I love late September. It’s the best time of year to be outside. I walked my mile, today, plus a few extra laps. The kids played on their swing set, and I got nearly as much enjoyment out of watching them play on it today as I used to when they were small.
We got some rain today. Not a lot, but every bit helps. And though drought sucks, for obvious reasons, there is some bright side to be had. We haven’t seen a single tick. The numbers of biting flies and mosquitoes are way down. At dusk today, we were all outside and we got no mosquito bites. Zero.
I have to say, though, that drought was less scary when it was just something that I had observed. Knowing how it’s affecting other people in my state made it sound scarier. Crop failure. Fires. Wells running dry. I never should have looked into it. Now I worry about running out of water. Every shower seems frivolous.
But I’m supposed to be talking about bright side, so here is some more bright side.
Is there anything cuter than a baby frog? We spotted several frogs in the side yard this weekend. This was the smallest/cutest one.
The goldenrod is blooming well. It has a scent, slightly cloying but not obnoxious, which I had never noticed before.
There may be fewer flowers, but the bumblebees are managing to keep themselves busy.
In folklore, it is said that a wide brown band on this type of woolly bear means that the winter will be mild. It looks wide, right? I hope so. I’d prefer a mild winter.
This is the caterpillar of a different species, perhaps a giant leopard moth. You can’t really tell from the picture, but this caterpillar was huge.
So, things might be tough right now in a lot of ways, but the frogs and goldenrod and bumblebees and woolly bears are making the best of the things, and we can, too.