There are just too many demands on my time these days, what with become a frequent flier at various cardiac doctors's offices, having to walk fast, increasingly far, and without stopping daily, and then, of course, there's the necessity of an early afternoon nap. It just doesn't leave a lot of time for harvesting images of interesting natural history events and writing about them, and, equally of course, the fact that I'm so restricted in where I can travel makes it hard to find said events and document them, both with pictures and words. Sigh. But I'm not entirely without options, and on my trek through the back yard, I spotted these end-game hydrangea flowers, which recent frosts had left brittle and, I thought, intriguingly pretty in the late afternoon light. Pre-surgery in mid-October they hosted Spring Peepers, Garter Snakes, and an assortment of insects. Now they're lifeless, however persistently there.