life in autumn

the heart of autumn must
have broken here,
and
poured it's treasure
out upon the
leaves.

charlotte fiske bates



while the changes in season are trying to come...

our autumn days have been very wet.

which makes everything remain very green and
keeps the container plants oh so happy.

my variegated potato vine just keeps on giving.

the leaves continue to fall...the dry creek...not so dry...still has water in it.

no need to water or fill birdbaths....everything that can...

holds the rain water.

.

ground covers have fared well and filled in nicely.

an orange zinnia stays drenched.

so what do you do when the leaves are falling....

try your hardest to get the one that hasn't fallen yet and

make it your prize.

.

.

.

also...what do you do when it is wet....very wet....you roll up your

jeans and put on your wellies and go investigating.

with all the moisture comes
new and interesting results in nature.

there is plenty of lichen and moss growing on tree branches.

.

this whole trunk is covered with it.

our dogs faithfully follow as the exploring begins.
buster brown and beatrice...watching....waiting....wet.

.

even the leaves are changing differently...

they aren't sure whether to stay green or let the burnish of fall change them.

bonesets are blooming but most are drooping with the weight of rainfall.

these are some of the creatures we saw while out and about.

grass skippers seem to be enjoying the wildflowers.

these beauties(believed to be spicebush swallowtail)

were plentiful but never stopped flitting.

it seemed like there was a butterfly on every thistle stalk.

.

abbey showed me a little magic...how she could make a flower...

from kentucky blue grass seed heads.

i love it...it is purple.

.

this little all~black guy(possibly a darkling beetle)

seemed just fine being damp and in the mix of grasses and goldenrod.

as well as the soldier beetle(pennsylvania leatherwing.)

this little red morning glory is a stand~out against all the green.

the saturation makes every one of the colours look more vibrant.

purple morning glory closed tightly.

japanese honeysuckle

marigolds in this luscious painterly gold and red.

scarlet sage is just rich.

the little lavender petals could not stand up to the constant drizzling.

sometimes the leaves can't make it to the ground...as they are

glued with rain to the branches from which they are trying to escape.

faces of flowers are looking down shielding themselves from the rain droplets.

persian shield has loved the precipitation this year.

the velvet beans grew very large under the wetness.

it has made it hard on some things...more things rotted on the ground...for sure.

this guy...maybe a male riley's tree cricket...

was still looking for nectar even though his

little green body had droplets all over it.

all and all it has been a wonderful fall...every change...with every new

season...brings about reasons to rejuvenate...to renew....to rejoice.

just the beginning...

with the weather in flux...some days are hot...others are a bit cooler.

also, with plenty of rain and cooler days this summer

things have been a little different...we have had fewer butterflies...

our grasses stayed green all summer...which meant weekly mowing.

a lot of summers we have had droughts. not this year.

another great thing about the amount of rain we have had

has been that my container plants have done so well.

.

.

since our weather has been so brilliant and beautiful...we have spent

our days out of doors. as we continue to study our world and the

living things in it...we discovered that our terrarium has made

a match...with our walking stick bugs.

we are hoping for lots of baby stick bugs...how fun.

being outdoors allows for some unusual mates...lola blue joins our class.

we are observing the way things are pollinated, who does the pollinating,

how quickly things grow....like this thistle...how it has changed in one week.

.

we have learned about the goldenrod spider who lays in wait for

bumblebees or syrphid flies to capture, paralyze with it's venom

and suck it's contents out...it is able to change colours, camouflage

itself which makes it virtually unnoticeable.

nature has these cycles of life and death.

just like the viceroy butterfly's mimicry:

(the act of mimicking; imitative behavior the resemblance of an animal species to another species or to natural objects; provides concealment and protection from predators)...it is able to look just like the monarch butterfly(at least to it's predators) which is bitter to the taste for birds...so it is left alone.

it is slightly smaller than the monarch and it has a black line across the middle of each hind wing.

we are also studying the stages of development of insects...which is great when the whole world is your classroom because we walk out to the wildflower garden and are able to see the larva stage of a monarch butterfly and document it for our observations.

~above photo taken by abbey~

.

~both common buckeye photos taken by abbey~

she is also learning how to use a field guide to help identify the

beautiful creatures she is finding.

some more of abbey's interesting classmates...buster is a good

sport to become a headrest for reading.

lylah is always up for a walk into nature.

beatrice is shy but a good listener which make for a good friend.

so as we learn about this great big beautiful world and it's amazing

creatures and how they work...the wind is blowing.

the grasses are flowing...

the acorns are growing...

the birds are sowing...

and the sun is glowing...

life is slowing...life is good.