Good morning and Happy Friday everyone! Time for a coffee and a look at our morning. It is a beautiful beginning to our day here, the sun is shining, light wind, the sky is a rich blue, there is an odd little puff of a cloud here and there, however, it is rather cool again. We have now moved into that time of year when nights can be very cool even if the days are warm. However, it is like we have already entered into early fall, and that would be early since it began in late July this year.

Normally this kind of weather would begin around mid August. The birds are flocking together getting ready to begin their southward migration. Common nighthawks have already begun heading south, so sad to see them leaving us. But by the end of August, half of our summer birds will be gone, heading for the warmer climates of the south. Most of those remaining will be gone by mid September.

Summer is such a short season sometimes, this year it is shorter than normal because we basically missed our spring. In this area spring, summer and fall make up 5 to 6 months of our year and winter is the other 6 to 7 months. I am hoping we will have a nice fall. Although once the leaves have fallen, the remainder of fall is usually cold, rainy and dreary, then follows that season I prefer not to think about.🙄😂 Last winter kind of finished me.

It was long, cold and more than 10 feet of snow. Too much for me, and most people up here, and I have lived here all my life. Oh well, enough of that for now. I was not really here yesterday, I was away looking for pictures in other places. I should have waited another day or two however, to give myself more time to rest. It was a very enjoyable day though, but amazingly, sitting at a picnic table in the shade at our favorite lake, it was rather chilly, I should have brought a jacket along with me, but the forecast said it was supposed to be warm.

It did not quite make it. Though in the sun it was not bad, but even then it felt more like fall than summer. I think that cooler weather is what really stiffened me up, especially after my tumble on Tuesday. Flower flies are especially common this year, which is nice, and right now there are 2 species that are very common. I found them everywhere on our trip, hundreds of them in each location, and they are common here at home too.

I have not identified them yet, that is something that has proven rather difficult, which is odd since these are large flower flies. I found some that I have not seen before, including one I have been hoping to find, the bald-faced hornet mimic. I hope my picture turned out, I did not get much of a chance to get one. I have not had time to go through all of my photos from our trip.

The chipmunks are busy this morning and it is warming up on the deck. I should sit out there in the sun for awhile, maybe that will help me a bit. Today I am showing some pics of hollyhocks, one of my favorite country garden flowers. The top pic is a rose bud opening. Thank you for joining Muffin and I this morning. Have a great Friday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2022 Steve McLeod.