Happy Labor Day everyone! How are you spending your day? We decided to get outside and enjoy some nature on this last official holiday of summer. We took a ride down to the Kenwood Boat Ramp and Recreation Park, and I was not disappointed in the variety of natural beauties awaiting to be photographed.
September is known for being a busy butterfly month! It seems that all the summer cocoons have burst open and there are butterflies everywhere, tasting the last blooms of summer! This Gulf Fritillary (actually there were several of them) were enjoying these pretty little yellow flowers along the shore of the boat ramp...
So I wandered around for a minute through the trees and saw this huge white mushroom/toadstool...
It had to stand about 8" tall and the top was as least 5 inches across.
That was pretty amazing!
Nearby was this other very dark mushroom:
I looked it up online, and found out it is called Old Man of the Woods, and that link will tell you more about it. They say it is edible, but I am not one to experiment with wild mushrooms found in the woods. I'll leave that to the experts!
Since it is September I am starting my watching for signs of Autumn/Fall...and here is the first sign...this leaf of the American Sweet Gum tree.
Here in Florida we don't get a lot of pretty colored fall leaves, so we grab at any opportunity to see something that resembles and Autumn leaf! LOL.
Back at home in my own yard my Bottlebrush Bush has been blooming profusely since we've been having some good rain. And the butterflies LOVE IT!
There's another Gulf Fritillary enjoying the blossoms:
Can you see him?
This bush has been quite attractive to the Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly, and there have been several on it at the same time, flitting from blossom to blossom...
I tried to get a video of them on the bush, but this one flew away as soon as I got too close, however, if you look closely you will see a bee or two on there as well.
Then I was happy to see that my new batch of zinnias are finally blooming, but there are really small blossoms. Probably because I didn't fertilize them.
Sorry these may be a little blurry. I couldn't get them to stay still because it was kind of breezy out there...
LOL.
And this pretty little Marigold wanted to smile for the picture as well:
So that's how I've spent today so far. How about you? Tomorrow's Tuesday 4 will have more questions about that, so be sure to tune in.
Jesus reminds us to come to Him when we are tired and heavy laden with work and concerns, and He will give us rest. It's good to take a day to just enjoy God's Creation all around us and rest in knowing that God is with us and He is always there to help us carry our burdens....
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Pam, I was so happy to see on FB that your pond is collecting water!!!! I know you are thrilled and hope that continues! As for the mushrooms, we've seen A LOT OF THEM in the neighborhood on our bike rides. While I'd love to gather them for some homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup, like you, harvesting mushrooms is definitely best left to the experts! You've got some really nice photography here. My favs are the butterfly photos. You really got up close!!
ReplyDeleteActually, my zoom lens on my real camera got really close! LOL. I was mostly standing up on the porch for the pictures of the bottle brush bush, and the ones at the boat ramp, I was standing back on dry land, and those were actually in a marshy area next to the boat ramp, so I had to be careful not to step too far or I would've been in the water! I am thankful my old "real camera" still works, but it's slow and getting slower, and I don't want to spend anymore money on it. So I hope it keeps on working for while longer. The downside of using just a cell phone camera is you can't get those good zoomed close ups. But it's good for everything else. I hope you and Gary have had a lovely day!! It turned out pretty nice. We got a little rain, but not too much to spoil the day. And yes, we are happy to see some water starting to accumulate in the pond! Every little rain drop helps!
DeleteYou got some really lovely photos of your native butterflies! I'd like to see the yellow one close up. I'll look it up.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you too the chance to go out on Labour Day ... summer's not over yet!
Thank you Lady Ella! Yes, the "Cloudless Sulphur" butterfly (the yellow one) is fun to watch. There are so many of them right now and they flitter around the flowers all day long. They are so delightful to see!! Thank you for visiting!!
DeleteLove your trip to the boat dock. So much beautiful nature to be seen and photographed. Great job ... love the Flitters.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy what's left of the Labor Day weekend.
(((hugs)))
Sue
Thank you, Sue. I hope you all had a lovely day. Have you seen the little fox again? I hope he's okay. (((HUGS))) to you too.
