Finding a caterpillar chrysalis in the wild can be quite the feat and is something you typically have to be looking for. Even in my own garden, when the monarchs or gulf fritillaries head off to pupate, unless they are front and center and attaching them to our front porch (gulf frits) or on plants […]
The Color of Autumn
Autumn in the south, or rather the deep south, doesn’t really start showing its true colors until November. We get tinges of it in September but usually at that point it is because of summer drought stress in the trees and the leaves begin going golden. October get a bit more of a pronouncement, especially […]
On the Wings of an Elm
The winged elms, Ulmus alata, at Cooper Lake State Park back during our Thanksgiving camping trip were some of the wingiest winged elms I’ve ever seen! It was very tempting to want to break the little corky wings off but I resisted and just took in the interesting patterns of the wings and the coloration […]
Eklutna Lake | Chugach State Park
Digging back into some Alaska posts once again. I’ve felt a little lazy in processing photos these days but I’ll see if I can make more progress on them this weekend! For now, we’re going to pick up from where we left off at Thunderbird Falls and drive around the bend to Chugach State Park […]
The Grotto at Westcave Preserve
I think the word has gotten out about Westcave Preserve—our tour was crowded during our visit in July. Of course it didn’t help that it was the 4th of July weekend when we visited, but still. After you’ve come here several times and basically had a tour to yourself, you get spoiled! We joined the […]
Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly, Limenitis arthemis astyanax | Wildlife Wednesday
As seems to be the general case these days, I was digging around on my backup hard drive looking for another particular photo or set of photos and came across our photos from when Chris and I joined my brother and dad to hike the Eagle Rock Loop on the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas back […]
Mendenhall Glacier | Juneau, Alaska
When we were planning our cruise and knew that we were going to be visiting Juneau, I knew that I wanted to visit Mendenhall Glacier. And at first I thought we would just figure out a way to get there on our own. Later when booking our tours, Chris found a whale watching tour with […]
Island Trail Exploration | Martin Creek Lake State Park
Let’s go back to Easter weekend this year where I left a post or two incomplete from our trip to Martin Creek Lake State Park. The promise of spring was so bright—plants were blooming, the earth smelled sweet…ahhh, only a few more months away! Annual Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium rosulatum Texas Vervain, Verbena halei Green Antelopehorns, […]
Westcave Preserve In Summer – The Uplands
Let’s rewind back to early July and our trip to Austin. We visited Westcave one sweltering morning after having not been there for several years. We had some time before our tour to the grotto and cave began so we hiked their upland trail. It was a trail we had not been on before so […]
