reminiscing of summer

Though I have been enjoying the autumn, I have found myself reminiscing of summer already.  I know, I know, it's too soon to begin anticipating summer, but for as much as I love the autumn colors, I already am wanting more green. I thought I'd share a couple of photos from this summer that just make me smile at the memory.

Mrs. Bluebird on her nest

A clay-ey lake

My favorite amphibian -- Leopard frog

Female monarch freshly hatched from her chrysalis which can be seen above her

the queen of insects

Do you like spiders?  I absolutely love them.  I will never purposely kill one -- if they're in my house, I typically let them stay or if they are walking across the floor, I'll take them outside.

However, even though this beautiful Queen was only sitting in her web in the corner of the hallway, I wasn't going to let her stay. She, along with the brown recluse, are unwelcome in my house.

Allow me to introduce you to, the Queen of Insects!

This amazing, female black widow spider was a real treat for me to find this morning.  The last time I found a widow, it was a male, and although he was beautiful, the females are definitely more exciting because of their poisonous bite.

Thankfully no one was bitten.  Regardless, this lovely lady is not going to be released the usual way -- she'll be let out into the woods far, far from my house.

lately

The weather has been all over the place as of late.  One day it's very warm and the next it's quite cool.  Autumn is beginning to settle in, and she is clearly a little unsure of what temperature is best.  I'll let her, though, because I still have tomatoes yet to ripen on the vine and I also have more woolens to make before the frosts begin. Autumn, please take your time.

In the meantime, :

first butternuts from the garden -- the littlest that you see was only 4 inches long!

hawthorn leaf

Klaus, prepared (and hoping) to run into some small animal mischief

Mini web that Michael discovered

Who knew that slugs ate fungus? I sure didn't! 

unidentified, but beautiful fungus specimens!

Michael and Klaus

Walking in the woods and happening upon little gems of nature is a soul-deepening experience.  If you haven't been out in the woods lately, I highly suggest it! Since Michael and I both have a little time off this week, I am going to drink in the woods as much as I can.

a discovery

There are many things that I have not seen in my yard since moving into town. I haven't seen toads, frogs, snakes, praying mantises, or other fun creatures.

I finally get to check one thing off of my list of "things I haven't seen", though.





I was absolutely delighted to find this in the garden today:

camouflaged in the wormwood

Painted Lady

A couple of weeks ago at school, we had some free time to harvest nettle if we chose to.  We harvested some nettle and then realized that it had little caterpillars on it.  Since I knew what their host food was, I decided to take the caterpillars home and raise them.  After lots of munching and a week and a half long metamorphosis period, out came a Painted Lady butterfly!

River Hike

I was fortunate enough to find some time to relax with some friends the other day and go for a hike down the river. In most parts the river is not very deep, so we were able to hike through it pretty easily.  I will say though that walking through water for a couple of hours will definitely make your muscles sore! Here is a picture of a young snapping turtle that we found during the excursion:

...and an amazing and beautiful, super large spider! Her legs were nearly 3 inches long!

Plants and Caterpillars

Work is in full swing already -- hello, busy season at the restaurant! Though it has taken away a bit from what I'd really like to be doing, I still, of course, have found time for gardening and knitting.

Unfortunately, with all of the wonky weather we had earlier with the ups and downs in temperature, all of my cool weather plants have gone to seed as a result.  We are planning on tearing down the rows of arugula, bok choy, and mizuna and then replant them now that the weather is fluctuating less. This was a bit of a bummer to say the least, but I'd rather replant and have a successful harvest rather than be eating bitter, woody greens.

monarch larva

nearly ripe strawberry (...I ate all of the ripe ones without thinking to take a picture...)

red core chantenay carrots

BEETS!

I watched as a female black swallowtail butterfly laid two eggs on my flat-leaf parsley.

 the cayenne pepper is growing!

 the bees

 early broccoli

 borage

seed carrot from last year

 lemon balm that I found and transplanted

jasmine-scented nicotiana -- it's getting bigger!

 an unknown species (to me, anyway) of chrysalis.  The larva was feeding on stinging nettle.

 these two were also found on the stinging nettle.
larva of the black chrysalis two photos above.

the changing of seasons

I have no recent pictures.  I have done nothing noteworthy.  I have just been living and not blogging and I am sorry for that.  Michael and I leave on vacation in two days--this Friday at 6:25 am, to be exact.  We are going to a place I can only hope to return to again one day, but with the lifestyle that I am trying to create for myself, that may very well never happen.  To say the least, I am going to try and savor this.  I am going to try very hard. St John in USVI will be a paradise, and I am excited to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey.  I will probably have pictures in a couple of days, so please bear with me.

For now, here is an assortment of pictures that represent my loves, my life, and my soul.

black swallowtail larva

lion's mane fungus

black swallowtail larva

seed-filled pod

praying mantis

Have a great day, everyone! 

How does your garden grow?

...with no silver bells or cockle shells, but we have a lot of vegetables!! This summer we've had the absolute best weather for our garden. Everything is growing really well with little to no true pests.

Sunny sunflower:

Sweet dumpling:

Acorn:

Butternut:

Watermelon:

Cantaloupe:

Pumpkin:

In addition to all of those squash-types, we have items like this lovely cotton plant with a bud:

...and a baby eggplant:

Lastly, there are the wonderful insects that patrol the area. This lovely little fellow is looking back at the camera...

Stay green! :)