Butterfly at the Hummingbird Feeder

It was a day for which we had big plans. We were going to have a fun day: we'd go swimming and eat out somewhere. But then we woke up starving and my husband cooked a big breakfast. By the time we were done, we couldn't imagine going anywhere or eating again anytime soon. We took our books and sat in the shady, comfortable backyard.

But the books didn't hold us for long, for other duties called. Gee, there was some yard clean-up that needed to be done. And couldn't I just spend five minutes weeding around the shed? Oh, and what about the bushes he'd trimmed the other night that I'd never cleaned up after? It might only take five minutes (in actuality, it took five times that).

And then it was: well, wouldn't this be a great day for him to get up on the roof and sweep it. So he did that, while I spotted him and played Go-For and Ground Crew (aka the Step and Fetch Girl). Honestly, I may have never SEEN so many maple tree seeds in one place at one time before. Flutter flutter flutter - down they all came!

Which was followed by: gee, since we're probably staying home, wouldn't this be a great laundry day? And so I did that. And hung the bulk of the laundry on the deck, and put the smaller stuff - undies, socks, tea towels, wash cloths - on a drying rack in the sunny yard.

It did occur to me that with a yard as active as we have (for it is chock full of chipmunks, birds, and squirrels), I half expected I might return to find some of them wearing our underpants! But that didn't happen. (If it had, you KNOW there'd be pictures!) In the end, we never went anywhere; instead, we worked ourselves to the brink of exhaustion, and possibly beyond.

But in between, I sat in the yard and watched the hummingbirds and the butterflies. I had cleaned and filled the feeders in the morning, and the feeders were busy all day long. We have at least two male and one female ruby throats, and they are mighty THIRSTY, for such tiny birds.

And then along came a butterfly, and oh, how it wanted the hummingbird go-juice in the bright red feeder. It fluttered all around and then finally sat on the feeder. I do hope it got a nice drink! (The butterfly, I'm guessing to be a red-spotted purple, but it's hard to tell for sure.)

As late afternoon began to turn into evening, we took our exhausted selves to the bedroom to watch some DVDs. The air conditioner isn't in the bedroom window yet but it will go in soon. For now, we still have access to both windows. It's been so lovely that we were able to wait so long.

My husband looked out the window and he startled. I jumped up to see. Outside in the meadow stood a very fine healthy looking doe, grazing slowly through the touch-me-nots (jewelweed) at the front of Gremlin's Meadow. My camera was in another room, but I didn't want to miss a second of the show, so here is this: I let it go . . .

I sacrificed a possible picture so I could stand and watch the show. And so we watched, enchanted, as the deer walked all around (for the record, no, it was not wearing underpants). And as I looked out the window, I saw the robin on her nest, watching the deer. A branch away, the hummingbird sat, also watching the deer. Our very own peaceable kingdom. It was the greatest show in town.

Here is a song for the butterfly in the photo above, pretending to be a hummingbird: Eric Clapton, with Pretending.

Also possibly related:
The Great Pretender: This Is Not a Hummingbird!