summer

Summer is Here

Rae Spencer2 Comments

The thermostat insists that it is not as hot this week as it was last week, but I’m not convinced. The difference between high-nineties and triple digits is barely perceptible. Both are too hot for comfort.

Even so, the yard remains active. A new dove nest is taking shape, a new wave of dragonflies has arrived, and a clutch of praying mantises have hatched in the ginger lilies.

(I believe this is a Yellow-sided Skimmer.)

While chasing this praying mantis through the ginger lilies, I stumbled across a young katydid. Both creatures were very wary of the camera. It didn’t help that I tend to be too clumsy for stealth.

Lightning

Rae Spencer13 Comments

Here in the mid-Atlantic, the heat wave has spawned severe thunderstorms two nights in a row. Last night, the lightning was so spectacular that I couldn’t resist trying to catch a few frames.

(This last one convinced me that I had taken more than enough pictures…)

The Lotus Garden

Rae Spencer8 Comments

The lotus garden near Sandbridge Beach is beginning to bloom. Today I stopped for a few minutes, trying to ignore the ridiculous heat and harsh midday glare.

A Lovely Pest

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I believe these are Japanese Beetles. Every year I see a handful of them, but only a handful. They hang around for a month or two, mating in the roses and stripping a few leaves off the crepe myrtle. Then they disappear.

Fortunately, they have not become a major problem in our yard. The worst part of having them around, for me, is the worry. I watch and wait, dreading the possibilities. Wondering if this will be the summer that our modest population of beetles spawns a hungry swarm…

Hoverfly

Rae Spencer4 Comments

I wonder if the hoverfly thinks about beauty. Are daisies lovely, through its eyes, or simply another field of nectar? If your life’s work is harvesting nectar, does sweetness turn dusty and tired, soured by toil and necessity?