I was afraid that this was going to be a very mediocre dragonfly season, but, in daily increasing numbers, the odonates are beginning to show up wherever I walk. Their lateness, of course, really can be pinned on the late-running winter and frigid spring, since metamorphosis from the "dragon"-stage underwater is dependent on warming waters as well as the advent of longer days and shorter nights. Now that we have all of the critical triggers in play, the odes are responding in kind and leaving the ponds, streams, seeps, and rivers to work the fields in search of insects. This Painted Skimmer, a genuine beauty, put on a show in the meadow next door, and its sudden presence, as well as its cooperation in photographic matters, seemed to indicate that my worries should be over. All may not be right with the natural world, but for now, at least, everything's more or less on track.