Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Sig Olson/Joys From Nature/Ebony Jewelwing

Sigurd F. Olson was an author, environmentalist and a strong advocate of the wilderness.  There is more information about him here.  He worked so hard to preserve and protect the wild areas and to make everyone understand the importance of them, not just the intelligentsia of the country.

"Joys come from simple and natural things...


 
Mists over meadows...
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sunlight on leaves...
 
 
 
And the path of the moon over the water."
 
My husband and I were able to spend most of the day yesterday at Stone Mountain and I thank you for your anniversary wishes!  I thought I saw a butterfly (it is pictured on the leaves in the sun in the photo above!) until it landed on this leaf and then, you can see it is a DAMSELFLY. What is the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly?  When they are at rest, the dragonfly's wings will be straight out from the body, whereas the damselfly will fold its wings behind. The COLOR of this damselfly was incredible!  I looked it up and this is a male Ebony Jewelwing.  It is such a perfect name, it is jet black and the wings are quite large and black and in flight, it looks like a black butterfly...but when it lands, you can see it is not a butterfly!   That blue is the the most iridescent color...it really is like a jewel! 
 

20 comments:

  1. It sounds like you-all had a wonderful time.

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    1. It was nice to be off but I will be honest, the heat was BRUTAL, it was the hottest day we have had so far this year!

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  2. I am glad you had a good time at Stone Mountain. I see that you have been spammed. You are probably going to have to not let people make anonymous comments. That stopped ALL my spam when I did that. xo Diana

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    1. Oh yes, Diana, I have had a lot of those spammy comments. I am usually able to get rid of them before you see them!
      I hate to leave off anonymous comments, we have a friend in England who sometimes leaves me comments that way! But like you say, I may be forced to!!

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  3. I'm so glad you've had such a great time. Isn't that spam stuff just so aggravating. It really irritates me. Do these people really think anybody would want to visit them?

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    1. Spam is aggravating and no one likes them and they should just GO AWAY!

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  4. A jewelwing! Now, does that not just sound like something straight out of Harry Potter? :-)
    I think we have them here, too, or at least one that looks remarkably similar.
    Good to know you were able to spend a lot of time out yesterday. It was gorgeous here, too, and I was working from home, dropped my pencil at 3.00 pm and went for a 2 1/2 hour walk on my own.

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    1. Yes, a jewelwing DOES sound like something from Harry Potter!
      Oh, I looked at your post and those roses are so beautiful!
      I don't blame you one bit for going on that long walk!!

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  5. Glad you had a great day! I never knew the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly before. I'll have to pay attention now when I see one.

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    1. YES! You will impress others no end when you see one and say, "That is really a damselfly, you know, you can tell by the way the wings are folded back"! There are some other differences but that is the main one that I remember!

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  6. It sounds like you had a wonderful time, Kay. The photo of the moon is beautiful!

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    1. Yes, Martha, it was so nice!
      The moon photo was in Eastbourne, England, and that is a photo of the moon over the English Channel, taken June 5th of last year.

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  7. So that's my new thing learned for today. Dragonfly and damselfly. Now, I think I will remember which is which ! :)

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    1. Hey Jenny!
      Doesn't the damselfly look like something that Alice In Wonderland could have encountered?
      Thanks, Jenny, you have been a delightful student!

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  8. The colour of the jewelwing really is stunning and you're right it is just the perfect name. Congratulations on your anniversary. I haven't been able to watch your video yet as for some reason it doesn't show on the ipad :(

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    1. Hey Julie!
      That was a very hard photo to take of the Ebony Jewelwing, the wind was blowing and Richard couldn't get a very clear shot of it, but still you get the idea!
      If you can't see the video from my last post, the one of Ralph McTell, you can look up on Youtube. You must know him, he is very well known in England! xx

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  9. I do not remember wishing you a Happy Anniversary. Glad it was a good one. Your photos are beautiful and the header photo is just stunning.

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    1. Thank you very much, Connie. Just having the day off together made it special for us. I don't know if you saw my last post, but the flowers in my header photo are the flowers we got for our anniversary last year when we were in England!

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  10. The joys of nature - life's pleasures.

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    1. You are in a good spot of the country to enjoy nature!

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