I was photographing the birds on my deck when a new guest showed up to join the party.
Bunny was fascinated with the board on my deck which needs to be replaced or at least pounded back into place.
The birds seem to be fine about Bunny joining them on the deck although the pair below seemed to be keeping their eyes out in both directions.
The catbird below spent a long time perched on the birdbath before finally hopping in. Once he was in the bath I didn't get any good shots as he splashed like crazy.
The yellow eastern swallowtail butterfly let me take numerous photographs.
I also have black eastern swallowtail butterflies but so far they have been camera shy, taking off before I get a shot.
Last summer I got a lot more shots of the black ones but they are very skittish this year.
I was surprised how close these yellow ones were letting me get during this shoot because last week I had to sty back farther.
I had a hard time deciding which of these butterfly shots to post because I took about 50 photographs.
The juvenile mockingbird was putting on quite a little show for me.
I was back a little ways from the tree but she would turn towards me and then away and then back to take another look.
I've always enjoyed the mockingbirds. They are a frequent inhabitant of my garden.
I'm so happy my crepe myrtle is starting to bloom. It adds a big splash of color to my world.
Watching the grass plumes waving in the wind is another pleasure of summer for me.
For more nature notes you can visit the host at Rambling Woods. Thursday is the official post date although I'm usually early to spread out my weekly posts.
For a change of pace from the flowers in my garden, I thought for this week I'd post some flower shots I've taken when I was out and about in June.
I find it's convenient to take some drive by shots when I'm in small shopping areas during a slow time of day. That way I can slow down to take shots when no one is behind me.
There are several shopping corners that are good for that which I go to regularly.
I've decided to call them shopping corners because they are at road intersections and have a few stores in some cases, and a few more than a few in other cases.
One of these shopping corners is immediately after leaving my subdivision and used to be a large garden center. Unfortunately the garden center went out of business after 40 years or so and was replaced by a CVS pharmacy and a garden and lawn furniture store.
Another shopping corner I go to a lot is a little over a mile from me and has a pharmacy, grocery store, coffeehouse and a few other stores.
It's nuts in a way to think that within 2 miles from my house there are 8 shopping corners and 5 different large grocery stores.
Some of the shopping corners have a few clothing stores and several have large discount stores. One thing I like about these little shopping corners is they make it possible for me to almost entirely avoid malls. I am not a happy mall shopper and will do a lot to avoid the many large malls which have sprung up in my area.
I don't eat out much but if I want to there are lots of restaurants scattered between and in some of the shopping corners.
I don't like how over developed my area has become but I do like the fact that most of the shopping areas have a lot of trees and flowers.
I've been talking more about shopping corners than about the flowers in this post.
I guess it's o.k. to get side tracked. It better be since half of my blog posts end up being my meandering hither and yon.
For flowers around the world, please visit the home of Today's Flowers.
I've been photographing a lot of "purple" flowers this week but decided none were purple enough for the theme. I went to my archives and found some deep purple flowers.
The shot above is of my black beauty hollyhocks which were lost in a drought. In spite of their name I think they are a rich purple. So many of my flowers which I think of as purple are actually more of a violet or blue shade. Even purple cone flower are more of a pinkish shade.
My purple clematis above was another casualty of the 2007-2008 drought. The purple morning glory below hasn't started blooming yet this year but I will have plenty of them later in the summer.
Photohunters post their links at the home of the hunt beginning Saturday mornings.
I took a bunch of photographs of this little rabbit while he stayed totally still. I even walked around to get the light better and was ignored.
I think he may have stayed where he was because he had a nice shady spot and it was so hot. The rabbits generally ignore my plants and bulbs because I leave them so many weeds to eat.
Many pictures I take in my garden have insects of some kind although they don't always show up like they do against this flower.
I've come to an arrangement with the birds. I get to eat the blackberries that are lower on the vines and they get the ones reaching to the sky.
The cherries are very popular with the birds and they aren't the kind that people eat.
I guess it's possible they are edible for humans but the cherries on my trees are tiny.
I rarely get a shot of the birds in the birdbath in my front yard because it's not a good spot to get a shot without scaring the birds. I liked the way I caught the reflection of the trees and sky.
I am enjoying the birds as I always do although they've gotten to the time of year where they give me a wake up call at 4:00 am. I can usually go back to sleep but they are very noisy.
I like the way the plumes of the grasses form arches over the flowers.
So far the only yarrow in bloom is the yellow and white yarrow. I'm looking forward to my red yarrow.
I hope that our unseasonably hot June means July will be cooler. Not likely but anything is possible.
So far the plants are surviving the heat because it has been fairly rainy.
The tiger lilies are starting to bloom which is a sure sign that July isn't far away.
For more nature notes, please visit Rambling Woods where the link goes up by Thursday.
I noticed one of my small hostas in an overgrown part of my yard has begun to bloom.
The blooms motivated me to pull the ivy back which was threatening to choke out the hosta. My larger hostas aren't blooming yet but that will be something to look forward to.
My yard is filled with Rose of Sharon (hibiscus syriacus) which grows as tall as small trees when allowed to.
I have many different varieties of rose of sharon and for the most part let them grow wild and volunteer in different spots.
It has been fun through the years to see where they will pop up next and unless they crowd out other plants I let them go.
I have some other varieties of the rose of sharon but these are the ones in bloom at the moment.
I don't know what the name of the yellow wildflower below is but I enjoy it's brief blooms.
My echinacea (purple cone flower) is beginning to have an increasing number of butterflies visiting.
I haven't gotten any good shots yet but even inferior butterfly shots make me smile.
I think the lily bud below almost looks like a long yellow squash.
I know I've posted my gerberra daisies a lot this summer but they are continuing to brighten up my garden.
I'll end with the butterfly that got away. I wanted to get closer for a good shot but ended up with the flower alone because right before I hit the button the butterfly was gone. You'll have to take my word for it that if the butterfly had stayed still for another second it would have been a good shot.
For those of you who are fathers, Happy Father's Day. For flowers around the world, please visit the home of Today's Flowers.
