Hey everyone, it’s really hard to put into words how beautiful the wildflowers have been. And it’s almost a disservice to talk about them when they could be shown. Forgive me, I’ve left off the monarch butterfly and the hummingbird. I will need to make another video to showcase them.
I hope you enjoy this video and that wherever you are, you’re having a great weekend.
p.s. my categories selection isn’t working after some type of update, so if you never see this, I won’t be surprised. Thanks, WordPress. 
It’s late summer now, and the plants feel like they’re done. It’s been far too hot, far too rainy and the plants are tired. My eastern redbud is dying, its leaves have been dropping all summer and at the base of the tree, you can see the borers doing their damage. The shock of ERJ being sick combined with several other losses this summer broke my heart a little bit. But after some tests, the doctor says my heart is normal. It broke, but it is getting better. I saw a hummingbird a few days ago. I opened the front door and it was hovering above the red Zinnia, staring at me. It looked displeased. I apologized for the lack of selection, but most of the Zinnia had to be pulled because they got powdery mildew. A few days ago, a monarch butterfly arrived to the same plant, and was visibly irritated by the lack of selection. Hopefully they don’t leave me a bad review. I’d like more visitors next year.
I’ve seen a cicada shell, in the usual space I see them. On the clothes pole. I never catch the live bug – I arrive too late.
Ma’am has been here on and off. She had babies this summer, and her face is totally healed. I saw her last week. She’s looking good.
I have four fledgling robins in my backyard, two young squirrels, many sparrows, and very demanding Cardinals. My backyard is the nursery for all of the babies. There was plenty of water at ground level and above in the birdbath, and there are peanuts, served daily. I just wish the moms would come back and pick up their kids!
The hibiscus just finished up blooming. Acorns are dropping prematurely from William I, my 100-year-old Willow Oak. It’s likely due to the weather, or the small acorns not being pollinated. As I said, it was a rough summer.
We’re heading into spider season. I’ve got an office mate named “Stephen with a ph,” and he takes care of any fruit flies for me. I have to be careful not to bump him with my chair or he runs and hides. His cubicle is quite small, so I don’t insist he pay rent. Plus, he’s doing me a service. I only wish he could get the mosquitoes down to his lair.
Here are some photos of late spring and summer. I haven’t posted photos here in a while, and I have missed it. Watch the space for a 🕸️ post.
ERJ before the fatal diagnosisI had no idea these blooms were the lastSome type of Daisy like plant I couldn’t resistWild cloverMy mom’s clematis and a purple petuniaA bumble!Part of a wildflower mix – anyone know?Basil the pig and friendMa’am 💗Pink zinniaHibiscusBlack petunia, my favorite plantRed zinniaCicada shellAnnoyed Monarch butterfly on giant zinnia I DO NOT LIKE THE PINK KIND, LADY 😠
I’ve been taking photographs of flowers and trees and plants and bees…all spring and summer. Ma’am the squirrel makes an appearance in the video below. She’s got babies now and she stops by, but those babies take up a lot of her time. She’s fully healed, so it’s hard for me to tell if it’s her or not her. I ask all the squirrels if they are ma’am. I am pretty sure they think I am the strangest food lady ever.
Some sad news to report on ERJ (my eastern redbud tree, for those who are new here. He and William The First, my Willow Oak, are tied for favorite tree first place): I noticed he wasn’t doing well a couple months ago and had an arborist come look at him. He has borers. The arborist seemed to think ERJ would pull through, but I have serious doubts. I know my tree, and he doesn’t look well. His leaves are yellowing and dropping. He has tons of suckers and tons of seed pods. I feel like this is his last hurrah trying to create new generations. I have applied the insecticide three times now and I don’t think it’s working. You might remember ERJ from previous posts. I will be very sad to lose him, but at the end of this video, you will see I have another redbud in my backyard and its leaves are huge. I love the heart shape of the leaves. It’s truly my favorite type of tree. But don’t tell William.
I hope you enjoy this trip around my flowers, an (unnamed) eastern redbud, a lightning bug, a bumblebee and a squirrel.
It’s really simple. This is what I do: I wake up, open my eyes and say, “I’m grateful for everything I have been given.”
At some point during the day – especially if it’s summer – I will venture outside and say it again. Then I will find happiness in the simple things, which aren’t that simple when you think about it.
