It’s a bird. It’s a plane.

 

It’s a ginormous grasshopper!

 

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Kilauea’s scaring tourists

 

Nobody’s here.  Erupting volcano. Earthquake tremors. Tsunami evacuation area. Brush fires. Hurricane season.  All in such beauty. 

 

Time for fall-ing leaves

 

OR — maybe it’s just the drought’s effect.  Either way, this leaf caught my eye.  Looks a lot my aging skin.  Trying to see the beauty and trying to embrace the transience of life.

 

Silver Sword

Mauna Kea Observatory. This highly endangered plant is endemic to Hawaii. Such a thrill for me to find one.

Bees ‘n’ butterflies

 

It’s another beautiful morning here. So happy to see the bees!

 

Silvery Checkerspot

 

Glad I planted zinnias and Black-eyed Susans.  The larvae feed gregariously on these flowers.

 

Female Eastern Swallowtail?

 

Not sure about this identification.  Waiting on my butterfly expert from the Monarch Watch at KU to certify. This one was beating its wings continuously, so it was difficult to get a shot in focus.

 

Majestic Monarch

 

So happy to see these guys showing up in the zinnia, lantana, milkweed garden.  More to come.

 

Found one!

Monarch caterpillar feeding on a tropical milkweed in the garden. Keeping my eye out for the chrysalis, gorgeous to behold.

Determined to “get to the other side”

. . . his fierce, humorous eyes, under brows like fingernails, stared straight ahead. I’ve always admired and remembered this passage from Steinbeck’s, Grapes of Wrath.  I like how the turtle continues to look past all the obstacles towards his goal. He focuses on what he wants and pursues it, not stopping to deal with all the trivial matters thrown at him. The turtle looks at the big picture, the final result, and focuses on that to keep him going rather than on the little weeds that block his path. A lesson I need everyday.