Abundance

Actias luna is considered common, but rarely seen because the adults have no mouths and only live long enough to breed, about a week. I've always thought they must be one of the most beautiful creatures on earth, but long ago gave up expectation of ever seeing one alive in nature. At the cottage, Saturday afternoon I walked into the bathroom and there was one on the window screen. It posed sleepily for the camera until dusk. The feathery antennae, among the most sensitive scent organs on earth, identify this individual as male. They can detect female pheromones at great distance. The larvae feed (among other things) on birch and alder, which we have in abundance at Lake Fletcher.

It was a fine weekend. Our dyeing experiment produced exciting results, which I'll post later. On the way home I picked up Brenna and brought her back to Guelph, as I will be off work this week.

The front flower garden is coming along brilliantly, forming an interlocking mat of contrasting textures, like a tapestry highlighted with blue and white and purple. The only plant not doing well is the little ink-blue Lobelia erinus, which probably requires moister conditions. A fresh crop of weeds had also sprung up in the past few days. On the way out for my walk, I stopped to pull grass and bindweed for 20 minutes. Numerous small moths, disturbed by my activity, fluttered into the light, then burrowed under the shelter of delicate foliage again. Tiny wasps and flies hovered, gathering nectar especially from purple Lobularia maritima (sweet alyssum). How easy (but how moving!) it is to create a miniature habitat amid an urban wasteland, harbouring and nurturing countless creatures. They're invisible until you get down on hands and knees, nose to the ground, and start noticing.

It was 10:15 and the day's heat begun to set in. I was already soaked with sweat. Gardening is a fair substitute for a walk, and a few photos had already offered themselves. I was tempted to return indoors, but the river called me: Old Man Willow, the pond, the clump of swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, that had just begun blooming last week (the perfume is one of my favourite natural scents). Cultivate friendships with things like these and they will change your life considerably. I had to go visit. I found two golden skippers battling the warm breeze to suck breakfast from those fragrant milkweed flowers.

July 1

A pre-written entry has been posted: a Blackburnian warbler, hanging out at the cottage with dakoopst, Ursula K. LeGuin's The Birthday of the World, sexuality, swimming, and looking at the stars.