WE RISE....

BUSY BEES, A FLASHBACK TO WARMER MONTHS - ONE PHOTO BELOW TRANSFERRED TO AN ENGLISH GIRL RAMBLES 2016

"The key to nature's therapy is feeling like a tiny part of it, not a master over it.  There's amazing pride in seeing a bee land on a flower you planted - but that's not your act of creation, it's your act of joining in."

~Victoria Coren Mitchell~

THE ABOVE QUOTE WAS PUBLISHED ON AN ENGLISH GIRL RAMBLES 2016 ON 1-22-25

"The bee is an exquisite chemist."

~Royal Beekeeper to Charles II~

Did you know that the bees' buzz is the sound made by their wings which beats 11,400 times per minute?

THE PHOTO ABOVE WAS TRANSFERRED TO AN ENGLISH GIRL RAMBLES 2016 TO BE PUBLISHED ON 1-21-25

"Bees communicate with each other by dancing."  I have always liked bees, now another reason why.

Other interesting facts about bees can be found here.

MAY YOUR WEEK BE...

No recipe post today. I have a bad cold and  between the sneezing and coughing, and lolloping, along with the catch-up naps, I have been watching a wonderful British TV show called Grantchester. It is on the PBS streaming channel I subscribe to.  

I am a little slow answering comments, and I thank you so much for them.  I will be visiting when I can during the week. 

Fortunately I have been better organized as I have set several posts well in advance.  This week is taken care of, all except my recipe post which I was going to make yesterday but, you know, lolloping! 

Have a great week everyone and thanks for visiting.

THERE IS ANOTHER SKY by EMILY DICKINSON

There is another sky,

Ever serene and fair,

And there is another sunshine,

Though it be darker there;

Never mind faded forests, Austin,

Never mind silent fields.

Here is a little forest 

Whose leaf is ever green;

Here is a brighter garden,

Where not a frost has been;

In its unfading flowers

I hear the bright bee hum:

Prithee, my brother,

Into my garden come!

REYNOLDA GARDENS - FLOWERS AND FLUTTERY THINGS

There are over 28,000 species of butterflies around the world.  80 percent you will find in tropical regions.  I found these facts at this link.

I will be sharing photos from our trip down to the south western part of Virginia for a while, particularly the flowers and fluttery things that land on them.  There were many flying around and many beautiful flowers blooming, I took lots of photos.  The first two are of Silver Spotted Skippers.

Reynolda Gardens, where I took today's photos, was a great day for pollinators.  I believe the butterfly below is a dark form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  Please let me know if you think I am wrong on any of my ID's, as I always like to get these things correct.  This link will take you to an ID site for the swallowtail, and if you scroll down you will see very similar photos.

 Buckeye Butterfly 

The Silver Spotted Skipper again.  They were out in full force.

Another swallowtail.

After an extensive search I wasn't able to identify the following.  A Fritillary perhaps?  There is an interesting website here if you would like to take a look.  It gives a lot of interesting facts about butterflies. 

Added note 8-21-19: I think this is an American Painted Lady.  I found one on this wonderful nature blog here.  Mike, its host, has incredible photos, many taken in the places I know very well.

And yet another Silver Spotted Skipper.  I was very grateful to these little guys as not only were they all over the place, but they stayed still long enough for a good pose.

"Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time." 
~ Deborah Chaskin~

AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES AT REYNOLDA GARDENS IN NORTH CAROLINA

One of the nicest memories from our trip to Reynolda Gardens, apart from being among all the flowers and the butterflies, which will be in tomorrow's post, was the sight of these pretty American Goldfinches enjoying the sunflowers.

Gregg took all of what you see today.  He didn't have long as they were soon off into the trees, but he was able to get several photos in a short space of time.

 You can read all about our pretty bird if you click on this link.

There are two Goldfinches in the photo below...

and there were several in the garden.  They really loved those sunflowers.

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by.

SUNFLOWERS, SMILES AND FITZGERALD

FROGS - REYNOLDA GARDENS, WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

 Gregg and I were away from home last week.  We took a trip down to the south-western part of Virginia.  One of the side trips we took was to Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem, which was just over 50 miles from where we rented a cabin in the mountains.  It was a beautiful garden and I will tell you all about the place we stayed at and the gardens we visited in my posts this week.  

 In one part of the garden we saw a small pond.  It had a few lily pads, but no lilies.  

However, there was something else that caught our interest.  

Two frogs had made a home in the lily pond.

They were fun to watch and I sat on the edge observing them for a while.

 It didn't take long to see that they were raising a family.

 There were specks in the water and I realized they were eggs.

 It would have been interesting to see the eggs turn into tadpoles, the tadpoles turn into frogs...

but if you click on this link you will be able to read about their life cycle.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a great week.