Water Droplets

Photograph taken on Friday, July 26, 2019 by Henry
Water Droplets

Water Droplets

I went out into the empty lot next to my building today but didn’t get a lot of pictures to show for it. There was a small depression in the ground, it looked like it might have been a deer footprint, with a small spider web in it. The spider web had water droplets on it, and that’s what you see here. The web itself is practically invisible so it just looks like water droplets floating in air. Very cool, I think. I didn’t have a tripod and even if I did, getting this close to the ground is a problem. I have a new (used) tripod with legs that spread far enough to get me pretty low but the central post is too long for that to make a difference. In any case, just the tripod head is too tall in this case. A bean bag would have been better, but I didn’t have that, either.

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Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 25, 2019 by Henry
Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

As I’ve mentioned, the eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is the most plentiful, large butterfly in our yard all summer. They are followed by the monarch (Danaus plexippus) in a distant second place. They generally are harder to photograph than the swallowtails but this one let me get close and I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s perched on Verbena bonariensis growing in our front yard, near where the Colorado spruce used to be.

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Eristalis transversa (Transverse Flower Fly)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 24, 2019 by Henry
Eristalis transversa (Transverse Flower Fly)

Eristalis transversa (Transverse Flower Fly)

I was taking photos of the black-eyed Susan flowers this evening when I spotted this little fly, a transverse flower fly (Eristalis transversa) visiting them. It wouldn’t stay still for very long and I had a hard time getting a good picture. Ideally it would be on top of the dark eye in the flower, but I wasn’t able to get that. I like the combination of colors that matches the flowers. These are pretty little flies and easily spotted in the garden. As flies go, I enjoy these about as much as any.

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2007 Town and Country

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Henry
2007 Town and Country

2007 Town and Country

We bought a new car today. It’s new to us, anyway, although it’s a 2007, so not really new. The timing is pretty great, coming as it does shortly after the old 2000 Town and Country gave up the ghost in Chicago, as Dorothy and Abba were driving to Albuquerque. I happened to mention Dorothy’s woes to a few coworkers and one of them said her parents were going to sell their car—also a Town and Country—because they are moving to Florida and already have cars there. We made the transaction today but still need to get it registered, but it’s here. The new pride of the fleet.

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Tiger Swallowtail and Tiger Lily

Photograph taken on Monday, July 22, 2019 by Henry
Tiger Swallowtail and Tiger Lily

Tiger Swallowtail and Tiger Lily

The tigers are out in force. We have tiger lilies (Lilium lancifolium) blooming in a few areas in the yard. They are especially spectacular in the morning when the sun is on them. We also have tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) in pretty good numbers. They are mostly on the tiger lilies and on the buddleia bushes and we’ve counted more than ten together on one buddleia bush. Most of them are the standard yellow and black but about ten percent are the darker version that I photographed a few days ago.

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Micrathena gracilis (Spiny Micrathena)

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 21, 2019 by Henry
Micrathena gracilis (Spiny Micrathena)

Micrathena gracilis (Spiny Micrathena)

A few days ago I had a picture of a spider web, taken in Rock Creek Park (see Thursday, July 18, 2019). I mentioned that it belonged to a spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilis) but the spider wasn’t in the picture. Today we had a little time before church so we walked in the Stadtman Preserve for a little and I saw another spined Micrathena and got this picture of her. It frankly isn’t a great picture but you can see where it gets its “spined” appellation. Sorry I have nothing better for today. Maybe tomorrow.

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Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 20, 2019 by Henry
Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

Moon Landing 50th Anniversary

We hadn’t planned on going downtown today. It was about 100°F late this afternoon and we had no real interest in being out any more than necessary. However, we drove Cathy’s mom to a wedding in Rosslyn so we were pretty close. We went across the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge and parked just off of Constitution Avenue and then walked east to 14th street.

After getting dinner from a food truck and eating it in a pretty, little patio garden next to the African American Museum, we found our viewing spot for the show. I won’t say I remember it like it was yesterday but I definitely remember watching and being excited by the Apollo 11 moon launch and landing. For the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, a Saturn V rocket image was projected onto the side of the Washington Monument, starting at about 9:00 PM.

