’t the heart to mow there.
I admire the pretty, fragrant multiflora rose blossoms – even though I owe an apology to the neighbor whose fencerow they’re invading. I was one of many Iowans who, decades ago, followed old Iowa Conservation Commission advice to plant the aliens for “living fences” or wildlife habitat. Now the spiny bushes have become noxious weeds.
That tangle may be just what the brown thrasher seeks for their nest. They’re happy to chortle from a nearby fencepost – but reluctant to reveal their hidden nest.
Twilight lingers in the northwest until almost bedtime – but the air has cooled enough to enhance the aroma of blooming chokecherries. Or is it the lingering spiderwort? Or the just-unfurling pale purple coneflowers?
And, no, that’s not lightning – but lightning BUGS (fireflies, if you prefer.) The first of the season. The SUMMER season.
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Greeting from upstate NY (Hamilton area). We have early fireflies, too. The wild strawberries don’t promise to amount to much this year.
The other morning I discovered the upper segment of a Luna moth’s wing in the grass. Happy bat, sad me. Nature’s way.
I would attach photos but attachments are not allowed. 🙃
Lovely!