HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - TODAY AM SHARING A MARGUERITE DAISY

 As you can see. it has a tiny visitor, a hoverfly I'm thinking. I remember how much I enjoyed taking photos of these flowers, such a pretty bloom.

It is the Marguerite Daisy

This pretty yellow flower (scientific name Argyranthemum frutescens), belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy/sunflower) family. White is the most common native color, but because of selective propagation, you can now find them in vibrant yellow, pink and burgundy.

It originally came from the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago which is roughly 60 miles (100 kilometers) off the northwest coast of Africa. They belong to Spain despite the fact that they are over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away from the Spanish Mainland. They sit directly opposite the border between Morocco and Western Sahara and are just north of the Tropic of Cancer. 

In my youth, long before I met my dear other half, my first job out of school was working at a travel agents and I often dealt with the paperwork of people who had booked their holidays there. I wanted to go myself one day. But I'm getting off track, back to this delightful Marguerite Daisy.

Because of its Mediterranean heritage, it thrives in coastal locations and can tolerate sea winds very well. It is described as an evergreen shrub or tender perennial. In cooler climes that experience hard winter freezes, it is widely grown as a seasonal annual.

The Marguerite Daisy is a pollinator magnet and its center is packed with hundreds of tiny individual disc florets that do an amazing job of attracting butterflies, bees and other helpful pollinators, like our hoverfly.

That's all about the Marguerite Daisy today, with my little detour to the Canary Islands. My curiosity always gets me off track and yes, here I go again because my memories have started flowing. 

I have always loved geography, which is why I thought it would be a great idea to get a job with a travel agency. I had grand ideas of taking a holiday or two. Except that they didn't pay diddly-squat and I eventually left to find a higher-paying job, so that I could save up and go on a couple of vacations with my friends.

 A conundrum to be sure, but at least I was able to save up more easily, go out with those friends to the local disco occasionally, buy myself a dress or two, and pay room and board. 

Anyhow, from a glamorous sounding travel agency job (it wasn't), to one in a legal office with the local government. Kind of boring to someone my age - even though I was grateful I hasten to add, and I was able to join my friends on a couple of those winter skiing holidays. We all had to save up the whole year to do that even then, but we got there. I also had a couple of other jobs later, being given good advice by my friends to look for a rise in pay when something became available, but I'll leave those 'exciting adventures' for another day (that was a bit of tongue in cheek, they weren't exciting).

I'll end this before I take you on yet another memory bender.

What a pretty daisy that was! 

My attention span seems to be that of a gnat these days.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

BEAUTY IS IN...

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

~Margaret Wolfe Hungerford~

After a lot of searching, I still can't say with absolute certainty, but I think this may be a milkweed nymph? Anyone out there who knows for sure and has its true identity, would you please let me know what you think? Thank you! It was on a milkweed plant. I have seen adult milkweed bugs but this one leaves me a little puzzled, as I know there is also a milkweed assassin bug but they are two different insects. The old saying popped in my head when looking at it. I think it is a lovely little bug but I daresay a lot of people out there wouldn't agree with me.

Added note Saturday, July 20th, 2024: thank you to those of you who offered ID’s.  David of Travel with Birds identified it as a Red Milkweed Beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus). I found a wonderful page with a very good profile at this link. It was extremely interesting reading about it. Thank you very much David!

David also has a marvelous post with extremely enjoyable photos of insects. You can see those plus much more at this link.

I got this information about the quote online: "It is believed to have first appeared in English in the 19th century. Margaret Wolfe Hungerford (nee Hamilton) is widely credited with coining the saying in its current form. Hungerford wrote many books often under the pseudonym of 'The Duchess'. In the 1878 novel Molly Bawn, there's the line "It is an old axiom, and well said, that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'".

Margaret (Apr 27 1855 - Jan 24 1897) was an Irish novelist whose light romantic fiction was popular throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th century. She was born in County Cork, Ireland. As a child she enjoyed creating stories and she won prizes for her writing at school. Later she supported herself and her three daughters by writing books. Her first novel "Phyllis" was very successful. All my information came from Wikipedia. You can click here if you are interested in reading more.

A change of pace today as I don't often find a bug to take a photo of, but thought this was interesting.

 

Thanks so much for looking 

and have a great day!

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - BIRD DREAMER

HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK ON MONDAY, 11-8-21 - PART 1

I usually wait until the end to say this, but if you would like to see other posts from Huntley Meadows Park, you can either type its name in the subject/search box at the top left of this page, or go to the label below this post.  Oodles and oodles of posts from here.  We have been visiting for years.  Lots of wildlife photos, as well as flowers, plants and trees.  We never know what we are going to see as there is always something different, which you have no doubt realized when visiting your favorite places.In the above photo you can see their visitor center.  On the left is a tree marked for cutting down.  

It is about half a mile to walk to the wetlands through the wood... 

and is a very pleasant trail that is nice and flat. Benches along the way too.

On one of the markers showing how far along on the trail we are, we spotted this, a Woolly Bear Caterpillar.  It becomes the Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella).  According to this link, it says, "The Isabella Tiger moth can be found in many cold regions, including the Arctic. The banded woolly bear larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid" and "It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues.  In the spring it thaws."  If curious you can click on this link for the explanation of the word 'cryoprotectant'.  Can you imagine the scientists trying to unlock this phenomena?  Absolutely fascinating!

By observing the Woolly bear caterpillars, also called woolly worms, there are those who believe we can predict the winter weather by looking at them.  If their rusty band is wide, then it will be a mild winter. The more black there is, the more severe the winter. 

Whether there is any truth to this I have no clue but the info can be found in many places.  I remember reading about this years ago but I needed a refresher, and I found more at this website.  I will find my photo again at the onset of next Spring.  I wouldn't hazard a guess with this one what our winter will be like, but it will be fun to look later, just for curiosity's sake.  Cute little thing!

We have reached the walkway that takes us through the wetlands.  There are several signs along the way.  This one gives us the do's and don'ts, for the benefit of wildlife and preservation of the area.  

Another board with information on what we might see.  There are others at intervals.

The water level is higher than the last time we were here, but this all seems to fit in with the nature of things.

Advice from a Wetland

Make a splash,

Take time to reflect,

Listen to nature,

'Reed' more,

Be green,

Don't get bogged down,

What's the rush?

No rushing here, everyone seems to go at nature's pace.  For a Monday their were lots of cars in the parking lot, with plenty of spaces still available.  We passed several people but it wasn't crowded, and the weather was gorgeous!  I dressed in layers thinking it was going to be chilly like the day before.  I should have looked at the weather forecast.  It was 72 degrees Fahrenheit that day.  

There was a swarm of what I thought were ladybugs.  Both of us had several land on us.  I counted 10 on me, and about as many on Gregg.  I have never seen so many at one time, and later read that they were not ladybugs.  They have been found in other areas too.  You can read about them here.  In the next photo you can see one.  It landed on Gregg's jeans and it was the only photo that came out without being blurred.  The previous link has a photo that shows you the difference between these and ladybugs.  It's in how many spots they have, more than the ladybug.  There is also an “M” design on its head. The ladybug 🐞 doesn’t have one. 

We came across a line of geese on a log.  They were busy preening themselves.

One looked up but they were too busy to pay attention...

until some other geese landed just across the way.  I didn't get any photos of them.  Our crew gave them what-for!  They were very noisy for several minutes until the usurpers left and they went back to preening, and we left them smiling, having been fully entertained.

And then there were the frogs and other critters, but I will leave those until next time.

Thanks for going with us on another walk.  I hope your day is a great one.