Treasured Find

After church we were heading to show our grand daughter the family of ground hogs that have moved into the back yard of the President's home, where we live at the University of Charleston/ Beckley campus.  My husband, Jerry, noticed what he thought was a moth on the fence and we went to investigate!  Yes, it was a huge moth and I looked it up.  This lovely gem appears to be a Hyalophora cecropia species.  It is the largest known moth of North America.  It's species feeds off of Maple trees and we have a huge Maple in back of the Beckley home.  Possibly the appetite of this mammoth moth gave way to a possible colossal meal of Maple until we interrupted it's course. The wing span of this moth appeared to be close to six inches.  It was truly incredible!  Several months ago I found a very large Cyclops Moth in Sewanee, TN  and there are pictures from a previous post but this one was different and huge!  All I could think was, what fun God had designing this creature!  It was interesting and beautiful at the same time!

Kaymoor Trailhead, West Virginia

It was a beautiful day to scout around the New River Gorge and bridge area and the Kaymoor Trailhead offered a few interesting pictures as well.

 

 

 

 

We spotted a little green snake on the little road that is down by the railroad.  I picked it up to make sure that it didn't get squashed by the next car crossing the small metal bridge that crosses the river.

Releasing the little green snake to safety.

 

A pretty white trillium along the Kaymoor trail.

One of the waterfalls along the Kaymoor trail.

Flower Shopping With UC/Beckley Employee Bob Smith Turned Into Farm Fun

It is sort of like driving "Miss Daisy" for Bob Smith, I imagine. The staff is so good to me. All I have to do is call and the UC/Beckley staff are always great to help me. They have even driven me when there is someplace that I need to go that is new to me and I need to accomplish something for the University. This time is was a place way out in the country that has a number of greenhouses. We were both in need of flowers for campus and researching the greenhouses for possible renovation of an old greenhouse left behind by MSU. I noticed some farm animals on my first visit to this location and when the woman running the greenhouse offered to show me her animals, I was excited. Needless to say I had a blast! Flowers and animals in one place! I was in HEAVEN...Almost heaven West Virginia, wild and wonderful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relaxing In Nashville

It was a relaxing day in Nashville with our family and our son's dog. I enjoyed the bees buzzing about and the flowers that are in bloom in my in-laws back yard. I have been ready for the flowers to get fully in bloom and the insects to begin their work, so everywhere that I go I am in search of something to photograph. And there is lots to see even in your back yard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Morning After Sleepover Fun

It was a overcast morning but the boys were ready for outdoor adventures with Mima, (the name our g-babies call me. They had not even gotten out of their PJ's! They grabbed the nets and we headed to the lake behind our Tennessee home. Spring is emerging and I am thrilled after spending much of my winter in a very snowy and cold Southern West Virginia.

Dogwood

 

Dogwood

Getting Ready To Plant

Each Spring I get excited to see what is available for the planting season. There are always the "tried and trues" and then sometimes you see something hybrid or something new. I was excited to see a new perennial Columbine that I had not seen. It was double petal and had a full appearance. Of course, I had to have some. I am in West Virginia now but I will be taking these home to Tennessee to be planted in our yard. And I found some beautiful lilies like I had planted last year. They are lovely too!

 

 

 

I took a cool stroll around the Little Beaver State Park lake. This broke my heart, a duck had gotten it's foot tangled in fishing line and I tried to get some people to help me catch it but we were not able to do anything about it.  It was too frightened of us.  And the it's foot was so swollen and damaged that it had trouble walking.  I am sure the pain was horrible.  I hope that the State park folks found him.  I could not locate anyone from the park service.  So we need to be careful with fishing line, trash and etc. for our wildlife.