Fly in Wasp Pajamas

This fly apparently thinks that it's safer dressed as a wasp or bee than a fly. Sure got my attention.

Granny's Bonnets

Columbine is making quite the show this year in Northwest Indiana woods. A old, popular name for this wildflower was Granny's Bonnet. I can't really imagine a granny with such an extravagant hat.

Looks more like a crown for the May Queen to me....  

The Spider Eats a Fly Among the Fairy Doom

...Fairy! Fairy! list and mark,
Thou hast broke thine elfin chain,
Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark,
And thy wings are dyed with a deadly stain—
Thou hast sullied thine elfin purity
In the glance of a mortal maiden’s eye,
Thou hast scorned our dread decree,
And thou shouldst pay the forfeit high,
But well I know her sinless mind
Is pure as the angel forms above,
Gentle and meek, and chaste and kind
Such as a spirit well might love;
Fairy! had she spot or taint,
Bitter had been thy punishment.
Tied to the hornet’s shardy wings;
Tossed on the pricks of nettle’s stings;
Or seven long ages doomed to dwell
With the lazy worm in the walnut-shell;
Or every night to writhe and bleed
Beneath the tread of the centipede;
Or bound in a cobweb dungeon dim,
Your jailer a spider huge and grim,
Amid the carrion bodies to lie,
Of the worm, and the bug, and the murdered fly;
These it had been your lot to bear,
Had a stain been found on the earthly fair.
Now list, and mark our mild decree—
Fairy, this your doom must be....

excerpted from  "The Culprit Fay" by 
Joseph Rodman Drake

The Babies Have Arrived!

Aren't they cute! And quite the handful for Mama!
Born this week at Sunset Hill Farm County Park these babies are prancing around their pen today.

Wildflowers for May

No picture does justice to the abundant wildflowers blooming in the woods of Indiana this year. A May Day hike through the Indiana Dunes revealed Dune after Dune topped with Lupine and Hoary Puccoon.

The Hoary Puccoon's yellow accentuates the wonderful purple of those Lupines that are so important to our endangered butterfly.

Hoary Puccoon's name means hairy (hoary) and flower that is good for dyes(puccoon). What a name for such a beauty!

Dwarf Ginseng

Rare and delicately beautiful, Dwarf Ginseng is sending out balls of individual flowers in the woods of Indiana today.  

A Bit of Sunshine on a Rainy Afternoon

How about this piece of sunshine on a rainy May Day?