Of Mice and Men

Or, more accurately, of Jumpers and Moths.  But you get the idea.  

I was, once again, lurking in my new pollinator garden this morning, having staked out the ever-busy Montauk daisies.  Patiently waiting...when a flutter caught my eye.  Hmmm, a rather boring looking brown moth.  But still, it's obviously a diurnal (daytime) moth and that might be worth a look and a few shots.  Creeping ever-closer until I had her in my crosshairs...when another little bit of brown movement caught my eye.  

A jumping spider - my favorite!!  And, the little go-getter was clearing sizing up the potential of Moth for breakfast.  A clear case of 8 eyes being bigger than one tiny stomach.  After a bit of eyes to eye contact, the spider retreated to back under the daisy petals to await a more suitably sized meal.  The moth, undaunted, continued to gather nectar.

The end.

Okay, well not the end of my journal today, of course - just the end of that particular story.

I released Monarch #125 today, a male, who flew in honor of a friend of mine who has been gone many years.  His name was James and he and his partner were frequent visitors when I lived in NYC; they were also at our wedding.  When I look back through old photos, I don't have a single photo of James where he isn't smiling his big, wonderful smile.  The earth lost a little bit of light when James succumbed to liver cancer.  So, fly fast and strong, #125, with the spirit of James on your wings.

Tomorrow morning, Hubs and I are off to Chincoteague Island for a long weekend.  Can't wait.  We've got a room on the beach and plan to just relax and unwind for three days.  

xo
Debbi

PS:  My friend, Barb, is chrysalis-sitting for me this weekend and will be releasing for me.