George and Nellie's Garden... July 11,2018

Tom drove us to Northeastern Ohio to visit my sister and her husband, her daughter, and to visit the Cleveland Art Museum.  After stopping at our niece's embroidery shop and having a good time visiting as we ate lunch with her, we headed toward George and Nellie's.  

We always take time to look at their beautiful flower garden before going out to eat with them.

At the entrance to her garden, my sister  had a new sign.  She said, "We'll see the troll somewhere as we go walking".

She asked me to take a photo of the verbena near the sign.  Some flowers are so tiny it is hard to see the details.  My Olympus Tough (TG-850)  has a Macro option so I was able to get a good closeup.  Interesting to me that the manufacturer used a flower to mark the setting.

She has a wide variety of flowers in her backyard which is one big flower garden.
The flowers that predominate are the lilies and the hostas. Most of the backyard is shady, an ideal place for the hostas.  The lilies glow in areas that get some sun.

There are a variety of borders.  In the first photo, you can see a brick border.  In the second is a stone border.  Nellie and George decide on the look they want and then do whatever they must do to achieve it.

She has  miniature hostas, too.  The gnome gives you an idea of their size.

Hosta blooms.

There are a variety of inhabitants in her garden, too.

Fairies...

Angels...

A colony of gnomes...

Small animals and birds and butterflies...

Buddhas and wind chimes...

Peace...

Shortly after I took this photo I found Twilly Troll.

This is the bridge he lives under.  Remember that sign at the entrance to the garden?

A Walk at Charleston Falls, July 24...Wonderful day for seeing butterflies

It was a beautiful day for a walk.  It was cooler than it has been, only about eighty degrees, Fahrenheit, the humidity was low, the sun was shining.

Shortly after I turned off the main trail I saw butterflies dancing everywhere.  I assumed they were Pearl Crescents since they are a common species.  But when I looked at my photos I discovered most of them were Silvery Checkerspots, a butterfly I had never heard of until Ruth Bowell told me about it when I was walking with the butterfly Transect group at Brukner Nature Center.

After enlarging this on the computer I am fairly sure this  is a female Pearl Crescent. (Phyciodes tharo)    Wingspan: 1.25 -1.60 inches (3.2-4.1 cm)

I assumed this was a male Pearl Crescent. However, back home, I looked through my butterfly field guides and I decided it is a Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)  Wingspan: 1.4-2.0 inches (3.6-5.1 cm  It has the two white spots in the row of black spots on the hind wings.

Soon I came across a cluster of butterflies clearly enjoying whatever they had encountered on the ground.  I didn't look too closely at their treasure because they might have been enjoying poop of one kind or another and I wasn't in the mood for poop. I was still assuming that I was seeing Pearl Crescents.  When I enlarged this on the computer, I discovered that although I had assumed they were Pearl Crescents, most of them were Silvery Checkerspots. 

In this still photo taken at the butterfly gathering spot, I have pointed out another distinguishing characteristic of Silvery Checkerspots.

According to the field guide, Butterflies of Ohio, a field guide by Jaret C. Daniels, Silvery Checkerspots fluctuate in population from year to year in Ohio, locally common sometimes and other times nearly absent.  This is why I automatically assumed I was seeing Pearl Crescents.  I was amazed when I looked at this video on the computer and discovered these were mostly Silvery Checkerspots.  Daniels further commented that the "males often gather at damp soil or animal dung".

Now I am not sure whether this is a Pearl Crescent female but I am still tending to think it is.

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Of course, at the time I was just enjoying the dancing butterflies, the sunshine and the flowers.

On my return walk through the area a Hackberry Emperor stopped close enough on the path for me to get this photo.

Some of them were enjoying the same "treasure spot" as the Silvery Checkerspots.

Out on the prairie , a Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) Wingspan: 1.75-2.4 inches (4.4-6.1 cm) took its time nectaring from a teasel. 

The other butterflies flitted by too fast for me to photograph...Cabbage Whites, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a dark swallowtail with lots of yellow dots on its body, several Red-spotted Purples, and a Monarch.  Plus lots more of those little orange and brown/black spots...Pearl Crescents and Silvery Checkerspots.

Looking back on this walk I decided I had chosen the perfect day and the perfect hour.

Embroidery in the Age of Computers...Sue Wills' Richland Embroidery Shop

Tom and I took a short trip to northwestern Ohio last week.  Our first stop was to visit with our niece, Sue.

Sue has an embroidery services business in Ontario, Ohio.

Embroidery is a lot different from what it was when I was taking sewing in high school in the 1950s.

This is one of the computer programmed embroidery machines she uses.

Imagine what a person has to know to operate one of these.

She embroiders a wide variety of items.  Tee shirts are popular.

Here are a few of the logos and pictures she has in her files.

She has embroidered ball caps for Tom to advertise his small business.  He puts together videos and copies them to DVDs and flash drives and also does statistical analysis, mostly for the local park district.  He also occasionally provides these services for other individuals and groups.

Since she has an employee to mind the store, she was able to leave her business and have lunch with us at a local pizza parlor.  It was good to talk with her.  We caught up on what she and her family have been doing and told her what has been keeping us and our family busy.

My Eightieth Birthday....Wow!

June 13, 2018...I have entered another decade.

The first day was amazing.  I expected that Tom and I would go to The Rusty Bucket where our grandson is chef and have a pleasant meal.

I was ready to go when Tom said, "There's someone at the door.  Will you get it?"

My two sisters from Florida were at the door.  One of them said she thought I was having a heart attack when I opened the door.  I could not have been more surprised.  They drove all the way up from Florida to spend my birthday with me.

Tom told us to go ahead and go to the Rusty Bucket.  He had things to do at home.  The four of us could talk when we returned.

With my grandson on the patio of the Rusty Bucket.

A few hours later my daughter, Sonja, arrived with supper.   So much supper, I told her, it looked like she had brought enough food for twenty people.

Good thing, too.  Other people, none of whom I expected, showed up.

What I have told you are only a few of the highlights of the day.  Tom and  and my sister took at least a hundred pictures so I have all of them to jog my memories.  And yesterday, a book made with help from the Shutterfly website , arrived so I have still another way of remembering.

This decade is off to a wonderful start.