Then at 9:30, a show began, where they “constructed” the rocket on the launch pad and then it took off. We watched the stages separate and then the command and service modules, with the LEM attached, headed off to the moon, carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. It was very hot and of course there were lots of people. Nevertheless, we were absolutely glad we went and really enjoyed the show.

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Red Roses

Photograph taken on Friday, July 19, 2019 by Henry
Red Roses

Red Roses

Cathy’s mom had a visit today from an old friend and her husband. They brought these flowers, which was nice, and they looked lovely in the late afternoon sun coming in through the dining room windows. I took pictures of them from a bunch of different angles. Deep reds like this are a challenge for my digital camera and they tend to overwhelm the sensor but this one turned out pretty well. No disrespect meant towards Canon. It’s a really intense color and it came out well. Our eyes are such remarkable organs with the ability to see such a huge range of color and brightness that it isn’t actually surprising that technology is still trying to get there. We’ve come a long way, though.

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Spider Web

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 18, 2019 by Henry
Spider Web

Spider Web

I stopped and walked into Rock Creek Park on the way home today. It’s a nice, wooded area and generally away from traffic, so I like being there. It’s definitely high summer now and the underbrush is about at it’s deepest but I’m happy to leave the bike path and walk the short distance through the brush to the creek itself. I passed a few spider webs, which isn’t unusual this time of year, but it wasn’t until I got to this one that I stopped. This one had the sun shining on it and that made it a lot easier to photograph. This was made by a spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilis), one of the orb weavers (family Araneidae).

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Salt and Pepper Shakers

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 by Henry
Salt and Pepper Shakers

Salt and Pepper Shakers

In going through things at Cathy’s mom’s house, there was a box of salt and pepper shakers. Unless you collect them, salt and pepper shakers are the sort of things you only need a few of but which you often end up with lots of. They aren’t expensive and they don’t take up a lot of space. And occasionally they are decorative and interesting on their own. These are kind of nice and we assume they are from Thailand, but don’t really know anything about them beyond that. They are quite small and not really very practical, but again, they don’t take up a lot of space.

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Northern Flatid Planthopper (Flatormenis proxima)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 by Henry
Northern Flatid Planthopper (<em>Flatormenis proxima</em>)

Northern Flatid Planthopper (Flatormenis proxima)

I took a few pictures of butterfly weed flowers this evening and I might have posted one of them. A little later I noticed this white leafhopper and got a few pictures of it, including this reasonably sharp image. Getting a good picture was made more difficult by the breeze, which was moving the stem the planthopper was on, but this one turned out pretty well. It was sharp enough for it to be identified as a northern flatid planthopper (Flatormenis proxima), one of our more common planthoppers. They do little damage and I left him alone to get what he needed from this plant.

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Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)

Photograph taken on Monday, July 15, 2019 by Henry
Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)

Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)

I stopped at Lake Needwood this afternoon to see what I could see. It’s gotten quite hot, with the forecast for hotter still by the end of the week. The butterflies and dragonflies like that sort of weather, and they were out in pretty good numbers. I happened to spot this question mark (Polygonia interrogationis), so called because of a roughly question mark shaped mark on the underside of their hindwings. I got one photo of the butterfly on a shrub and then if flew and landed on my thigh, thus the blue denim of my jeans. I was able to get a few pretty good photos, including this one. I also got one showing the question mark, but I think this is prettier.

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Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 14, 2019 by Henry
Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

This is a dark-morph (and thus a female) eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on the buddleia outside our kitchen door. The tiger swallowtails are the most numerous, large butterflies in our garden, followed by monarchs (Danaus plexippus). Otherwise, we only have occasional visitors. There are a lot of smaller butterflies and skippers, particularly small skippers. But the large, gaudy swallowtails are fun to watch and among my favorites.

