Construction

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Looks better with a new roof

Deere tractor

Buried electric cable

Wallworks

Buried pipes

And more

Mantids

Look carefully at the wild senna, because there usually is a praying mantis there.

Sometimes they are upside down.

You can even find them in the grass.

Hang on there.

A pair interested in mating.

I think this one was watching me.

Ladies Day

Today in the meadow I was lucky to see this black saddlebags female.

This is the first one of these I have seen this year.

I also saw a female wild indigo duskywing.

Yesterday it was a female blue dasher, which certainly does not look like the male.

This is the female twelve-spotted dragonfly.

And everyone knows that all those worker bees are females.

Something New

This morning there was a huge truck in front of Abington House.  When I returned later with my camera, there was another truck loading boxes and packing material.

There inside were new dining room chairs.

This indeed makes for a festive dining room.  I understand the residents help to select the pattern for the chairs.  They look lovely.

Some August Beauties

This pretty Waved Sphinx moth was on the wall by H-8.

This is a magnificent show of white phlox.

A male monarch was seen two days on the swamp milkweed in the wetland.

A black swallowtail seen in the vicinity of the bronze fennel, perhaps there will be some eggs and caterpillars.

A beautiful crape myrtle outside the Meadow Cafe.

How many honey bees can you see on this helenium?

The Joe-Pye weed is magnificent along the Oak Path toward the lawn.

Green Herons

One of the delights of my vacation was watching the green herons on a nearby pond.

Here is one eating something.

A green heron on the stair steps.

On a wire fence.  Like to see you try that.

This must have been one of the youngsters - out on a limb.

I often saw two together.

These two I decided were parent and youngster, with the parent giving a fishing lesson, and the immature watching closely.

This is the way it's is done, kid.

These two are mama and papa, who have started a second nest.  I disturbed them and they were anxious to return to the nest.  I was able to get this photo by hiding behind a thistle and holding the camera over my head. 

Here is the mother on the nest.

Changes in two weeks

The Beaumont House construction has taken on a blue hue.

At last, the damaged roof is gone, and the garage sports a new look.

Some of the construction is up in the air.

The boltonia is beginning to bloom.

There is also some helenium, or Helen's flower blooming in the meadow.

I saw orange sulphur butterflies flitting all around the teasel.

The New York ironweed is showing color here and there.

There are eastern tiger swallowtails everywhere, and often black females.  The black females mimic the poisonous pipevine butterflies.  Maybe we can have some of those if we start a Dutchman's pipevine somewhere on campus.  That is a beautiful black butterfly!