As some of you know, I’ve had some family issues here and have not been blogging for awhile. I think I may have things straightened out in my own mind, still a long road ahead, but at least I can see progress.

It’s been so hot this summer, I haven’t been visiting the parks, but thanks to a little cool front, I attempted a 7-mile walk with 40 pound backback on Sunday aftternoon. Not such a smart thing - at least not so early in the season. My muscles are still reminding me of this foolishness!

Actually, I call it my home style EKG test. If I can walk the 7 miles with backpack and still be able to sing "O Daughter of Zion" with all the long phrases, I guess I’m in good enough physical shape.

I don’t often choose to go Sundays. By the time church is finished, it’s hot and there are too many people in the park to see any animals, but sometimes you just have to go when you can.

I saw a few changes this year, for one thing the river was a strange color. Probably from all the flooding we've had this year. A friend of mine lives right on the river and now has a beach that has not been there before.

We seem to have a lot of butterflies this year – and big ones! Dragonflies are scarce and small, so I concentrated on the butterflies. Following are some of the results.


And a little deeper into the woods



And rather a lot of these guys too!