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Jordan Almonds

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 13, 2019 by Henry
Jordan Almonds

Jordan Almonds

Not much of a picture today, I’m afraid, but here are some Jordan Almonds, almonds coated in sugar with a pastel colored layer on the outside. These are often served at weddings, with—I’m led to believe—the “bitter” almonds and the “sweet” sugar symbolizing the bitterness of life and sweetness of love. I love almonds and adding sugar to them can only make them better. Frankly, I prefer the less pretentious (in my opinion) Nuql (or Noghl in Iran), the Persian sugared almonds that are just sugar without the smooth coat or colors added. But I’ll rarely turn these down, if that’s what’s offered.

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Roses ‘Perle d’Or’

Photograph taken on Friday, July 12, 2019 by Henry
Roses ‘Perle d’Or’

Roses ‘Perle d’Or’

We’re getting a second flush of roses on the ‘Perle d’Or’ outside our front door. This small polyantha rose has a nice, apricot-yellow color with perfect, if tiny buds, opening to somewhat less perfect blossoms that are, nonetheless, quite lovely. The fragrance alone is enough to make me want this rose and putting it right outside our front door was a good choice. It has been killed back in parts in some particularly cold winters but generally it does pretty well and so far has not suffered any irreversible damage.

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Back Garden at Dusk

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 11, 2019 by Henry
Back Garden at Dusk

Back Garden at Dusk

It was a pretty evening today and I took this photo out our kitchen door at dusk. It’s hard to convey the feeling at dusk, because it tends to look like nothing so much as an underexposed photo. I obviously had to be a little careful not to lighten this photo any more than necessary, in order to retain that dusky feeling. You can see the three ornamental, lighted, garden globes in this photo, although only one of them is actually lit. A second one seems to work some days and not others. They aren’t all that well made, unfortunately, and don’t last very well. That’s a little disappointing.

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Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 by Henry
Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

The tiger lilies are blooming and they are really spectacular this year. My dad had these growing in his garden and from time to time we would take the little bulbils that form in the angle between the leaves and stem on these plants and we’d put them in our garden. We continued that process, with bulbils from our own plants and now we have a pretty good number of them around the yard. These are growing in the small bed where an oak tree once grew. That tree was dying when we bought the house and has since been removed. There are daffodils there and Cathy often puts annuals in the center of the bed, but these lilies are growing towards the back (the house side). They are over six feet tall and quite striking, with racimes of large, orange, downward-facing flowers.

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Epargyreus clarus (Silver-spotted Skipper)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 09, 2019 by Henry
Epargyreus clarus (Silver-spotted Skipper)

Epargyreus clarus (Silver-spotted Skipper)

As we were getting ready to leave for work this morning, running a bit late, as we often do, I paused to take a few pictures of butterflies and skippers on the goose neck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) growing by the driveway. This is a silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus), one of the larger skippers we see regularly in our garden, with a wingspan up to about five centimeters. It is common through most of North America and certainly common for us. They’re easily identified by the large, silvery-white irregular spot on their hind wings.

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Dinner with Friends

Photograph taken on Monday, July 08, 2019 by Henry
Dinner with Friends

Dinner with Friends – from left: Cathy, Jonathan, Vicki, Ian, Susie, Rob, and Annie

I got an email this morning from Rob who asked if we were interested in having dinner this evening. That by itself was enough, but he also mentioned that Ian and Annie were visiting from France. Naturally we were happy to be included. Many years ago Susie organized a surprise birthday trip for Rob and we were included on that trip. We have traveled with them a few other times on other surprise birthday trip, including a huge surprise trip for Cathy to Venice and Florence, Italy. We don’t see Ian and Annie as often any more, as they’ve been living in France, but it’s great when we get the chance. We don’t even see Rob and Susie as often as we’d like and we need to make more of an effort. But when we do get together, it’s always worth it. It just seems so natural to be together.

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Silas and Iris

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 07, 2019 by Henry
Silas and Iris

Silas and Iris

The locals got together for a family brunch early this afternoon and then went to mom’s apartment to visit for a while and to enjoy watching her great grandchildren play. Since I saw him last, Silas has begun to walk. He’s not walking all the time yet, but he’s taken multiple, intentional steps. It’s been fun watching him progress and I look forward to continuing. His older cousin was there, as well, and I got pictures of him, too. I probably should keep track and try to balance out who gets their picture posted but I frankly can’t be bothered. They’re both adorable little boys and I enjoy them both.

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