Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Zephyrs

A few heavy downpours over the early August days break the heat but hold onto the humidity.  Yet, they provide enough to quench the thirst of the tulip trees which in late, hot, summer are dropping an abundance of yellow floating leaves that almost instantly turn to burnt brown on the sidewalks and grassy hillside.  Their scuttling crispness sometimes startles me when a breeze pushes them across the driveway like a large alien bug.  

There are ethereal beauties that catch my eye as well in the small drop in temperature.  Our swallowtails are in abundance this year.  They are selective in which nectar filled trumpets they visit.  They avoid my purple petunias on the deck and go again and again pressing their faces into the verbena blossoms that are just inches away.  They lift like a drunken feather, then sink again to the next blossom.


They look particularly beautiful when visiting the cosmos which are struggling this year against the few pounding rains after weeks of heat and drought.  When these beauties are satiated they float across the yard like zephyrs with tiny silk capes; slow, dipping even, and clearly in some mindless pleasure.  If I could see their faces, would they be smiling?


13 comments:

  1. I often wonder how anyone could see a butterfly and not believe in some higher power.

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  2. they are beautiful. i stood on the back deck yesterday and watched one dipping lower and lower in little dips until it found purchase on what is left of the grape vine. (it was taken out by a storm recently and has been cut back to little nubs of the vine poking out of the ground)

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  3. So beautiful butterfly and flowers!
    Your photos never cease to amaze me!

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  4. Beautiful series of the Butterflies.

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  5. Butterflies and honeybees are the goodwill ambassadors of the insect world, i think.

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  6. Spectacular pictures! Send some of that rain up here!

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  7. Awesome photos. We worry about our plants but nature has it's way and native species are adapted to survive.

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  8. Your word pictures are as wonderful as your photos.

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  9. Beautiful, beautiful...

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  10. I'm seeing more butterflies this year than in years past, mainly because I have been planting flowers/native perennials that attract them. I hope we have an early fall this year since spring and summer early. winter can just come at it's regular time though.

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  11. I, too, am seeing more butterflies this year, but your photos are AMAZING!

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  12. Beautiful Butterflies Tabor, those are something else, stunning.

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  13. gorgeous!
    I think the petunias are only there for egg-laging so the caterpillars can eat them... At least mine are-

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.