The Unexpected Pleasures of Dragonflying

You never know what you're going to find when you're out in the field looking for dragonflies.  I went out yesterday to check on the local odes, but didn't find any.  What I did find was well worth the effort, however, and I'm glad I went.

First, I noticed that our saguaro cactus is doing quite well in our front yard.  Here's a look at it:



It has interesting needles, with one spike much larger than the rest:



Also present in the garden were roses and a type of daisy:







As I admired the flowers, I heard a pigeon cooing and strutting to woo its mate:



The really big surprise, however, awaited me when I got down to the pond.  Standing there on the shore was a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, a species we've never seen at this location before.



That was quite a treat – just one of those unexpected pleasures!  It's especially unexpected when you consider the range of the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck:

Memorial for Beryl Anderson

On March 10th, Betsy and I attended the funeral and memorial service for Beryl Anderson, a long-time resident of Leisure World.  When we introduced ourselves to her niece, she said that Mom's call to her after Beryl's passing the first one she got, and that it was very much appreciated.

Here's where the funeral service was held, at the Mountain View Cemetery:



Here are a few pictures from the service:









One of Beryl's friends performed a nice selection of songs.  Here's a sample:

The gravesite is in a pleasant area, shaded by pine trees.






When we got home, we saw that Betsy's new amaryllis had bloomed.



Next was the memorial service at Leisure World, in Rec 1.



Here she is just after graduating as a registered nurse.



There was a nice crowd in attendance:



The tables had photos of things she enjoyed, like this one of the hummingbird that nested in the spinning piece of art at her house:



Her niece made comments, and then people around the room, including Betsy, offered remembrances.

Finally, here's the pamphlet that was handed out at her funeral:

Morning Rainbow

It was windy and rainy this morning, but now and then the sun would burst through the clouds.  At one point this produced a very nice double rainbow.  Here are some pics of it:





The reflection of the rainbow in the water was quite striking.

The rainbow arced over a large part of the sky.





It didn't last long, but it was spectacular while it did.

Walker Physics 5e

Here's the cover of the upcoming fifth edition of Walker Physics.  It should be in hand early next year.

Halloween 2015

We only had about a dozen trick-or-treaters this year, even though the rain held off.  Still, we had our jack-o-lanterns out as usual.  Here they are in our front yard:

The top one is inspired by the Happy-face Dragonfly, and the bottom one is a ghoul.   Here's a closer look at the top one:

Here's a closer look at the bottom one:

Fall Colors

Two years ago Betsy and I spent a few days at the Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA to enjoy the wonderful Fall colors.  We've been seeing similar beautiful colors this year, but still nothing to match that year.  That visit was incredible also because of the six different species of meadowhawks we saw.  Here's our report from October 23 and 24, 2013:

Last week, October 23 and 24, Betsy and I went to the Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA to enjoy the Fall colors for a couple days.  It was beautiful there, as you can see in these photos:

Sun Mountain Lodge from our room.

The Fall colors were in full effect.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet gave me an opportunity for a quick snapshot.

We went to the Beaver Pond, of course, but weren't expecting that much dragonfly activity.  We would have been happy to see a few.  As it turned out, the activity was very good, with lots of darners patrolling the shore looking for females, and meadowhawks flying in tandem over the water, dipping and laying eggs.  In some areas, each step would flush several meadowhawks from the ground into the air.  It was delightful.  We had a six meadowhawk day, with the following species:

White-faced Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk
Band-winged Meadowhawk
Black Meadowhawk
Autumn Meadowhawk

A six meadow hawk day would be good in the summer, but was especially pleasant to experience this time of year.  The most common species was the Saffron-winged Meadowhawk.  We saw only one White-faced Meadowhawk, and it set a new record late date by 16 days.  Here are pics of the meadowhawks:

White-faced Meadowhawk.

Striped Meadowhawk.  An older individual with frayed wings and faded stripes.

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk on the left, and Band-winged Meadowhawk on the right.

Black Meadowhawk.  We don't see Black Meadowhawks all that often, so this one was a particular treat.

Autumn Meadowhawk.  One of the "field marks" for Autumn Meadowhawks is that they land on you.

As usual, we had a great time at the Sun Mountain Lodge and the Beaver Pond.

Cactus Flowers

Last night we went to a movie (Ex Machina), and as we walked back to our car we could see frequent flashes of lightning in the distance – too distant to be heard, in fact.  During the night we heard the thunder, and then raindrops hitting the roof.  It seems the rain helped to encourage our cacti to bloom, after several hot days in the upper 90s.  The result was a series of beautiful blooms, as shown below:

Two cacti bloomed today, one with reddish-orange flowers, the other with yellow flowers.

Betsy was enjoying the garden more than usual this morning.

Here's a closer look at the red blooms:

Notice the beautiful shades of pink around the interior of these blooms.

It seems that May showers brought May flowers.