Lily and Lace / Last of the Moose-hicans

The weather was getting hotter and stickier, as it does in mid-July. But skies were clear. And so my husband and I headed up the pike to Black Moshannon for a swim. They'd been tarring and chipping all of the roads up the hill for a while, and we avoided that area, but now they're done, so it was our first swim there of the year.

The first agenda item was a run for my husband, though, so we stopped on top of Rattlesnake Pike, and he ran while I walked around with my camera and my music. Last summer, the field at the top of the hill was just covered in butterflies, and that is where I headed.

I've had music-less walks this past week since my little pink tunes box died. My new blue tunes box, a 32 GB Sandisk Clip Sport Plus, arrived in the mail on Saturday. I charged it and put music on it, and on this day, I took it out for its first spin. It was great. I tried the radio too; fabulous! I'm very pleased on all accounts, and you'll get to meet the new toy soon!

From there, we headed down to the park's swimming area, ate the sandwiches we'd packed for lunch, sat around for a while, and then swam. We found the water temperature was cooler than Bald Eagle State Park but not as chilly as Whipple Dam. There were lovely breezes off the lake and it was quite comfortable there. This is why people went go up to the mountains in summertime; it's better there!

Let me warn you, though: there may be nearly naked people at the swimming area. Now, we all expect to encounter semi-nude people at nearly every turn on the Internet, but encountering them in real life can be even more shocking. You may see much more of certain body parts that maybe you did (or did not) really want to see. You have been warned!

Anyway, before I swam, I walked around the lake for a few minutes. I checked out the Little Free Library, nabbed one book. Little Moose came along, for he had heard we were heading for Black Moshannon. Moss-Hanne, the original name of the place, means "moose stream," so he felt right at home!

He sat on the "boardwalk" section of the Book Bench and I took his picture. You may see it in the extras. Little Moose said he had somehow gotten the impression there would be MORE moose there; that he would not be the ONLY one.

In the photo, he may be seen looking for and calling out for other moose. But no other moose answered. Is there a chance he may be the Last of the Moose-hicans? We don't know. But we remain hopeful that there may be other moose SOMEWHERE in this park. No matter how small.

When I walked past the environmental center, I stopped to photograph the orange day lilies which are ubiquitous this time of year. I photographed one perfect orange one. When I looked at the next lily, it seemed like it had black lace inside it.

But as I stood there and watched, it was not black lace, but a spicebush swallowtail butterfly, that emerged from the lily! Now, I got some great shots of this butterfly, which went in and out of that lily a bunch of times.

I chose this shot because I think it shows the fervor and motion of the butterfly, with the orange lily pollen just falling off its body, as it rushes back into that orange lily for another sip. Look at the cool polka-dot jammies on its body!

So these are my two photos for the day. For the picture of lily and lace above, of course, it has to be this song: Leather and Lace, by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley. For my Little Moose in the extras, searching for and calling out for his mates, here is Clannad, with I Will Find You, from the film The Last of the Mohicans.