“There are few sights more pleasant to the eye than a wide cotton field when it is in bloom. It presents an appearance of purity, like an immaculate expanse of light, new-fallen snow.” ~Solomon Northup
Cotton field
Tennessee
Butterflies and Skippers
Butterflies and skippers have been enjoying the sedum plants in our back yard. Here are several varieties that have dropped by during the past week.
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” ~Camille Pissarro
Northern Flicker
A Northern Flicker dropped by this morning to get a quick drink of water from our bird bath. This isn’t a bird that I normally see in our backyard, so it was a treat to get a glimpse of him.
… to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs
Living among the duckweed
Some of the flora and fauna living around the duckweed at Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” ~David Attenborough
Buzzing around the sedum
… every now and then,
this world sits just right,
as a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight,
and I smile…
~Hazelmarie Elliott, A Breath of Heaven
Juvenile Northern Cardinal
“So curiosity, I think, is a really important aspect of staying young and youthful.” ~Goldie Hawn
Butterflies and thistle
There are prickles in life, and hard places to climb, but when you overcome these the view is simply breathtaking. ~Jennifer Gayle
Little bits of gold
“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.” ~Democritus
Grasshoppers
“We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sing
This tiny frog was sitting on a blade of grass in our backyard. I believe it is an Upland Chorus Frog. Tennessee’s Watchable Wildlife describes it’s call as “short, raspy and rises in pitch; sounds like someone dragging their thumbnail over the teeth of a comb.” Not a terribly flattering description of this little frog’s singing voice, but I sure do enjoy sitting on the screen porch at night and listening to its chorus.
“Every life composes a song of its own.” ~Jeff Veach
walking on a country road 