Saturday Critters ~ 298 ~

Do you remember my visit to the beach in Point Pleasant to see the 

Least Tern Nursery

I finally went back and things sure have changed.

I wish I had re-visited sooner, as I have missed so much.

Black Skimmers

It was sad to see garbage and beach balls in the nesting area.
This beach is a day beach and it attracts a lot of people from out of town.

Juvenile/Young Black Skimmer

Fish Dinner

This one was not very happy when "Skimmer with fish" did not share it's food.

It's a pretty big group, 

the area is still roped off with these caution signs.

Sharing today with

Eileen at Viewing Nature With Eileen

Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

I love Delicious Orchard

We go there to shop for the food, produce, fruit and other products.

But they do have a garden center outside 

and of course I always wander around there before going inside.

The flowers are always so beautiful and healthy, 

I thought the cone flowers in these colors would be so pretty in my fall garden. 

From a distance, when I first saw this butterfly, I thought it was a black swallowtail.

Good thing I am a "we better be sure" kind of girl 

because as you can see, it isn't!

Imagine my surprise when I realized it was a 

Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

It held it's wings open for long periods of time,

I actually thought it looked prettier with it's wings closed, from the side.

A little worn, torn, and tethered, still it was a thrill to see a butterfly I do not often see.

After shopping I checked back and the butterfly was gone.

Good thing I took the time to take pictures on the way in.

If you follow my blog, you may remember the story about the purple butterfly bush I saw here.

I saw 4 beauties on the way in...I planned to purchase one as I left.

When we came out, all 4 were gone, and I was not happy.

I finally found a similar one but it was just not as nice.

The moral of this very long story...

buy it when you see it and don't wait to take pictures!

Allaire Car Show Part II

Two Saturdays ago, we attended the annual car show at

Allaire State Park
Here's what I wrote in Part One...

"It was so hot and humid, I literally slithered up and down each row of cars.

You could see that everyone was melting, 

I don't know why they don't have these shows in the spring or fall.

Regardless, leaving was not an option, 

I love car shows and this one is one of my favorite shows each year".

Here are some more favorites, ones I did not share in Part One.





1956 Ford F-100 Pick-Up Truck




1950 Plymouth Special Deluxe


1941 Ford Deluxe Convertible











Ford Pick Up Truck





1949 Chevy Pick Up Truck







The next car up was my favorite, a 
1932 Chrysler Roadster









That's all of the cars.
They had a lot of muscle cars too but I prefer these old ones.

What's Growing On

I was sitting on the deck, looking at the sun illuminate my 

Knockout Roses

I thought "how lucky am I to have this view" and of course my second thought was

 "I need to photograph these"

This is the entirety of that garden...

My vegetable garden was a complete fail this year.

This is the only tomato plant that produced anything.

It could be that the seed/plants almost died completely when we were in Texas.

A groundhog lived off of the cucumber plant all summer.

I watered it, kept it alive...he never said thank you.

This was my biggest success story.

The Vinca's in the bird bath/planter that the hubs and I made.

I love this almost as much as the birds do, and the hummingbird moth did.

This Butterfly Bush has gotten huge, and is by far my favorite.

It is always covered with butterflies.

This one has done very well also. 

It is the new one we bought this year.

You remember, 

the one I pouted about..

this one does not attract the butterflies like the other one does.

The mailbox garden...these are Vinca's, 
the ones the hubs plants every year.

More Vinca's in the front, center garden.

Daylilies

So that's what's blooming right now.

What's growing on in your garden?