Sunday morning, cool, with dragonflies

This morning is so great for walking to the pond 

I don't have to carry water to the flowers, always a plus, because there's rain in the forecast.

So I moseyed down to the pond noticing new fungi and dragonflies. We have many species and here are two from this morning 

This one's harder to see because he's so transparent, perched near the top of a daylily stem, about halfway up the picture.

And the early signs of seasonal change, leaves coming down and the sighting of goldenrod 

I made it to the pond and here's the wind blowing the beech leaves about. Ripples in the water where frogs are moving.

Happy day everyone, great sleeping weather with windows open. Perfect.

And here's a little bouquet with today's additions 

Sunday, mindfulness and dragonflies

I got a walk Sunday morning, before the day got too hot. The dewpoint was high but there was shade and a wind. 

The people I met were largely absorbed in their thoughts and I wondered if their early morning walk is a meditation. 

I did see a biplane type of dragonfly 

We have many species of dragonflies, darners and demoiselles in this region. Sometimes in the early morning sun I see them everywhere lit up by sunrays, clouds of them. Since they tackle clouds of mosquitoes, I like them. 

The other day while I was reading on the deck, a tiny green metallic one landed on my shirt and rested a while. Maybe half an inch long, wings buzzing continually, until he lifted off and was gone. We also get tiny green metallic sweat bees but usually on sedums, not on people. 

Then, once home I did a yes2next exercise, this one ten minutes of mindfulness, a great change from doing things all the time.

About aging and friends and losing friends, as Barbara Rogers mentioned on her blog -- do you follow Boardwalk Barb? You should, it's full of thought and art and family, definitely worth the price of admission.

Anyway the subject of outliving people came up there. I've outlived all my sibs, and my agemate friends, including two (!) recorder playing quartets.

Since I've been active in various arts, I have friends in many age groups including twenty somethings. No hierarchy of age in art. And I'm often the oldest person in any group these days. Some of my friends are helping care for parents, younger than I, but whose health is poor.  

It does pay to be willing to find new friends, though lifelong ones are good, I wouldn't know. Emigration tends to make childhood friends fall away eventually,  despite all your efforts.  

Particularly when you've emigrated from the UK to the US rather than the colonies -- mostly the approved destinations are Canada, Australia and NZ. My own relatives never got over my going to the US. 

But the world is full of nice people to meet. So there's that. And there's innocent merriment to be had in the obituaries, which I read to check I'm not in there. 

One thing I love is the kind of doh expression such as William, known to his friends as Bill. Or Thomas,  whose family called him Tom! Like, what the heck else, this isn't exactly groundbreaking. But then obits may be written by family without much writing experience so I will refrain from criticizing further. But I won't refrain from being amused.

Happy day everyone, meet nice, play nice, don't tease your friends!

Lichen and wild daylilies

Cool and windy and grey yesterday with sun now and then, lovely contrast to the day before.

Here's a lichen that suddenly appeared on the fallen tree I've shown you before.

Here's either mating, male and female dragonflies of the same species, or battling for territory between different species. If anyone knows, please say. anyway a lot of circling and darting.

A few yards away, wild daylilies. 

We see them on roadsides, at the edge of woods like here, always a few days earlier than the cultivated daylilies.

I'm still very jangled about the eye situation, not helped by, every time I calm down, yet another text requiring information, most of which I already gave. And the dox being required by the HOA, who I think have assumed I have a new tenant, but I'm too tired to get into it!  Tiredness is my main thing going right now. 

However, art will save us all, so today was about using a calligraphy pen not in the way it's designed.

I love all the shades of color happening in the ink, depending on how it's applied. Even some flying white, that broken cloudy line beloved of  Chinese painters and calligraphers, except they usually do it with a fairly dry brush.

Happy day everyone, stay calmer than I can!

Dragonfly friend

We have many species of dragonflies and demoiselles in central NJ. Seeing them in crowds, zooming about early morning above the wet grass, sun picking them out like fireworks everywhere, is a seasonal morning  treat.

They eat a lot of insects that would otherwise be dining on people. They're beautiful, many colors and designs, and they pose long enough for pictures. Here's a visitor on the front path a few minutes ago

Definitely a fan here.