here we are - my sister Linda and I, in our "dragonfly finding hats" at the Hollows for our last day of counting. There were so few to be seen, primarily meadowhawks and oh my! those crazed dragonflies were procreating everywhere! in the air, over the sky-reflected water, nestled in dried out meadows, on the dirt path not moving as we approached right next to them. They had other things on their biologically driven minds. sex was in the air everywhere. poor things, they looked, on closer exam to be old. worse for the wear. time to rest and fade away after ensuring their 300 million year old leagacy. faded, dull colors, ragged and torn wings and slightly lethargic. how amazing that they have survived so long.

we did find a blue skimmer which was our first time to see one of those. and the mosquitoes were out with a vengeance - after not seeing ANY mosquitoes at all this summer (yay) they were out for blood. and yet, it was a gorgeous fall day - blue sky and white clouds reflecting like an impressionistic painting in the water of the lake. saw frogs, 1 snake, cool looking spiders with thick enormous black and yellow bodies, we id'd prairie flowers and looked without success underneath milkweed leaves for any monarch caterpillars or chrysalis. didn't see our family of turtles this time. I do love autumn and I'm going to miss it - as it slowly leaves in its robe of many colors, wrapped in rose and lemon verbena scent and the parade of birds, butterflies, locusts, dragonflies trailing behind ... bye,bye sweet autumn, see you next year...