DeleteSo nice to get out and do some exploring for Labor Day! Isn't it wonderful to be able to see such beauty - loved seeing the Ibis, blue heron, and the butterflies - God's handiwork is always so incredible to see! I do love zinnias, they have such vibrant blooms! Wishing you a blessed and very special Labor Day!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is wonderful to have a day to just enjoy God's creation all around us and not have anything particular that we had to do. We are blessed to have these kinds of days. I hope you and your family are all doing well.
DeletePretty pictures. Was that white stuff fertilizer? We treat Labor Day like any other day. We don't work anymore and my kids all work - so the only significance it has for me; is we're inching toward Autumn. Our trees start turning around Oct/Nov. I have 3 sweet gum in my front yard and they're still green, showing no signs! I go out and give them the once over...nope not yet! What's that saying, "A watched pot never boils." I had a beautiful bottle brush tree when I had my daycare, but I had the sandbox play area under it and the bees were all over it so the county made me cut it down before they approved my license. The bees never bothered my boys, but when you have a business and you're taking care of other people's children, who may have bee allergies, you don't want the risk. But it was a beautiful tree. I guess it was a bush that my gardeners trained it to be a tree.
ReplyDeleteHappy Labor day (whatever that means??) lol
I had to go back and look at my pictures to find something "white"...to answer your question. The only "white stuff" I see is sand...that's our "soil" here for the most part, mostly sandy soil. That's why I tried growing things in the planters this year and put gardening soil (w/miracle gro in it) in them to try to help things along. It didn't do much good, and the zinnias were growing in a planter that had already had zucchini and squash grown there earlier, which didn't grow much either and I didn't put in any new soil after I pulled out the old squash plants and then planted the zinnia seeds. I'm glad they came up at all and are starting to bloom, even if they are small flowers. Oh, I can imagine your bottle brush tree would've been bad for children to play under...yes, they do attract a lot of bees in addition to the butterflies. They are a good pollinator kind of bush, but not a good place to play under! LOL. I had to be careful trying to get the pictures that I took to be sure the bees didn't start coming after me! Yes, we don't really "celebrate" Labor Day either, but we always enjoyed having the long weekend before we get into the long fall months w/o any holiday really until Thanksgiving! Have a great rest of your week.
DeleteIt sounds like a very nice day for you! I love seeing the birds you have around you. They are so different than ours. Our zinnias are small this year too.
ReplyDeleteWe have been laboring over here on Labor Day. Bob did a lot of yard work and washed cars. I've been canning salsa all day. The last batch is in the canner now. Glad to hae that done!
Sounds like a productive Labor Day for you two! I bet that salsa is going to be good!!! How nice to make your own! Wow!
DeleteBeautiful flowers and plants and butterflies and birds, oh my!! I loved your photos, Pam. I have done nothing today. We've had rain off and on all day, including right now as I type this. Hope you are getting some too! Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThe butterfly pictures are gorgeous, you got some really great shots Pam! and I love those mirror image pictures, those are neat. Your bottle brush bush is GORGEOUS and you got amazing pictures of the butterflies on them, I kept going back to look at them! Glad y'all had a great day. Its still really really HOT HERE, no sign of Fall. I did decorate a few of the fireplace mantels tonight. We hope to tackle the porch tomorrow.There are SWARMS of butterflies here too.....I love to watch their swooping and fluttering antics. We have those like you pictured, some little yellow ones, white ones, and I don't think I've seen any real Monarchs yet. The dragonflies swarm at sunset and they are just so aggressive and will zoom right at you, and they are pretty! Mr. Front Porch brings me in a small bouquet of Old Maids every 3 days or so. I didn't get as MANY as some previous years, but that makes me just appreciate the ones we did get even more. HUGS
ReplyDeleteHi Pamela, I enjoyed all the pretty nature pictures! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and butterflies! I hope you are getting rain every afternoon so that your pond will recover!
ReplyDeleteWe were home on Labor Day. We spent Saturday with Adam, Gabby and James at their house. Then on Sunday they were having Gabby's sister's family over to swim but we had rain all day. Your photos are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this amazing post, Pamela??? Blogger is simply one huge mess lately! Thanks for bringing such butterfly rays of sunshine into our lives today. Blessings!
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