Sunday's Spicebush Swallowtail

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Wishing you a Peaceful day of Rest and Worship!

May your burdens be as light as this butterfly on the flower!

May you see the beauty of God's creation everywhere you look!

May you rest in peace and comfort!

May you feed on His Word!

Sunday Blessings

from

Another Day in the Country.....

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It was so amusing to watch this Daddy Cardinal trying to teach his 'babies' to eat seed at our feeder. The 'babies' appear to be as large at the adult male!

The 'baby' bird squatted (to look small and helpless, I think) and fluttered its wings while holding its mouth open to receive a seed.

Daddy made him wait while he ate a good many seeds himself. Then he would feed the baby a few seeds and then make him wait again.

I finally saw the baby pick up one seed and eat it!

I think the baby decided it was more fun to look helpless and flutter his wings while Daddy fed him seeds!

Have a happy weekend!

Busy Morning / Skywatch

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This first picture is for my Skywatch post. This is looking straight up at some birds on the 100 foot Ham Radio Antenna. I can't quite tell what kind of birds, maybe barn swallows? Click the title of this post or the logo on my sidebar to see more skies. The rest of the pictures are an outline of my morning.

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This first thing I saw when I looked out this morning was this half-grown little rabbit nibbling grass in the backyard. Jeep saw three of them a little earlier when he got up.

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Mississippi Summer Coleus and a Marigold create a bright spot in the flower bed.

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It's all but impossible for me to get a good shot of these speedy little birds! This one guarded the feeder most of the morning.

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A Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly landed right at my feet as I was trying to get comfortable and wait for Hummingbirds. Looks like he's having a roly-poly for breakfast. I have never seen one of these butterflies on a flower!

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This delicate, blue Dragonfly perched on the shepherd's crook while he dined on a snack, which looked like a bit on pollen.

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While watching for Hummers, I saw this pretty butterfly sipping nectar from the Summer Phlox.

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Freddy, aka 'Babe', sees me in the yard and quickly comes over. He suspects that I have a treat for him, or at least a kind word and a nose rub.

I like to touch his soft, velvety nose.

This morning after catching up on the blogs, e-mail, etc. I was in and out of the yard making these pictures. Somewhere mixed in with all this, I cooked a pretty good lunch of Bar-be-cued Western pork ribs, ( I did these in the crock-pot), Mashed potatoes, Lima beans, Fried okra, garden ripe sliced tomatoes (from my sister's garden), Rolls and sweet iced tea.

Life is good!

Birds and Bees

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Here are a few of the birds and bees I saw around the yard. This is a large Bumble Bee on a small, lavender Zinnia.

Here is one of the 'guard' Hummingbirds that stations himself at one of the feeders. We have four feeders full at nectar out, which is plenty for all, but they insist on guarding the feeders.

These two Silver-sided Skippers were trying to see how fast they could visit

each and every Zinnia!

I like this peach colored Zinnia and I think the skipper likes it, too.

A Mourning Dove was checking out this pile of sand and selecting a few grains for his crop. I like to watch these beautiful birds. Their feathers are so smooth and the ones around their neck are iredescent, if the light is just right.

I hope you see some happy reminders of God's Handiwork around your yard!

♪ Just Humming in the Rain! ♫

Today the weather forecast was for 70% rain in our area. We only got 2.50 inches, but it has been spread out over the entire day. The rain didn't slow the Hummingbirds down one bit!


I took the camera and went out and sat on the low brick wall that surrounds our back porch to try to get some pictures. I was about 6 feet from the feeder when I made these pictures. My presence didn't deter them as they dipped and dived all around me.

These birds are so small, you really need to click the picture for details. I thought we had more Hummers today than usual, and I asked Jeep if he thought it might be because I had hung a shirt out there to dry that features bright red flowers. ☺ Next time I'll try wearing the shirt.

