Just as Lovely

  The purple mist plants (wild ageratum) have, once again, taken over the flower gardens.  What was once filled with daylilies, zinnias, petunias and nasturtiums is now a sea of purple.  Well, purple and orange, if you wish to be technical.  (I was informed of that by Son..his words.)  Anyway, the ageratum blooms are thick in spite of the drought and those blooms have attracted the loveliest abundance of orange butterflies!

  For years, the blooms would draw many, many monarch butterflies and I so enjoyed those but, lately, the orangeness has been brought by fritillary butterflies.  These come in huge swarms to flit about the purple mist and I am equally happy with them.  To my way of thinking these are just as lovely as the monarchs...much the same as the ageratums are just as lovely as any exquisite orchid.  I guess it is all in the way you look at things and how much you can appreciate what is set before you.  It is a grand feeling to get to the point that you can find satisfaction in the simple things of life.

"Fall"ing into Winter

   This far south, we rarely get the beautiful "fall colors" that our neighbors to the north do.  The cypress trees turn a golden brown but with emphasis on the brown.  Tallow trees and gum trees do change but they start that in late summer and most of the leaves drop as soon as they turn.  Hickories, on the other hand, are our bit of color even though it comes in December.  It would be grand if the leaves changed to a lovely shade of red in keeping with the seasonal spirit but they turn orange...bright orange...then drop.  They drop everywhere.  By tomorrow, I will be knee-deep in orange.  This drop will happen with the coming rain and wind that is expected overnight.  The rains will last for the next four to five days.  While I am grateful for the rain on the garden, I am not looking forward to dealing with a ton of soggy leaves.

  To be honest, I was not even fully aware that the hickory trees were in their glory until my brother commented on the huge tree that stands in my front yard.  "Boy!  That hickory tree is pretty!"  I had to agree when I looked up.  Yep, that thing was literally glowing in the rays of the late afternoon sun.  Wow!  I am glad he called my attention to it because with the incoming foul weather, it would have come and gone without my noticing.  Hickory trees!  Our fall color makers that wait until December.

Orangeness!

   So, the color of today is orange!  Why?  Well, simple.  I am in an orange mood.  This mood was brought on by a butterfly and a flower.  An orange and black Gulf Fritillary Butterfly was sipping nectar from an orange zinnia.  If that does not get you into the orange mood, then nothing will!  Orange!  Orange and black...the colors of the butterfly...also, the colors of Halloween!  I love Halloween! So, I am in an orange mood AND I am decorating for Halloween!  Yep, it is early but I say do what makes you happy.  Halloween makes me happy so I am doing what I please.  Besides, the critters of the Bayou do not care if the Little Bayou House is decorated for Halloween in the middle of September!

  It seems to me that orange is definitely the color of fall.  Orange leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, flowers, persimmons, the Harvest moon, sunrises, sunsets...all things orange seem to be found in the fall!  (Yes, I do realize that the sun rises and sets year round but it definitely splashes the sky with color more starting in the fall and running through winter.)  With all this orangeness going on, you would think it is my favorite color.  Well, it is one.  The other is black..the lack of color.  Put those two together and, wham!  Halloween!  Favorite!

Mother Nature Knows How To Relieve Stress

  We do not get much "fall color" down here in the Deep South.  Oh, we have color but it is mainly green..and..brown.  The beautiful show of leaves changing through the color spectrum before they drop from trees is not a thing we often observe so when we do see an orange leaf, we rejoice!  This fall color change receives the same emotion as a snowflake here..even though, our "snowflakes" are usually in the form of sleet so are actually ice...not snow.  Still, we are overjoyed with whatever tiny bit of season change we are granted.

  This afternoon, Mark and I took a leisurely stroll about the property.  We ended up on the pier (as usual) and sat to just enjoy our time.  When I panned the area, my heart fluttered a bit when I noticed COLOR!  On the western shore, just beyond my brother's pier, the cypress trees were about to lose their needles.  The trees were a rather rusty orange and contrasted well against the green of the pines. (Yes, we have the type of deciduous cypress trees that lose their needles during the late fall/early winter.)  To boot, there were a few black gum trees showing their deep maroon colors. This color change was an exciting event!  Ok, maybe not but it did brighten the day a bit.

  The changing colors gives us a lift emotionally whether we wish to admit it or not.  While the visual impact can be stimulating, just being outside to enjoy the beauty gives us the fresh air to cleanse the mind.  Our brains need the clearing of clutter especially during stressful times.  We need the stimulus to break free from the survival mode that we pull around ourselves as we cope with whatever life throws at us.  Letting the brain rejuvenate allows us to "live" our lives and not just survive our daily hardships.  With that in mind, go out and find your own "colors" whether they come in the form of leaves, flowers or even a pretty sunset.  Free the mind of troubles and live.  Mother Nature is there to help.

Warning! Don't Eat Me!

  Son has often said that if you ingest things that are slightly "toxic" over a period of time, your body will build an immunity to said substance.  I imagine there is some logic in that idea since he is probably the most logical person I know.  You can depend upon his reasonings without a shred of doubt.  That said, even though I fully trust his word, I have yet to find myself with this overwhelming urge to attempt munching on some known toxin.  However, there are some critters that do just that.  They can happily dine upon things that would send the rest of the world for a loop and they do it without seemingly any dire effects.

  Take, for instance, the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.  The caterpillar will feed upon vines known to contain toxic chemicals and, yet, the caterpillar shows no ill effects, whatsoever.  In fact, that diet is what is its lifeline, in more ways than one.  Since the caterpillar eats toxins, it is poisonous to anything that eats it.  The very thing that kills other critters saves the caterpillar's life.  One of the identified host plants is the passion flower vine.  Its toxic chemicals stay in the caterpillar's body even after it transforms into a butterfly.  This makes the butterfly toxic to other critters (such as birds) that wish to eat it.  The bright orange coloring is a warning!

  This pretty butterfly visited the gardens this morning and seemed to be partial to resting in the nandina bushes.  Occasionally, it would flit down to hover over the lantana blooms before heading back to the nandinas.  The morning sunbeams made its orange wings seem even brighter than normal making me think of fall...orange always makes me think of fall.  A bit of wishful thinking there.