The light this evening was truly golden. The grass is too, even though it looks lush and green in these pictures. We could sure use some rain.
A golden new puzzle :-).
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Friday, August 29, 2025
Meanwhile, Back In Nashville
Wait, what? Nashville?
Last year I heard that the purple martins in this part of the country gather in Nashville to prepare for their fall migration. The video clips were amazing. The amount of birds, staggering. I talked all year about going down...and then didn't go.
I hate to disappoint myself. I had really wanted to go...but it's hard to leave the farm, especially in a hot summer. It's easy to talk myself out of taking trips. Maybe next year.
We were working on Saturday morning, normal farm chores and helping load up fence posts for a friend. I stopped to get some lunch and, of course, picked up my phone to see what was happening on Instagram.
Sheep, painting, knitting, cats, rabbits, squirrels, wool...and a post by Margaret Renkl.
"They'll be on their way soon. If you're anywhere near Middle Tennessee, you don't want to miss this. This sight will get you through whatever hardships the next year brings."
Summer is hard for me, especially the heat of this past (I hope it's passed) summer. I've spent almost an hour trying to think of anything besides these birds that I like about summer and have come up with nothing.
Sure, flowers are beautiful, fresh tomatoes are sweet, butterflies and bees, the bats, but I'd trade all that to not have to try to make it through the rest of it. The martins moving in is a good day. The quiet when they fly out is deafening.
I found Tim and asked if he'd like to go to Nashville for the day, the rest of the day.
20 is always up for a road trip. Pip, too :-).
Nashville on a Saturday night was not for the faint of heart and if we hadn't driven four hours to get there, I'd have probably said some grown up words, given up and hightailed it back north. Tim handled everything like he always does, but I'm sure he wasn't having a great time either.
We found where we needed to set up at dusk, gave up trying to find someplace to eat downtown and headed to the outskirts and had a good dinner, found our way back downtown (holy $%&#).
I had been quiet panicking to myself that we were a day too late and they would have moved on. The tips online had been to get there by the 22nd (it was now the 23rd) around 7:30. It was 7:15 and we didn't see any birds.
And then there were four. And a group of six. And some flying into some small trees along a sidewalk.
And then there were birds everywhere!
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The trees got heavier and heavier as thousands of purple martins settled in for the night. And this is about all the people who were there to watch. There were thousands of people two blocks away and they missed the best show they'd see all year.
These two videos are short. The next video was while I was filming "live".
Some answers from questions from that IG post:
Yes, I believe they gather here every year.
No, it doesn't seem like enough trees. They were all bent low by the time everyone found a place.
They gather here each August. If you follow @birdsafenashville or @nashvilleurbanbird they apparently post the details each summer and give best dates to see them.
Do not go on Friday or Saturday if you can help it. Watch for downtown events like football games...and avoid those as well.
We did not get pooped on, but the truck got a couple hits. It wasn't bad and I even walked up under the trees near the end.
Even Tim enjoyed seeing them, but would probably have rather stayed the night than pull back into the farm at nearly 1:00 a.m.
It was absolutely worth the drive.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Blooms, Butterflies, Bugs And Bats
The best news I have is how many butterflies I've seen this summer. I have had years where I could count on one hand the number of monarchs and swallowtails I've seen. A few years now where I could probably count them on two hands. This year I've lost count!
I've seen monarchs (sometimes as many as four) almost every day for a month or so and I'm finding multiple caterpillars out on the milkweed plants. I haven't seen a chrysalis yet, but maybe if I put that in writing I'll see one on my way to the house this evening ;-).
Not only are the monarch visits up, I've had more swallowtails than I've ever had here. Stella used to get pretty ones on the butterfly bushes at her house, but I'd never seen a zebra down here and I've seen two this summer.
We've also had many, many smaller butterflies of all shapes and sizes, several hummingbird moths and more hummingbirds than normal as well. I put in some salvias this year and they love those big blue blooms.
The bats have been happy this summer too. We've been overrun by mosquitos, so the bats have been busy.
Today has had just a hint of fall in the air so maybe the end of this horrible summer is in sight. In the meantime, here's a new fun and easy puzzle for you.
Speaking of puzzles, I'd LOVE to know who works all the puzzles at 300 pieces :-D. If you don't want to use your name online, shoot me an email if you'd like to raise your hand.
Friday, August 15, 2025
Are You Feeling Lucky?
There are at least five "extra" clovers in this picture. Can you find them?
I made this into a puzzle and by making the pieces a little smaller (140 pieces rather than 120), the four and five leaf clovers really stand out. I thought that might make the clovers easier to find...but the puzzle took me almost a hour to complete so I'd maybe adjust the number of pieces if you aren't looking for a good challenge :-o.
Monday, August 4, 2025
July
July...was brutal. So incredibly hot and humid. Demoralizing. I did manage to spend about 36 hours up north for a wedding...and that made it almost worse. Worse in a "need to buy a lottery ticket" way. And yet, watching these photo flash by, there was a little good mixed in...but I can say it was better watching it than living it.
Friday, August 1, 2025
Garden Visitor
While I'm partial to butterflies of all sorts and sizes, I have a special fondness for hummingbird moths. I heard the distinctive buzzing as I walked around the back of the Wool House dye garden and was able to locate this snowberry clearwing moth working on some zinnias.
Bees, butterflies and actual hummingbirds love zinnias. I do too :-).
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