This feeder hangs on a shepherd's crook, and after I went inside, I noticed that one Hummer would light on top of the crook and guard the feeder. If another bird approached, he would chase them away. At one point he gave me a good laugh! He had watched for a while with no other birds coming to drink, so he decided he would drop down and get a drink for himself. When he did, another Hummer swooped by and chased him away before he had time to drink! They are so amusing to watch!

X is for Xanadu ~ Z to A on Monday

While looking for an X word, I stumbled across Xanadu. In the dictionary is stated that Xanadu, the locality in Kubla Khan (1798), poem by Sanuel T Coleridge] 1919: a place (as a town or village) of Idyllic beauty. It is a long poem and I won't print the poem here. When I Googled Xanadu, it led me to Xanadu Island Resort, San Pedro, Belize. This looks like the perfect out-of-the-way place to visit when you want to get away from it all.

I found a review on this resort, which tells a little more about it. It sounds like a very relaxing place to visit, although it's a little too far away and too pricey for me.

This review stated: "I can't say enough good things about Xanadu Island Resort. Check-in was pleasant, and Melinda gave us a map of the island and recommended restaurants. Then we saw our room. Gorgeous. It was a large two-bedroom suite that had floor-to-ceiling windows all along the front, so that the view of the ocean (which was right outside the room) was uninterrupted. We could sit on our private patio and eat, or just enjoy the view. The kitchen is large with modern appliances. My friend had the master bedroom and loved her I-pod docking station, while I had the other one and enjoyed the extremely comfortable king bed. We also appreciated the ample closet space and maid service; our wonderful maid did our dishes every day. But I am not emphasizing the beauty of the resort enough--our room was great, but the resort itself is lovely. The pool is shaded by palm trees, yet you can look out on the ocean from the pool or just relax in a deck chair in the shallow area of the pool."

Maybe we should get up a bus load of bloggers and check this out!
This should be the last really hard letter in this meme. Check out the sidebar over at Jen's blog, unglazed, to see other X posts.

Ode to a Butterfly

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A Butterfly came floating by
and landed close to me.
He quickly sipped a flower dry,
Then flew up in a tree .


What fun to float around all day
Visiting pretty flowers!
Nothing to do but eat and play
And pass away the hours.


Oh, Butterfly, please come here
And spend some time with me.
You always bring me lots of cheer
And fill my heart with glee!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Post Script: This photo just got the Approvers Choice award

on http://www.wunderground.com

Let's celebrate, it's this first I've won in a while!!!

Skywatch Friday # 54

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Since our weather turned cooler last week we have had a lot of the long puffy clouds floating on the horizon. These are floating over a cotton field. This is my Skywatch post # 54. Click on the title or on the Skywatch button on my sidebar to see more skies.

The next two pictures are at our local White's Creek Lake. Several Churches were sponsoring a Youth Explosion and they had asked us to make pictures. I couldn't resist making a few of the scenery.

This is a pretty cloud that I saw over the cemetery when we went to Bible Study Wednesday night.

Hope you see beauty in all your skies!

Creepy Crawlies!

We have lots of Creepy Crawling things around our yard. This looks like a little pre-historic monster. He was very small and when I tried to make him run away, he curled up in a ball.

This Dragonfly was amusing as he turned his head from side to side as if watching me.

When I went out to sweep out the garage, I saw this little inch long critter with extra long feelers or antenna sitting on the car. He could turn one antenna around in the opposite direction from the other!

Below is a Silver-sided Skipper. Do you see the 'White Elephant' that Mary was talking about in her post the other day? I tried to draw around it but the drawing doesn't show up much. If you click on the picture, you may be able to see the elephant. His trunk is pointed toward the top left corner of the picture.

There are lots of bees of various kinds visiting the Zinnias. I think this one is what we used to call a 'Good News Bee' when we were kids. I suppose we called them that because they buzzed around us but never stung. That was good news to us!

I climbed up in a chair and then on the brick wall around the porch to get this shot looking down at this Dragonfly. His clear wings were glistening in the morning sunlight.

I'm face to face with this Dragonfly and he looks like he's ready for take-off.

I hope all of your Creepy Crawlers are as harmless as mine!