Summer Wonder

Whelp, this Sunday, I think we got kicked out of the park.

I know it might seem crazy, but we got it straight from the Sergeant himself. But more about that later.

It started innocently enough, with our regular afternoon walk. We were a bit later than usual, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.

When we arrived, Lewis Emery park was packed. It wasn’t like Miami-beach packed, or Times-Square-on-New-Year’s-Eve packed, but for Hillsdale County, Michigan on a random Sunday, it was packed. Every single one of our out-of-the-way parking spaces had at least one car already there, so we ended up parking behind a line of cars. (This may be the first time this has happened here!)

It was also very muggy and warm.

My main goal was to look for wildflowers. It seems like everything plant-related is emerging a little early this year, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss some of my favorites. But I found that most of the wildflowers I have been seeing are along the roadsides, not in the park. I did find a mysterious new one, a small little flower growing all over, but Tony didn’t know what that was, and my wildflower field guide is packed away somewhere.

We saw Harry at the edge of the first pond. . .

Because it was so hot, we decided to walk through the woods on the dirt path. The pavement was hot for Mr. Darcy, and the woods, of course, are “lovely, dark and deep,” just as the poet, Robert Frost, described them.

But the waterfall at the head of the path was dry, and so was the brook along the first part of the path. That is usually the case in August as the dry fall weather begins, but not in mid-July. As we walked, the stream-bed began to fill up, and by the time we got in about a quarter-mile in, we found this little guy.

The wooded path was empty of other human beings, but we were surrounded by living things. The air in the woods smelled fragrant, familiar, but I couldn’t name the smell. It was quieter here, too; but as we walked along, a pair of grackles seemed to be gossiping above our heads.

At one point, Tony came walking towards us with his hands cupped together. (This is Tony, so who knows?) I thought it might be a frog, but when he held his hands out and opened them very slowly, we saw something unexpected:

Tony saw something bouncing in the grass, and he thought a crane fly had become entangled in a spider’s web. He captured it, but it continued to bounce up and down and move back and forth in his hands. It flew away the moment there was enough room, and we lost track of it and moved on.

But Beau, with his eagle’s eye, followed it and waited until it landed. And while we thought the “dancing” crane fly was unexpected, we were even more surprised to see it at rest!

This is Brachypremna dispellens, the famous “dancing crane fly,” also known as the “hanging fly.” According to bugguide.net, the males form swarms to attract mates, but this one enjoyed his dance all by himself.

As we got farther into the woods, we saw a beautiful wood satyr butterfly. She was pretty savvy, though; she saw me trying to take pictures of her, so she turned her little body to face me directly. (This makes her nearly invisible.)

So while I kept her busy taking pictures from the front, Beau sneaked around to the side and got real pictures.

If she had landed on the forest floor, she would have been nearly invisible.

A little farther on, we were buzzed by a dragonfly. Once we got around the bend in the trail, we saw why he was so territorial: There were about a dozen Jewelwings!

There is no other insect quite like these, so unusual! If they think they are invisible, they sit and watch us go by.

Mr Darcy held up pretty well for a sixteen-year-old Boxadore, but after a while he began to pant and slow down. Tony always brings water for him, so we took the short-cut back to where we parked so he could rest and cool down.

The short-cut took us out of the woods near a procession. The female mallard ducks were all standing in a line, as if waiting for their turn at the water park.

Once we got Mr. Darcy a drink and settled him in the back, we headed for the exit. But the famed Park Security began to form ranks as we drove out, and wouldn’t let us go across.

Being cut off was a surprise. We have always been big fans of their work, but this time, we seemed to be the ones in the hot seat. Sergeant Purdy came to the front and seemed to be preparing himself.

We waited, and then he let us have it!

We crept cautiously forward and Jim leaned out to listen. Sergeant Purdy came right up to the driver’s door: He was quite emphatic!

“I wonder what he said,” I mused. From the back seat, I heard this (suggested) interpretation in a goose-y voice:

“Take your black dog and go home!”

We had a good laugh, and made our way around them and on toward the exit. But when I looked back, I wasn’t too sure it was a joke.

Ah, well. It happens to the best of us!

Have a wonderful week, my dear friends! There is so much to wonder at in this world that God made; I hope you can get outside–maybe in the evening when it’s not so hot. I pray God will bless each one who reads this, no matter when they get to it.

Much love to you!