On a hot afternoon in mid-September, leopard frogs lounged on the edge of the lily pond like the last sunbathers of summer on a beach. Big ones, little ones...	I've been trying to photograph a ground skink for years: they're small, nervous, fast, and expert at diving under the nearest leaf. Finally I got lucky with this one.
Down in the woods, in the wettest mucky areas (but not in the water) this plant grows. Before it flowers, it looks a lot like frostweed...but the flowers are a dull, dusty-rose-pink color. It's just one of the "wet ground" woods plants I don't know.
This Common Gray Geometer moth flew up from a bush I brushed against and displayed itself at a convenient height on a tree trunk.
From any angle, a Gulf Fritillary is a gorgeous creature...and this was the first time I'd seen one nectaring on Turks' Cap.	We've now got Turks' cap down in the creek woods, but we have it up near the house, too...and that's where I saw this Gulf Fritillary nectaring on the bright red flowers. This is one of my favorite butterflies, for its striking patterns and brilliant color.
Centaury, one of the gentian family, usually blooms here in mid-spring to early summer...but this one was blooming quite happily in the mowed path of Center Walk.	Eryngo is part of the purple contingent of fall colors--not a thistle, surprisingly enough, though prickly. When its bloom overlaps with blazing star (purple), Maximilian sunflower (yellow), and goldenrod, there's a lovely week or so of purple and gold in the field.
American Beautyberry was native in this area, mostly in riparian woods, but we didn't have any in our woods. As Richard removed the invasive nonnative ligustrum, we've started adding plants that should be there but aren't. This one made it through the first summer (a very wet one) and we hope will survive the dry summers to come--at least it flowered and fruited. Birds and small mammals alike eat the fruit. Deer sometimes browse the leaves and twigs (we hope they'll eat something else...)
When I looked out the window today, I saw a glint that looked like two bright eyes and a sinuous green body. It was actually a screw from the gutter project, which had pierced the leaf and gradually weighted it, pulling it down to just the right angle. Up close, the shiny bits don't look anything like eyes.

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