 A monarch in chrysalis (and jar), a finch feeding its fledgling, a bee -- one of many, many pollinators on a drift of white flowering shrub-- and the daddy-long-legs that came strolling through as I tried to photograph the bee (can you see where it is hiding?). And a cicada shell and a cicada in person, so to speak. And two monarchs just after they emerged from chrysalis, followed by one showing off its wings. What a world!       
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 Late summer in Indiana, and the evening air is buzzing with insect song. And the prairie plantings are full of wings -- butterflies and dragonflies and more. I only just now noticed the little grasshopper below the swallowtail in the photo above!       Back home again in Indiana, we're speeding through August. It's a colorful month. abuzz with bees, butterflies and dragonflies. And the sound of cicadas and crickets rasping at dusk.       One evening a herd of elk wandered through the back yard. And it was high season for roadside flowers.        Bow River in Canmore, looking east to the Three Sisters My kids used to sing the Arrogant Worms song Rocks and Trees, in celebration of their Canadian heritage. And in Canmore we saw some of the rocks and trees and trees and rocks, and water. Also small wonders -- butterflies and wild flowers.      View out the back of the condo.  On the road in Alberta, from Edmonton to Canmore (just east of Banff) -- city towers in the distance, big sky, long prairie expanses, chartreuse canola fields, mountains across the meadows, sun and shadow on the Rockies.        Visiting with family in Alberta, we had a lovely day for visiting the Aga Khan Garden in the University of Edmonton Botanical Gardens. It combines water features and geometric designs with Alberta skies and flora. And then there are the small whimsical brass amphibians scattered around the main fountain...  The Source Fountain on the Talar or upper terrace, with a glimpse out to the rest of the gardens     Closer view of a brass lizard that can also be seen in a previous photo. (I didn't see any of these little critters the first time I went past this area -- and then discovered six or seven.)   The Mahtabi, a platform with intricate patterns connecting the formal garden with more informal wetlands and other gardens -- and another view of that big Alberta sky  The rose garden and fountain   The Ice Bagh (ice garden), whose paving pattern suggests the molecular structure of snow. And then there is the occasional wafting of water in another form.  Woodland Bagh, reflecting the forest canopy and sky -- just a few inches of water in the dark stone base  Back at the Source Fountain, another brass amphibian, and another photographer  Back in Goshen, the summer is in full swing. Coneflowers, beebalm, and Queen Anne's Lace are blooming, and I found my first monarch caterpillar on the milkweed in my garden. Dragonflies and dewdrops abound.       MennoCon 2019, in Kansas City, early July. The view from the top -- my hotel room was on the top floor, overlooking the plaza and the convention city. Cloud displays, 4th of July airshow jets practicing (six of them in tight formation), and fittingly, a double rainbow over the convention center.    If not raining, most mornings lately have at least been moist. I don't recall seeing this sort of beading of water droplets on morning glories before, but I found it again this morning. These are early bloomers, so perhaps other years the mornings weren't so damp when the morning glories started blooming. Raindrops on roses and delphinium and serviceberries, also known as saskatoons. They are ripening now and we picked a quart. In the prairie plantings, coneflowers are starting to open.       |
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