More Wheaton MD Butterflies (and a bird)

Fewer tiger swallowtails this weekend but an influx of fritillaries made up for it. Also fewer bumblebees. And the bird--sneaking around near the ground, perhaps a female yellowthroat. Shy.

Skippers

Gray Hairstreak

Fritillaries

Walking, gardening, dining

We walked to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Regional Park -- almost 3.5 miles (round trip) according to the gmap Pedometer site. A lovely walk that made me tired enough to be calm. I already had a head start on tiredness from working outside in the sun planting the various things I bought last week (white butterfly bush, 2 caryopteris, purple coneflower, helenium, plus all the daylilies I had to move to make room, plus the bit of deutzia I brought back from Maine.)

A fritillary (not sure which medium sized one) seemed to be ovipositing on leaves of violets in the yard, seeming to favor younger leaves in areas I had watered in the course of my planting.

We had dinner at the Mykonos Grill (nice vegetarian moussaka).

Is worry a lack of ahimsa towards oneself?

Small town parade

We went out before lunch walking to a nearby store and found the intersection of Georgia & University blocked off for a parade in honor of 50 years of the Wheaton Rescue Squad and the 83rd Annual Convention and Parade of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. It included a line of firetrucks and ambulances several blocks long, pompom girls, "cowboys" on horseback--one with a long horn steer--and endless sirens. Baffling, deafening, and surprisingly moving as an assertion of a real community tradition.

Butterflies

Intermediate form of the black female eastern tiger swallowtail, looking dusted with a black haze. Wheaton MD 9/4/05

Back to the backyard

About the yard:
Crabgrass. Weeds in the flower beds; not so many in the lawn, not since "Trugreen Chemlawn" mistakenly treated our lawn instead of the one at the same house number on the next street.
But we did have some nice lilies and the butterfly bushes are attracting butterflies and (this morning) 2 humming birds.
About the blog:
It's been neglected, I admit. I have had many ideas for what I thought of as letters I should write to others. But maybe this is the place for them. I'll try that in a bit.