Well, we’re going through a cool-down here in Dunwich. It’s been in the low seventies today and rainy. I heard this will be going on for a week or so. That’s okay. With the kids going back to school it’s best if it’s not too hot. Most of the school buildings aren’t air conditioned so summer weather is truly oppressive especially while the kids are still in mourning over summer vacation.
I walked around in the rain and found some interesting bugs. There was a preying mantis and some hungover bumble bees holding onto the cone flowers for dear life. And then I found this really tiny, almost microscopic bight yellow spider. At least I think it’s yellow. Sometimes it turns out that these things are really some very light, bright green that looks yellow to people like me who are blind to green. Well, whatever color it was, it was sliding around on a strand of web and moving from flower petal to flower petal, trying to look like part of the plant. And maybe to someone with color vision, maybe because he’s some kind of green, maybe he does blend in. But to me he sticks out like a sore thumb. So, every time he flies off, I watch him trying to blend into his background. So, then I start trying to get good photos of him. But he’s unbelievably small and every tiny breath of wind shakes the flower stem and throws off my focus. So, I probably took dozens of frames that will be just blurred garbage and those files will add to the terabytes of photos that I should be deleting from my desk top hard drive but don’t.
But it was fun. I found a monarch butterfly chrysalis on a day lily plant. It was at least fifty feet from the nearest milkweed plants, so that’s an interesting bit of information that I can use in the future. I’m trying to decide if I should collect the chrysalis and try to photograph the hatching. I’m trying to decide what would be the optimal container to allow me to get the best photos of the hatching process. I probably will have to hurry because they only spend a week or two in the chrysalis and for all I know it may already be ready to hatch.
There’s talk about another kid’s movie in the near future for me. Princess Sack of Potatoes is back next week for the end of her vacation. The plan is to see the new Minions movie. Camera Girl is also a fan of these annoying yellow creatures so the three of us will experience this event together. Actually, the last Minions movie wasn’t so bad. It took place in the 1960s in New York and London and the music was very nostalgic. I haven’t looked into what the theme for this masterpiece will be but it’s a non-Disney production so that is at least one factor in its favor. Well, here we go into fall!