Hodge Podge

If the Farmer's Almanac is to be believed, we are in for another horrendous, snowy, cold, miserable winter in the Northeast.  I am doing whatever I can to eek out as much outdoor time while it's still sunny and warm before becoming a prisoner in my house for the winter months.  To that end, I've been spending at least an hour a day reading on the deck.  I brought my sidekicks out with me one afternoon.

I went to Mattapoisett to have lunch with my freshman year college roomie from St. Joe's, Ellen.  We haven't seen each other since 1984 and only recently reconnected via Facebook.  So great to catch up in person and she lives in New Bedford, so not that far at all!  Took some piccies on the main drag and we also went to Ned's Point Lighthouse and a small park in town.

A couple days later, Russell & I went for a walk on Scusset Beach.  It was high tide and the waves were even more choppy than the day I went by myself.  It was really breezy.

Again, I was hoping for a murmuration, but not this time.

High tide plus other people walking around meant only 1 teeny, tiny chip of white beach glass on this trip.

My sweetheart. *swoon*

Two days after that, I had to kill an hour so I went up to Butterflies of Cape Cod.  I thought the weather was perfect but the butterflies were not digging the cool, shady habitat and were reluctant to wake up and fly around.

Om nom nom nom

I am so totally dreading winter.....

Busy Summer!

Due to the fantastic weather up here this summer, just for a change, and our wedding, I've now gotten WAY behind on my day trip & life-in-general posts.  A lot of people have been complaining about how cool it's been but I've been absolutely delighted with the temperature.  Oddly, the Pacific Northwest has been pretty much frying off and on all summer with terrible fires in Eastern WA, OR and in Idaho.  Even the rainy days have been sporadic and only a couple of thunderstorms, which is good because I don't like them and my dogs like them even less.

It was a bit stormy this late afternoon though, with tons of hail that fell in some towns on the Cape but not at our house.

Blackberries that are slowly ripening in the back yard.  After I took this pic I picked and ate the ripe ones!

Another Supermoon in August.

Made a quick trip to Butterflies of Cape Cod one morning.

Cercropia moth caterpillar getting BIG!

The day I went into Sandwich to get my hair cut and coloured, I had a chance to walk around a little bit near the salon, Classy Cuts.  These dog statues are near a vet's office.  So cute with their hat and snorkel!

Outside the wine shop.  I took it because of the Beringer bottle, having been there a few times in CA.

I met my cousin Diane for lunch one day and then we went for a cone at Twin Acres.  I never noticed their weathervane before! 

In addition, several other friends visited in August!  When Mary got to town, a group of us went to lunch at Bobby Byrnes one Saturday, although I only took this pic of Russell & his 'little sister'. (she was standing on a chair).

Plus I got to take two more items off the local bucket list when I visited Scituate when JoLisa was here from South Dakota, and Salem with Moriah & Bruce who were visiting from Canada! Although those day trips occurred a couple of weeks ago, I will be posting the pics over the next few days. August...and the whole summer....just flew by!

The Butterflies' Garden

In addition to the butterflies and caterpillars, Butterflies of Cape Cod is filled with beautiful plants and flowers

OK this freaky looking thing is a mud dauber wasp, or at least 2-3 of them stuck together.  I saw it in the parking lot  when I left and at first glance, I thought it was a dying butterfly that had escaped and had ragged wings.  I was really freaked out when I bent down to have a closer look.  I sent the picture to an entomologist/research scientist and asked what kind of mutant wasp this was.  He wrote back right away to say it was at least 2 mud dauber wasps, but he could not tell what they were doing because very little is known about them.  He said that it's possible that this was a mating thing, since they hatch in summer, or perhaps their nest had recently been hit with pesticide, causing them to lethargically stick together.  Either way I hope I never see this again.  I've dubbed it Waspzilla.