It has been a super windy day and I’m excited to report my first sighting of my beloved red milkweed beetle. I’ve been eagerly awaiting my friends.
This bright damselfly made an appearance, too.
pretty dragonfly
holding on to lavender
you ride the breezes
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
it’s early summer
one of my favorite beetles
makes an appearance
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu, Bright Blessings,
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
I am enjoying a full moon. Earlier I visited damselfly, ladybug and wasp, all considered “beneficial insects”.
wasp and ladybug
great hunters in the garden
seeking their dinner
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
awesome damselfly
you are settled and resting
then you’ll be hunting
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
breaking through the clouds
the light of the moon shines bright
illuminating
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Blessings, Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
Flashback Thursday, July 26, 2012 – I love these strange little blossoms that are the flowers of the succulent, hens and chicks. This one is blooming on a variety that is red in color and growing in my next door neighbors’ yard.
Flashback Friday, July 26, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars a beautiful black carpenter bee and her/his beloved monarda! Bumblebees and carpenter bees adore monarda.
Saturday, July 26, 2014 – This is a tree in my neighbor’s parking strip and I’m not sure if it is a thornless honeylocust or a black locust. The pollinators and damselflies love it 🙂
“It is not by accident that the pristine wilderness of our planet disappears as the understanding of our own inner wild fades.”
~ Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
~ Mary Oliver
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Bright Bee Blessings and Namaste ~ Raven
Flashback Monday, July 23, 2012 – This is my pick photo for today and stars the lovely clouds and sky we had not too long before sunset. I just love these colors and textures of the clouds.
Flashback Tuesday, July 23, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars one of the ladies on salvia planted just for them.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 – These little insect friends were visiting down at my neighbors.
“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.”
~ Wendell Berry
“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.”
~Wendell Berry
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Bright Bee Blessings and Namaste ~ Raven
Flashback Friday, July 6, 2012 – This is my pick photo for today and stars mountain mahogany in bloom. I really like how you can see the individual hairs on the catkin/blooms and how the light hits the plant. This is a native species and I have it in my front yard for xeriscaping purposes, plus I love having native species 🙂
Flashback Saturday, July 6, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars Kanu, my friend’s new HP F2 (high percent second generation) Savannah.
Sunday, July 6, 2014 – Today I witnessed a wasp trying to get my beloved milkweed beetles. This time she wasn’t successful. I didn’t know that the paper wasps went after these beetles. I have hostessed paper wasps on my front porch in previous years and they recognize the people who are good to them (they have facial recognition abilities). While I love my beetles I love the paper wasps, too. It is the circle of life This time the wasp didn’t take home any dinner to her children and the beetles went on to live and love another day. Here is the succession of photos that I took while it unfolded. Note that at the end of this encounter the wasp got stuck in some milkweed sap and had to clean off.
How milkweed beetles do 🙂
Milkweed beetle love
stroking antennae softly
new generation
~ Raven Ariana Simons
This damselfly was a special ally this weekend and a representative of a a magical omen. He/she made an appearance when I was going in the house after my photo adventures. I am deeply grateful for the insect people, my little friends.
Damselfly sitting
so still on a stem you wait
hungry for dinner.
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
Flashback Thursday, May 31, 2012 – This is my pic photo and stars a pair of very pretty petunias that I’ve planted in a pot on my front porch. I love how they glow in the sunlight.
Flashback Friday, May 31, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars my F1 Savannah, Stella, looking at me in the mirror as I was taking this photo. It was very dim in the room but I really like her expression.
Saturday, May 31st, 2014 – I haven’t seen many bumblebees this year, though I did see one today and was able to get a single photo. I also have a damselfly and some honeybees at my little “water hole”.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.”
~Rachel Carson
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
~ John Muir
Our hearts give Thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~Bright Bee Blessings and Namaste ~ Raven
Flashback Wednesday, May 30, 2012 – Here are my first blossoms on my heirloom tomatoes. This plant is one of my tigrellas, a small red heirloom with stripes! I love this variety and also have green zebras, Russian plums, and another Russian variety.
Flashback Thursday, May 30, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and stars my resident male hummingbird in flight at the feeder.
Friday, May 30, 2014 – Mating insects continue in my garden with the small milkweed bug in the spotlight. Honeybees like milkweed, too. I also have a little damselfly.
“Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.”
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
“The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart.”
~ Amit Ray
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Bright Bee Blessings and Namaste ~ Raven
Flashback Tuesday, May 29, 2012 – This is my pick photo of the day and it stars a ladybug sleeping on my lovely insect attracting milkweed (it’s almost night).
Flashback Wednesday, May 29, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars this super wee baby praying mantis that I was lucky enough to spy when I was trying to take some honeybee photos in my volunteer sweet clover.
Thursday, May 29, 2014 – I saw crane flies mating in my lovage today and also some other little insect friends.
“First brown bat of spring
barks through the blue dusk. Crane flies?
Bring me the Sphinx Moths!”
~ Mingus Tourette
“summer solstice
a damselfly bends
an ear of grass”
~ Claire Everett
“not getting the whole story—
this ladybug
on my page”
~ Terri L. French
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
Grace and Mystery 