August 31, 2025

Summer seems to be speeding towards its end. The mornings are already cooler, and the days shorter.  If you remember the delightful Monarch Caterpillar that came to join us in the Milkweed, it is now a pupa and getting darker, which must mean it is getting ready to eclose as a Butterfly. This last photo shows it as it was yesterday evening.  Maybe by the end of this blog we will be greeting the adult!  Will we?  Note:  many of the photos dealing with the Monarch adolescence were taken by Chaim Bertman.  He has also been on the web with his bestie Chatgpt, who assures us that the pupa below still has a few days before it ecloses as a Monarch.  I'm quite eager - haven't seen the actual butterfy for a long time!

A big milestone last week:  I turned 85 years old on the 26th.  Chaim made several cakes, including a pineapple upside down cake.  YUM. I took the occasion as an excuse to call up some old friends - who knows how many more chances I will have to chat with them.  So at midnight the night before the party I was still on the phone with some ancient friends. What a treat to find that all the ones I called up still exist!   Thanks for continuing to exist, beloved old friends!  The next day I continued to try to make contact with as many people as possible in Albion to thank THEM for still existing.  IF you are interested, I have prepared a short obituary and can send it to you while I'm here to make sure nobody has added any saccharine comments - OR ultra-critical ones for that matter.  Now is not a good time to ask for it though --  It has to be located!

Yesterday a few people dropped by to say Happy Birthday yet again, and to hand off live Praying Mantises.  Thanks, Vaughns!  What GORGEOUS green eyes!  Needless to say, the Mantids (an alternate plural) were gently handled, welcomed to the world,  and released after a few pictures were taken!  One demonstrated his/her flying prowess by way of saying "Happeeeeeee Birthday!" as he/she took to the sky.

You will see in many more pictures how the Goldenrod is responding to HER big day.  Many of the creatures seen around this time are golden and black or some other combination of Gold with something else.  First here is queen Goldenrod herself.  Then I think it's time for a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle.  Third is a pair of Jagged Ambush Bugs.  It's so amazing how many of these creatures hide out for a year and then suddenly feel a pang of guilt and show up just in time for Goldenrod season!

Here is a Redbud Seed Weevil (Gibbobruchus mimus).   The next may be a  Mousy Plume Moth (Lioptilodes albistriolatus).  and third a Fraternal Potter Wasp.  

The following seems to be one of the New World Banded Thynnid Wasps (Genus Myzinum), followed by a Wasp we used to call a Mud Dauber.  These latter are commonly found near water (of course).

I'm going to end up here and now - see you next week!  Keep your eyes on your environment and try to keep it going with love.  Speaking of which:  Love, Martha