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| Male skink communing with a dreaded biting fly |
We are inundated with heat, the kind that makes each breath an acrid undertaking. Whatever happened to the days of yore when the hot days of summer came with the blessing of a refreshing, dew-drenched dawn? However, the garden is full of life. Humidity is high enough to supply spiders with prey. Lovely, diaphonous webs ornament the garden trees and empty spaces.
The skinks managed to reproduce in style: the garden is filled with neon blue flashes from the tails of the newly hatched. The only adults I see from day to day are male, but a female must be around somewhere. The newly hatched are the second batch. I missed the first batch entirely, though I was on the look-out for them. Evidence of a spring hatching is seen in the traces of iridescence in a young adult male's tail.
The persimmon tree is dropping most of its young fruit in the heat. But the ginko nut tree still holds its promise of a decent harvest come fall.
Swallowtails in three colors visit the garden: black and white striped, yellow and white striped, and black. The newest denizens are a pair of gliders who like to cool their wings on the magnolia trees.
While cicadas drop songless from the trees in the afternoon heat, and sparsely scattered earthworms struggle to make a comeback, we see other steadfast beings ready to fill the niche.
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| ginko nuts getting ready |
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| welcome flash of blue |
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| full exposure |
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| glider surveying its kingdom |
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| Nephila maculata's horizontal orb |
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