A View From The Mansion

A view of our preserve land... please ignore the yard!
(Click pictures to enlarge view)

"There are those rare days of late summer; perhaps ordinary circumstances don't necessarily go right, but mother nature grants you a glorious memory. If only you had manicured the weeds before her visit." ~ srp

Sorry about the yard; I have since done another mowing, my third since the first of July. It had been over 30 years since I mowed the lawn this much, not since high school. I discovered that if I turn off the sprinkler system, the weeds don't grow as fast... but then neither does the small amount of grass that still exists. Thus the conundrum....

"To mow, or not to mow... that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The disapproving looks of neighbors at outrageous weed growth
Or to take arms (and legs and knees and carpal tunnel wrists)
against a sea of crab grass and broad-leafed wild grass
And by rotating mower blades end them.
To mow, to sweat profusely (buckets full) --
To sweat -- perchance to draw the attention of mosquitos (no perchance about it!.....slap!!): aye, there's the rub."
~ srp's soliloquy

Eupatorium purpureum or Sweet Joe-Pye Weed,
attracts these butterflies (Sulfers, Family Pieridae)

Anyway, back to the post at hand; while taking a rest from the boxes, I spied something yellow on the flowering weeds at the edge of the preserve and found five of these lovely creatures completely intoxicated with the nectar from tiny, fuzzy purple flowers. No long lens here... just the regular 18 - 55mm zoom, hand held about two feet away to get them all in the picture.

Feasting side by side....

As one would leave another would flutter in and take its place. All morning they flitted and fluttered on wings of pale yellow with tiny golden dots and inhaled the sweet liquid with those long proboscides.

....or at a table for one.

Then as suddenly as they appeared... they were gone, off to play... satiated for the moment. And I returned to the boxes.

(end of post)