Getting Ready for Tiny Tuesday

I am delighted to be hosting TinyTuesday this month, a wonderful macro photography challenge originally started by our own WWombat over 3 years ago.  And to get ready for the challenge, I decided to go on a little macro safari in my garden today.  Lots of interesting creatures, all vying to be tomorrow's blip.  But I decided on this rather diminutive Meadowhawk dragonfly to announce tomorrow's challenge.  She is happy to tell you that there is no particular theme, but reminds everyone that the spirit of the challenge is to get up close to your subject.  You don't need a fancy macro lens or even any special gear at all, although extension tubes and close-up filters are fun.  Just get your lens nice and close.  Finally, don't forget to tag your images with #TT171 or TinyTuesday171.

It is hot and humid out today.  In this kind of weather, it is not uncommon to see dragons perched with their abdomens raised up like this - it is one of the ways they thermoregulate their body temperature when it's hot. The theory on this behavior is that this minimizes the amount of sun exposure on their body surface. This lovely lady landed on her perch and had her tail raised skyward in under 30 seconds.  

I released two monarchs today, a boy and a girl, for people in my family who are gone many years, but not forgotten.  Things in the nursery are going gangbusters with monarchs in every stage from eggs to chrysalids.  And, because I don't have enough of my own monarch cats, I agreed to take a friend's 8 and finish them off. Fortunately all but one are in their last instar phase meaning that they'll pupate very soon.  In fact, in the next few day I should have 15-20 pupating which will get the number being fed to something that is hopefully more manageable.  Milkweed is getting more scarce now as many of the plants are starting to die back for the year.  

MIL is over for Sunday dinner - the first time since she was in the hospital.  She is mostly using a wheelchair now, but can still get around on a walker with some help.  So, getting her in and out of the house is challenging.  But, it's good to have her here.  

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for all the love on my anniversary (and the warbler) yesterday.  

xo
Debbi