Kinda hard to resist...

This is the first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly I've seen in my garden this summer.  Much later than usual, but a beautiful fresh specimen.  Hopefully he'll find a female or two to pass along his DNA.  I didn't do a thing to this shot - I considered cropping it a little and decided to just leave it alone.  Sometimes nature just doesn't need any faffing.

I was sorely tempted to blip another summer first, a gorgeous Snowberry Clearwing Moth, but now that my phlox is blooming, I should see more of these.  

I also got some decent photographs of a most interesting mutually symbiotic relationship between tiny ants and tinier planthopper nymphs.  The ants actually protect the nymphs from predators, actively defending the tiny creatures.  In return, they dine on the "honeydew" that is secreted by the nymphs.  I have several "nurseries" under some of the leaves on one of my sunflowers and I confess to being utterly fascinated by this behavior.  A new one for me.  

Hubs and I made an emergency trip to the eye doctor today after Hubs stabbed himself in the eye with a piece of tree branch.  Doc says it should heal just fine, but Hubs is wearing a protective antibiotic lens for a couple of days and administering drops.  Always scary when anything happens to an eye.  

Early this morning, I drove about 20 miles to the venue where I'll be doing my "bug lady" thing with the kids on Wednesday.  It's a great setting with several well-groomed trails in the woods and lots of good leafy areas to find bugs.  The number of kids registered is at 75, so they are putting them into four separate groups with each group spending 20-25 minutes with me.  It should be loads of fun.

No visit with MIL today, but she'll be coming over tomorrow for dinner so we'll get some good time together then.  

Thank you so much for stopping by.

xo
Debbi