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
This morning was beautiful. It got hot, though not bad, later in the afternoon. I was able to get the little native bee that protects the milkweed. These are a megachiles (leafcutting) type of bee and chase other insects away as well as grapple with honeybees to try and drive them off of their beloved milkweed. The skipper is a different type than yesterday’s.
hi, little skipper
do you love scabiosa,
the purple flower?
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Bee and Butterfly Blessings, Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
Today has been sunny and pleasant. Today I have a native bee (with an ant looking on), a milkweed bug, and a skipper. I still await the appearance of my beloved milkweed beetles.
little insect friends
I’m curious about you
where you come and go
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
look who’s visiting
bees, beetles, and butterflies
it’s a sunny day
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Butterfly and Bee Blessings, Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
Today was overcast. I was able to get some photos of my milkweed with a honeybee, a couple of different native bees, and you can even see an ant here and there if you look closely. The stripey bee we saw in the Cranefly and Native Bee 5/31 post. As I mentioned then, this bee loves milkweed and was seen today trying to chase off the dark honeybee seen below. The honeybee was not deterred. The teeny tiny bee was awesome.
every spring I wait
and look forward to milkweed
with visiting friends
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
nectar for many
home to a few exclusives
marvelous milkweed
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Milkweed and Bee Blessings, Namu Amida Butsu, Namaste
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
After yesterday’s photos of canyon trees, reservoir, and cloudscapes, this morning’s captures of little friends in my yard and my neighbors’ are a contrast in size. Also we see the first opening milkweed blossoms. The above little leafhopper on milkweed is the tiniest of today’s friends. The grasshopper is tiny, too.
milkweed leafhopper
grasshopper at the neighbors’
tiny little friends
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
A little shower then sunshine then overcast again brought some refreshment to milkweed and other plants and friends.
Here’s the first blossoms!
a monarch’s breakfast
and promise for new sweet meals
blossoming milkweed
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
wee-est grasshopper
on purple little daisy
what are you seeing?
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
The hummingbird is the largest of today’s friends and is happily partaking at the feeder. There was a downy young hummer, too, though I didn’t get a photo. I didn’t think the male helped with raising babies, yet I’ve noticed that the male hangs out by the nesting area. They nest in a little juniper and Oregon grape thicket, so I can’t actually see or observe the nest.
sipping the nectar
o hummingbird hummingbird
do you have babies?
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
little leafhopper
are you refreshed by the rain?
will you be drinking?
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Namaste, Bright Late Spring Blessings, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
“It just may be that the most radical act we can commit is to stay home,” says Terry Tempest Williams. ~ From Terri Windling’s October 1st blog post
Saturday, October 3, 2015 – Mostly overcast with some rain today for the 3rd day of OcPoWriMo. While I rarely follow the prompts, in part because my poetry follows my picture project and it seems haiku (as I play with it) a nice fit, I will say that lately my biggest blocks to my creativity and writing have been more physical than emotional (though there are emotional components that arise out of the physical). They have ranged from dsl connection issues (as most of my writing is here on this blog and on pollinator/earth activism pages I manage on fb), old equipment and failed software, and health issues. It is kind of ironic because this blog originally arose from a daily photo project I started on Facebook on January 4, 2012 to help get me up and about after an extended period of illness and being abed. I do have some chronic health issues, like too many people I know, that stem from what I believe to be the way humans live in and treat the earth and all of its creatures (including the plant people). One of the types I have takes down my immune system and it can take quite some time to get better (I’m still in an activation phase of this one). When we live in a world where humans spray poisons to get rid of the plants and animals that they don’t want, we tend to forget that we are poisoning ourselves as well as the creatures we love. All of life is necessary and I believe we need to find our way back to a sacred re-connection to our world and all in it. This includes a connection to where we live and to all of our neighbors (including the plant and other beings). Terri Windling’s blog, Myth and Moor, has been examining the connection to the places we live, our communities, and how we relate to the sacred in these places over the last couple of weeks (September and October). I encourage you to go check it out 🙂
“my friends are still here
while the milkweed is turning
it’s migration time”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
“This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek.”
~ Terri Tempest Williams
“connecting with home
I am tender to spider
and my other friends”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Namaste, Bright Blessings, Namu Amida Butsu ~ Raven
Flashback – Tuesday, January 10, 2012 – American robin on maple tree from the extra photos.
Flashback – Thursday, January 10, 2013 – Here’s the tree that reminds me of an Arthur Rackham illustration looking fine in front of a nice view of the north end of the Oquirrh Mountains. 
Flashback – Friday, January 10, 2014 – I sure loved seeing the robins today. I also saw some ducks, coots, geese and a murmuration of starlings 🙂
Saturday, January 10, 2015 – Today was grey but lightened up with the sight of a pair of kestrels and getting out to look at what is going on with the old milkweed (hint – if you click on the word you will find a way to milkweed).
“now the perfect time
“I do not understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”
“though the day looks grey
two hawks are better than one
demonstrating grace”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
“It’s not enough to have lived.
We should be determined to live for something.
May I suggest that it be creating joy for others,
sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind,
bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
~ Leo Buscaglia
Flashback Friday, November 30, 2012 – This is my pick photo for today and stars a poppy pod lying in my neighbor’s front yard in the ground cover that was my pick photo for yesterday. 
Flashback Saturday, November 30, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars what’s left of a sunflower after the birds have picked it clean.
Sunday, November 30, 2014 – Here is how most of my milkweed is looking right now.
“I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I cant change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.”
~ Charles de Lint
“seeds once lived in you
once full now mostly empty
ghostly milkweed pods”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
Please check out the Peacock Spider Facebook Page for more great stuff and subscribe to the youtube channel.
“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
~ Rachel Carson
Flashback November 15, 2012 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars a pair of hazel catkins back lit by the sun.
Flashback November 15, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars a female mallard duck by the Jordan River.
Saturday, November 15, 2014 – Today was mostly gray and overcast but I took advantage of the small window of time that the sun came out in my neighborhood.
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
~ Socrates
“colors dull then bright
sun here and there, then soon gone
such is this season”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
~ W. B. Yeats
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
~ Langston Hughes
Flashback Tuesday, October 9, 2012 – his is my pick photo for today and stars the two pumpkins I got from volunteer starts that my friend shared with me 🙂
Flashback Wednesday, October 9, 2013 – This is my pick photo for today and it stars milkweed going to seed in the late afternoon/early evening rain. My milkweed is a beautiful autumn yellow right now!
Thursday, October 9, 2014 – Today I saw a couple of milkweed aphids on a dandelion seed head in the sun and it looked like one of them was getting ready to get on a seed to sail away. It is the 9th day of the month long poetry challenge.
“I was a dandelion puff…Some saw the beauty in me and stooped quietly to admire my innocence. Others saw the potential of what I could do for them, so they uprooted me, seeking to shape me around their needs. They blew at my head, scattering my hair from the roots, changing me to suit them. Yet still others saw me as something that was unworthy and needed to be erased.”
~ Nicole Bailey-WIlliams
“a milkweed aphid
sitting on a puff waiting
for a passing breeze”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
“my head is on fire
said the dandy to the sun…
seeds are exploding”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste ~ Raven
Grace and Mystery 