A Second Look--September 30, 2015

Things have been very busy around here for the last couple of months (you may have noticed I haven't been posting as much), and that has made me kind of stressed. But my walk around the yard for a Second Look yesterday worked its magic. For a little while, I was focused on the outdoors and the stress I was feeling melted. Nature can do it every time for me.

Here are a few things I saw this week

 during a Second Look.

Monarch butterfly. Even though we have milkweed (the monarch host plant) and I've seen monarch caterpillars, this is the first time I've seen a monarch butterfly in several years. This one was hanging onto a twig and only opening its wings when the breeze got strong.

Geranium, Roxanne. The rain we had last week brought out a few blooms on summer flowers that were just about done for the season. 

One more Black-eyed Susan

Sedum, Autumn Joy. The sedum is a fall flower and is in full bloom now.

Blanket flower

Verbena. This annual looked dead most of the summer, however, the cooler temperatures seemed to have revived it. It's supposed to happy in warm weather, so I'm not sure what was going on.

Another "hidden" walnut.

The leaves are just starting to turn and fall. It will be leaf raking time soon.