Two days ago, I found myself kneeling in the dirt with my face in a coreopsis, watching and listening as a honeybee buzzed around my head to get the sweet nectar from the flowers. The bee had no pollen on her legs, so I knew she wasn’t collecting pollen, she was having a sweet drink. No, I am not scared of bees. Yes, I have been stung many times, but each of those times have been accidental, and not the fault of the bee. Last summer, I stepped on a bee and yes, the pain of the sting was excruciating, but all I could think of was that I carelessly and foolishly killed a honey bee. We need every honeybee we can get, and if I had looked down, I would’ve seen that I shouldn’t have put my foot there. I now make it a point to look down before I put my foot down, and try to walk away from the clover, not through it. I also now always wear shoes when walking through the grass, which I’d rather not do, as feeling the grass on my feet in the summer is one of the best sensations of the season. But, I don’t want to kill bees with my feet.
The point about the bees, other than we desperately need honeybees, so please don’t kill them – if they die, we die – is this: I am grateful for the bees. They are essential to our survival, and they are fascinating. They are not buzzing around outside trying to get us. As I’ve written before, most of the flying creatures I chase are actively trying to run away from me and my phone’s camera.
Yesterday, a worker bee tolerated my presence and allowed me to capture her on video.
After this encounter, I said hi to my wasp friends. More on that later. And no, nobody stung me.
🎶 “She works hard for the honey, so hard for the honey, so you better treat her right…”🎶
I don’t know which is worse: the common name or the Latin name.
When I noticed this stunning bug on a wildflower that is growing up through my rosebush, its legs weren’t the first thing I thought about, nor clamored to see. My first thought wasn’t “I need to be able to judge its leg length compared to other flies’ leg lengths!” I had never seen one of these before, and I am not sure that I ever will again. It is not native to my area.
I tried not to scare it away as I reached for my phone. You know how I like to chase things that are cute – or in this case stunningly beautiful – and you know how they run away from me (bunnies, bumblebees, butterflies, I’m looking at you…). I inched closer to this marvelous being, and was able to capture a few shots. Unfortunately, my phone was completely captivated and was unable to focus on the creature very well, and I ended up with only one decent photo.
After the Beauty Queen of the Backyard flew off, I went inside and did some research. Google told me this electrifyingly blue-green insect was called a Long-Legged Fly. First of all, this bug did not have Daddy-Long Leg legs – that would have been pretty obvious, and honestly? Ridiculous. My second complaint was: why are we focusing on legs when we have an entire blue-green iridescent body that is deserving of a better name than one given to a hillbilly at a dive bar in a Holler?
And then there is the Latin, official name: Condylostylus mundus. Really? The only thing I see here is stylus, and maybe that is vaguely appropriate, but we need to alter the word to stylish.
A far better photo, likely by a professional who doesn’t chase down shiny creatures in the backyard
In summary, I have renamed this fly, which, by the way, eats aphids and other pests, and is completely not like the regular fly that we associate with trash and maggots. (Sidebar: I absolutely abhor maggots, and will run for the hills, alternatively screeching and gagging if I see even one of them.) Flies are disgusting. I know they’re necessary, but I also know every time they land they throw up, and I can be down with the delectable bee vomit, but I am not down with fly vomit under any circumstances.
But I digress. Back to the stylish fly. I’ve decided to rename it, and I think that the governing bodies of naming insects should listen to me.
The flowers are blossoming, and the critters are crittering.
First coreopsis bloomClematis in full bloomTiger Lillies are in bloomThe hydrangea are in bloom Pretty colorsHundreds of baby lightning bugs/fireflies live in my grass – I’m avoiding stepping in the grass so I don’t squash them! Bunny doing bunny things
I’ve been capturing a lot of flowers lately. We’re still waiting on the Calla lilies, the daisies, the clematis and the hydrangea. Everything else is blooming or almost done blooming. Special bonus photos at the bottom.
DIANTHUS!!! (Yes, I’m yelling – look at this thing!)White peony with dashes of pink. Yes, they smell divine. Unfortunately, the rains have decimated the peonies. This is my lavender seedling. Unfortunately, the rains have caused this little guy to struggle. Lavender does not like a lot of rain, and that’s all the skies are giving.BLUE HASTA is taking up so much space I had to clip some of the leaves in the back of the plant so that the Calla lilies could survive. They are not quite blooming.Wild strawberry growing amongst the clover.Coral-colored rose. Yes, it smells divine.Susie watching birds.Ma’am. I can’t resist her little hands folded like that. Yesterday we almost had a crisis, however. Ma’am was over-eager for the peanuts and tried to enter the house. Crisis averted.Don’t ask me how, but I captured this male cardinal in mid-flight. He loves peanuts. He will yell at me through the window if he sees me in the house. He doesn’t go to bed until very late, and will yell at me until about 8:30pm. I yell back that he should be in bed by now, he’s a bird.
“It's Amy,” I said. 