a random sampling of roadside pleasures

July already? 

Gone are the days when I could while away the hours on a mere trip to the mailbox a quarter mile away, and get 200 shots in. For lo, I am gainfully employed and whatnot, and damn if it doesn't eat in to the esoteric pursuits. Translation: oh right, the Mighty Lumix! Let's go out into the world with it, shall we?

The milkweed is just starting to pop.

This summer, I've let a handful of milkweed get established in the lawn because, why not? We got mouths to feed. Specifically, this one:



I spotted this monarch caterpillar a couple of days ago but couldn't find him (her?) (it?) today. Must be around somewhere.

Grass is always good for a close-up. I don't know what kind. The tall kind. Sorta like timothy grass, but we have that, and it hasn't gotten this far along yet.

Purple-flowering raspberry. I'm just going to go on a binge here, don't mind me. We'll start with the beginning:

Some say beauty fades with youth, but I'm not so sure...the petals may be gone, but this is life unfolding before your very eyes...

Ah, wasn't that fun? Soon that'll ripen into the the sweetest little open-cupped raspberry you can imagine. Yum.

Here, have a fly.

And now, a final dose of purple, courtesy of the bittersweet nightshade flower...

OK, time to call it a night.

inhale/exhale

Feeling somewhat impressionistic today.

We have several rose of sharon scattered around the house. That’s a seed pod from last year. Dunno where this year’s are.

columbine’s jester hat.

jester’s hat + jester’s slippers. (tis the seed bits forming.)

spiderwort, in pink! in VT, we have purple, and white, but not pink.

lilac.

triptych.

gap-toothed innocence, gratuitous purple, and an orgy

I’ve been pretty busy lately, and I haven’t gone as far afoot as I might like, but geez, there’s still plenty going on within sight of the house. There’s the brown-eyed susan update, for one:

june 16

Two days later. Someone’s been chomping on a petal. This shot reminds me of a six-year old who’s just lost her two front teeth, but gives you just as big a grin as ever.

One day later and our six-year old is a lanky adolescent.

Little sis, the next one up, gazes up with envy at her glamorous sister.

Plenty more where that came from.

Spiderwort buds are really…I don’t know…

…decadent, I think. So floppy! Although the one on the right looks ambitious.

And then they do this:

gaaahhhh.

it’s hard not to develop a passing interest in bugs when you stare into flowers’ naughty bits.

since that’s what the bugs are interested in, too. this here is probably some type of syrphid fly.

An orgy of god-knows-who all is getting down inside the newest, still-coming-up leaves of a milkweed plant:

“who are you lookin’ at?”

 

nearby, this guy shows off his derriere.

…and a leafhopper causes general amazement. Those colors! Who knew? The nice people at bugguide,net, apparently, who ID’d this for me.

I saw some queen anne’s lace for the first time today:

spiky bracts = a definitive characteristic.

I’ll leave you with a mystery.

who’s this? first person with the right answer gets points!

things just keep unfolding

Just what you’ve been waiting for: four days in the lives of two brown-eyed susans (june 11 – june 14). We’ll start with Baby.

now watch this – sun! the petals suddenly get a little glow to them.

 

and now, for Big Sis:

 

nearby, a gigantic moth was visiting a Cat’s Ear (Hypochoeris radicata).

 

and now, for some half-baked anemone:

spiderworts barfing purple

bluets: so ethereal. they just can’t help themselves.

 

purple-flowering raspberry

sunshine and rain, marbles made of water

A classic Vermont afternoon: full sun and rain, simultaneously. Actually, it’s the first decent batch of afternoon sun we’ve had in d-a-y-s, so even though I was more of a mind to put my feet up with a glass of wine, I headed out to see what there was to see. But first, I’ll show you the one bit of sun we had a few days ago, in the morning:

Fast-forward to this afternoon:

Spiderwort! I had to scrounge around for it behind the ferns.


An opportunistic vine of one-seeded burr cucumber, taking on a raspberry leaf. Both are invasives, so let’s just watch them duke it out.

Wild rose.

Raindrops on Indian hemp. Or, as Best Beloved just commented, “a marble made of water”. That boy’s a genius.

An anemone that’s lost all its petals already.

Honeysuckle babies. These will turn orange, then red.
The mail contained a treat today:


It’s the medal from the half marathon I just did. I asked my bro’ to mail it to me, since there was no way the TSA agents would let me take something with a corkscrew on it on a plane.