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Finishing touches

August 31, 2018 - The stonemasons arrived five days ago and promptly began transforming a stretch of flat, unkempt ground into an exquisit...
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Autumn intimation

August 30, 2018 - It's still in the 90s and even the lake water is warm, although not repulsively so. That means, of course, that summer i...
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Dust in the wind-less

August 29, 2018 - Despite the fierce heat, the stonemasons are working unfazed. They're true craftsmen and a genuine delight to watch but...
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Unbalancing act

August 28, 2018 - Our respite from the fierce heat and humidity was short-lived, and today, there was an advisory that basically said, Sta...
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Stone speech

August 27, 2018 - If I had it to do all over again, I just might have chosen a career as a stone mason. I've done a few modest projects ar...
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Full house

August 25, 2018 - One of the most time-honored pieces of advice is the admonition "don't sweat the small stuff," as well as the corollary,...
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A 50th to savor

August 25, 2018 - I'm usually pretty good about living up to this endeavor's charge and making time for natural history observations and p...
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Mitey damsel

August 24, 2018 - When it comes to identifying members of the insect order Odonata, I'm reasonably good with the dragonflies, but their sm...
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Seed dynamite

August 23, 2018 - One of my granddaughter Stasia's favorite late-August activities is to find a patch of Jewelweed seed pods and demonstra...
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Bad beauty

August 22, 2018 - I've been noticing these pretty, purple-flowered bloom spikes lording it over a gravel bar in the middle of a stretch of...
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A touch of silver

August 21, 2018 - The intense heat and humidity have continued without apparent end, but, unlike in runs of Dog Days past, I simply refuse...
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Color change

August 20, 2018 - First thing this morning, just after I'd started drinking coffee and thinking about what I might discover on this hot, h...
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Semi-wishful thinking

August 19, 2018 - I am not, it must be said, a big fan of heat and humidity, and summer's attendant plagues of mosquitoes, other biting fl...
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A hint of autumn

August 17, 2018 - It's hot. It's humid. There's no end in sight, and anyone thinking about taking the flannel shirts out of cold storage..
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Fly finding

August 16, 2018 - When I was a kid, the notion that the only good fly is a dead fly was firmly hammered into my psyche. But while I'm stil...
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Thorn in my side

August 15, 2018 - One of the stated aspirations of this blog remains posting the best natural history photo from my daily rounds and, usua...
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Unexpected treat

August 14, 2018 - Given all the recent rain and heat, there are mushrooms popping up everywhere. These arose in the grass by one of our la...
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Tiger in the Joe Pye Weed

August 13, 2018 - The passage of midsummer leaves an indelible signature in the botanical world, and one of the easiest places to read the...
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Mega-mosquito

August 12, 2018 - Under normal circumstances around here, no one engages in mosquito-watching on account of the insect's beauty. The local...
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Monarch munchers

August 11, 2018 - It was absolutely pouring when I got up, and I thought about cancelling the public walk I was scheduled to lead at the P...
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Mimic harassment

August 10, 2018 - Today was the once-a-month-or-so time to visit the town dump, and, with the trash and recyclables deposited in their pro...
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Mini-hummers

August 09, 2018 - One of my favorite places on Earth is an ultimate "garden spot" known as the Preston Nature Preserve. The area, mostly a...
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Deadly ID

August 08, 2018 - A couple of weeks ago, I received a splendid review book from the Princeton University Press. The Bees in Your Backyard:...
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Sociable climber

August 07, 2018 - It was a long day on the road, since we had to temporarily bring Stasia back towards home—we've been meeting halfway out...
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The poke tree

August 05, 2018 - The American Pokeweed, a.k.a. Phytolacca americana, is a native problem and opportunity. As is clear from this photo of...
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Easy parking

August 05, 2018 - Going to the beach on a hot Sunday summer morning was probably an act of insanity, even though I had left early enough t...
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Walking stick year?

August 04, 2018 - I've been shooting digital images for at least 15 years, and during that time span, I've almost never seen—or photograph...
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Rocky, come home

August 03, 2018 - When I called it quits just before midnight yesterday, our little black Manx cat Rocky had not yet decided to come back...
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A prince of nature's church

August 02, 2018 - Lobelia cardinalis, a.k.a., the Cardinal Flower, is one of the signature blossoms of nature's midsummer "church." I don'...
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Thickheadedness, redux

August 01, 2018 - Last year, towards the end of summer, I spotted the strangest of wasp mimics in the Assekonk Swamp while I was teaching...
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