ShadowDarner, LH

With my granddaughter Stasia enjoying a sleepover with "auntie," I had an unexpected few hours of relatively free time. The first thing that had to be done was make an overdue stop at the dump, but since I was there, I also decided to hike up nearby Lantern Hill, which, in the fierce heat, has somehow not had much appeal for Stasia. I thought, if I visited alone, I might have some observations that would interest her enough to break any trekking reticence, so, heat alerts notwithstanding, I headed uphill. At the summit, I noticed the wing flashes of a large dragonfly, and by the way it hung on the tree limb, it was clearly a Darner-type ode. I photographed it from a number of angles before it spooked and flew away, and when I got home, I combed through the field guides before settling on an ID: a Shadow Darner, a pretty, late-summer specialty. Hope the image whets Stasia's discovery appetite.