I TOOK A WALK TODAY...

…in the prairie at Prairie Pond Woods, where the butterflies this year are indescribably abundant! Even when I walk out onto the front porch or into the garage, they flutter up from the floor like swarming flies. 

The two butterfly bushes flanking the back deck are consistently dripping with 15-20 tiger, zebra, and black swallowtails, frittilaries and skippers in each. Every time I take a photograph, I’m disappointed because there is no way to capture them all nectaring and flitting about. 

And the prairie looks like a major air show with butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies and bees darting from flower cluster to flower spike and back again. This season is dominated by Tiger Swallowtails According to my phenology journal, last year it was Monarchs…at least at Prairie Pond Woods. And earlier this summer it was Mourning Cloaks, one of my favorite butterflies with their black, yellow and blue coloration.

Many species of butterflies will continue on into the early fall, and some even in to the late fall, so there is plenty of time to see this amazing display. There are still 3 women’s retreats scheduled for 2010, one in September, October and November. 

And don’t forget...Prairie Pond Woods is available for individuals and couples for reflective or creative retreats. Book all 27 acres for a day, a weekend or a week! 

Summer Flower Photos

Above - Tall Larkspur and Shrubby Cinquefoil

Wild Bergamot

Rose Pink

Black Swallowtail on Tall Larkspur

Eruption

Slender Ladies Tresses

 

Green Milkweed

NEVER JUDGE A STORM BY ITS CLOUDS

About 4 pm this past Friday at Prairie Pond Woods, I walked outside to do a bit of bird watching for my breeding bird survey.  After roaming around to the front yard to see what was perched in the Big Walnut, I turned to go back around and spotted this dynamic storm front headed my way from the north.  This thing had layers upon layers of wispy, bulbous, solid, dark and light cloud formations, and they were moving fast in all directions!  

"This does not look good" I thought to myself, and wondered if these were the right conditions for a tornado to develop. But I am a sucker for thunderstorms, so I ran inside for my camera just as small drops of rain began to fall.  I kept tracking through the house from front porch to back deck to watch it gain momentum. 

   

 What happened though surprised me.  There was no momentum.  No thunder blasted in the distance.  No lightening spread across the sky. The dark clouds just shifted, morphed and jetted across the sky letting go of a lovely, light shower that watered the parched earth.  "Hmmmm," I thought, "this is a lesson in life."  I was ready to head for the basement and start praying.  Sometimes I can react to people or situations like that...with fear or avoidance...instead of embracing it and letting it transform me.

The next morning the air was clear, cool and more breathable than it had been in weeks.  Everything along the Refresher Course seemed to have a quenched peace and glowed with droplets of the life-giving rain.  The calm after the storm.  

It reminded me of how I feel after a good cry... 

SUMMER REFLECTIVE DAY RETREAT

While waiting for six women to arrive at Prairie Pond Woods this past Saturday for the Summer Reflective Retreat, I watched the sky blacken and the clouds move rapidly from the south and thought, "OK...I've never had a retreat rained out like this before...what is Plan B going to be?"  On top of this...the meteorolo-jests (as I've come to affectionately call them) were forecasting 92 degrees by the afternoon and high humidity! 

But the wind calmed a bit and it looked like the clouds were going to go right on by, until we were all finally gathered on the front porch for introductions and a poetry reading, then the clouds let go.  But with an ever so gentle shower.  I asked the ladies if they were game.  They were.  So we headed out!  I nicknamed them The Fritillary Group, because those were the only butterflies that braved the rain to nectar on butterflyweed or flutter about exploring the scent on the wind.  

And not only did the rain not deter these women, neither did the heat!  After lunch, most of them packed up their journals and water bottles and headed off to their favorite spots, picked out during our morning walk.  I was more than impressed!  

Later in the afternoon, when even the Fence Lizards were lounging in cooler micro-climates, we crafted Prayer Cards, sharing from our hearts why we chose these people or situations to pray for.  Spiritual connections were made.  New friends were made.  And the day ended all too soon.

THE UNIVERSE AS COMMUNION

The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. And we have this from our first awakening to the universe. Your first impression when you see a flower or see a tree or see a sunset or see the ocean, or see anything in the natural world, your first impression is a communion experience. How wonderful this is: to live in the universe where there’s a sun in the heavens; where there’s so many wonderful creatures of Earth; where there's song of the birds and the butterflies and the cicada in the evening.

There’s one experience that I think has had a very deep influence on my life. When I was about ten years old I saw a meadow and I saw it first in spring time -- in early May.  What is all this? Obviously, it’s not a collection of objects to be used. Obviously, it’s a world to be venerated. It’s a world to be communed with, to be present, to be delighted in, and together to have a certain experience that might be called ecstatic experience. A good economy is what makes that meadow survive. Good politics protects that meadow. A good religion is what enabled me to understand the deep mystery in the meadow.

If we don’t have certain outer experiences, we don’t have certain inner experiences or at least we don’t have them in such a profound way. We need the sun, the moon, the stars, the rivers and the mountains and the trees, the flowers, the birds, the song of the birds, the fish in the sea. All of this evokes something in our inner world, evokes a world of mystery. It evokes a world of Sacred and gives us that sense of awe and mystery.

Source: Thomas Berry

The Great Story (video)