Lovely day

Mexican mint marigold

"Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, LOVELY DAY!" Remember that old song by Bill Withers? Give it a listen, then go outside! The day is truly beautiful. And so are our golden flowers in bloom! The Mexican mint marigold's looks wonderful, and so does our copper canyon daisy. Wow, the butterflies are everywhere on it!




P.S. I asked James if he remembered the song, "Lovely Day," and he just gave me a blank look. Even after I "sang" a few bars. So then I played it for him on the Internet. Nothing, nada. "You don't remember THAT?" I asked, astounded. "You've never heard that song before?"

James shook his head. "Did they play it on AM?" he offered. "I never listened to that kind of stuff. It was ROCK for me."

Alas. We may have gone to high school together back when, but we were definitely on different planets musically speaking. (Pssst, I confess. I loved the Carpenters. James, I'm pretty sure, was a Metallica man.)

Lovely day to you!

Serenity and hope

We've had more rains, which is such a blessing. Tiny red columbine seedlings have sprung up everywhere beneath their "parents." I'm not sure if they'll survive frosts and freezes that are just around the corner. But do they do offer a lot of hope for a beautiful spring. Our Wildscape is so lush now, thanks to all the moisture brought by nature. What a difference rain makes! We barely kept our plants alive through the dry summer with faucet water. Then the rains came, and they seemed to rejoice with growth and GREEN GREEN GREEN! God is Good!

Whaz up right now

Walking in our Wildscape is a wonderful experience since the rains have returned. Oh, my, the plants responded almost immediately to the drenches. Beautiful! As you can see, the blue mistflowers are in full bloom, just in time to welcome queens and an occasional monarch. I spotted a Gulf fritillary on the butterfly bush, too.

What's left of our fall aster (the deer munched on it during the summer) is blooming....

And our new white mistflower is blooming, too.

James spotted this interesting fly. Not sure what it is.....

A back view of that fly.

The Gulf muhly is going to seed. So lovely in the sunlight.....

We also found a ladybug, which I photographed and uploaded to the Lost Ladybug Project.

Always pays to look UP

Beautiful weather out there! I just ate my tortilla and cheese on the patio and happened to look up. Butterflies! Lots of them! Fluttering waaaaay up there, over our house, headed north. North? I ran for my binoculars and tried my best to focus on a few. Looks to me like they might be admirals. They're definitely not monarchs.

I e-mailed my entomologist friend, Mike Quinn, to ask (he lives in Austin) what he thinks. Stay tuned!

Just for fun...

After I lay down in the horseherb, James kept hold of the camera and insisted that I "pose" in front of the Mexican bush sage and gold lantana. So...........sigh.............I did. Believe me, I am NOT photogenic, but these came out fairly well. For one thing, my eyes are open!! Running these pics small small small.

More gone to seed

Evening rain lily
Cooperia drummondii

Common witchgrass?
(Some grasses are so hard to identify)

Sideoats grama flowering!

Just had to throw in a cool photo of a mushroom....

As high as horseherb

The other day, James said, "Look, sweetheart!" Then he lay down in the horseherb in our front yard... and nearly disappeared. It's gotten THICK. So Wednesday, I asked, "You dare me?" Yes, he explained, then he ran for a camera.

A little rain goes a LONG way when it comes to horseherb!! It grows like crazy!