DAYLILLIES BEAUTIFY THE LANDSCAPES

Whether it's in the city or out in the countryside, daylillies are popping up everywhere.  The butter-colored Stella d'Oros are probably my favorites.  Masses of these "Stars of Gold" are being used to beautify many landscape settings.  But, in reality, there aren't too many daylilly varieties that aren't gorgeous flowers.

A SUMMER SUNSET

As the golden hour approached, the Empire Beach was teeming with folks enjoying the scene unfolding before them.  And those who came were not disappointed, as the first sunset of summer was a spectacular show. 

As I pulled out of my parking spot and headed south, I noticed another dazzling show going on as an incoming cloud bank was taking on the sunset afterglow.

CLOUDS TELL THE STORY

We've had very diverse weather this week, with beautiful sunny days mixed in with some ugly thunderstorms.  I think the cloud formations do the best job telling the weather story.

There've been wispy cirrus clouds and puffy cumulus clouds on the nice days. 

My favorite clouds are the ones that are well-defined puffs of white.  

 They're known as cumulonimbus clouds and are a very dense type of cloud. 

Their beauty can be deceiving, however, as they can rise into thunderheads, and often have gray bases that can produce precipitaion.  

They've been the culprits which  produced some intense thunderstorms this week.

NATURAL BEAUTIES

The woods have been full of natural beauties this spring.  Trillium, Jack-in-the Pulpit, two kinds of Lady Slippers, and Woodland Phlox have reminded me of all the gorgeous wildflowers this area has to offer.

FUZZY GOSLINGS

This week it seemed like everywhere I went I saw families of geese.  I counted six

in all.  The goslings were soooo fuzzy and cute.  It was interesting to see that as the goslings got a little older, their coloring changed from shades of yellow to coloring that more closely resembled their parents.