Return to Middle Creek

I have been to Middle Creek twice since my return to PA - last Monday my friend Dick Warren an I took a walk around sunfish pond enjoying the lilies and the dragon flies. The butterflies were abundant on the Joe pie - mainly tigers. On Thursday Florence and I enjoyed a few hours there. I took many pics of a great blue catching and eating a large fish - lucky for him that the pond is low due to lack of rain. Our friend the red tail hawk seems almost tame. He sat on a fence post not 20 feet from our car, He did not attempt to fly as I shot many of his preening poses. The blue birds are abundant but not near the nest boxes. Lots of Gold finches enjoy the thistle and goldenrod in bloom. No sign of the eagles either day. It is good to get back to my blogs and the friends at the markets. Stop by and say HEY.

3 months in Kentucky

From May 20 to Aug 20 I was in Eolia Kentucky. I have very little net access so there are no blogs posted from there but there was plenty of "naturing" We were working as cooks for the Mennonite Central Committee's Sharing with Appalachian People program (SWAP) I also served as a materials driver for the work crews who went out to work on people's homes. In my free time I went "naturing" of course.

Living in the Thomas Jefferson National Forest is like a dream come true. Wildlife abounds there. Deer, elk, black bears, birds, trees, wildflowers - so much to see so little time to do it. I won't bore you with every detail but I will list the highlights.

I saw

2 bears

dozens of deer

several wildflowers new to me including the yellow orange orchid

dozens of moths - some yet to be identified

hundreds of butterflies including the Dianna Fitalary (male and female) and the pipevine swallowtail
never seen by my eyes

I picked and ate wild black raspberries and blueberries

collected two birds nests, a paper wasp nest, a long snake skin. likens, moses, fungi, and several twigs with ovapositer marks from 17 year cicada

a highlight was my visit to an old growth forest called Lilly Cornnet woods, a protected old growth forest where you must have an appointment and be accompanied by a staff person while on the property

pictures to follow