Mingling with the Swallowtails

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies flit from the garden flowers to the wildflowers. I try to sneak up on them with my camera, but don’t always get there before they take off again, circle up into the trees and then make another pass again. One Swallowtail has a nipped off tail ---an accident or a predator’s bite? It can still fly just as gracefully.

This week we’ve had a lot of rainstorms, intermingled with sunny skies. Most everything is growing well, though the more fragile seeds I planted might have become meals for field mice.

The summer solstice has now passed…the days just ever so slowly at first…will become shorter now. But now…for the moment life is bright at Beatitude Pond.