.
Pulling a curtain back, I was surprised by a rosy sight.
Usually when the Sun looks red it means smoke, but this was not the case, so I’m not sure what was different about today.
.
Ground mist is a daily occurrence.
.
It always makes a pretty picture.
.
There is no shortage of pretty pictures.
Late yesterday I was urged to walk up to the far corner of the property to view this curious plant, goat’s beard, apparently.
It was worth a short walk though I must remember to restrict such activities to early in the day.
By late afternoon a walk becomes a bit of a slog when it’s uphill, in hot weather.
.
Sensitive fern
and zig-zag clover, on the way back.
.
Any time we go outside, we try to remember to check that we will not be scaring off wildlife.
Yesterday when I went out to the porch, a baby raccoon shot out. Not long after I saw it with its mother, around on the patio.
.
Clearly, mum has not yet explained that it must stay still for photographs!
.
It’s unusual and a bit sad to see a mum with just one kit.
Another mum brought her family to the upper field the other evening. It was hard to see, but I think I counted 4 pairs of little ears.
.
In the past, they have put in an appearance when they were much smaller than this.
After a while they took fright and rushed back into the woods.
.
Life is tough in my garden.
Especially if you are a sunflower.
Having avoided being shredded by cucumber beetles and being flattened by some clumsy beast, one of my sunflowers bravely continued to grow and produced the first flower, despite its mangled stalk.
This morning when I went to look, I found the flower had been stolen! Perhaps by the same criminal that flattened it 🙁
(See empty stalk lower right)
.
With the approach of Beryl, I gave the remaining sunflowers a bit of support. Not that those few sticks would have been very effective, but it was the best I could offer.
Those sunflowers are now as tall as me and there is still hope for them.
It is always the uninvited that grow best, of course.
Milkweed is an untidy plant and the heavily scented flowers draw flies, but we keep it for the monarch butterflies.
The question is, will there be any this year?
.
This is the first time we’ve had Queen Anne’s lace in the flowerbeds.
It may need to be restrained, but as far as I’m concerned it is welcome to stay, particularly since I have evidence that butterflies like it too.
A short excursion to Bennington yesterday saw us arrive home just in time for the following sequence…
.
Butterflies are so hard to photograph.
This beautiful creature made several passes as I attempted to capture it, but I was sure that I had failed.
.
.
What do you know!
This was the result of shooting blind!
A black swallowtail.
Isn’t she gorgeous?
That’s an impressive butterfly, well done Carolyn. Baby raccoons are very cute indeed.
Best wishes, Pete.
With Queen Anne’s Lace also being known as Wild Carrot, and the black swallowtail also called Parsnip Swallowtail, you have a nice vegetable patch!
Thank you, Carolyn, for the wonderful photography of your garden and wildlife!
Joanna
Your rosy morning is beautiful! We had a misty morning today (but it wasn’t nearly as pretty as yours … and also much colder). Life may be tough for the flowers in your garden, but definitely not for the wild life! And well done on the butterfly photos – they are lovely!!