Nature's Hearth

To be admitted to Nature's hearth costs nothing. None is excluded, but excludes himself. You have only to push aside the curtain.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Just a few more photos of some nature found just outside our door.


I can't think of a better way to start the day than by gazing out at the peachy gold sunrise - aside from turning over and going back to sleep afterward.






We see these beauties every day. Even when they're invisible by the darkness of night, we can hear their haunting calls across the lake's expanse.






It's been a joy to watch so many different birds come out to enjoy the seed Frank pours for them each day. That's a female goldfinch on the left and a juvenile house finch on the right. Let's get a closer look at that one.






Isn't that a bright-eyed little cutie? We had trouble identifying it at first but the bit of gold at the corner of its mouth gave it away as a juvenile. Google is so helpful that way.






Two families of Canada geese swim past the end of our dock. I like how the young are in slightly different stages of their development.






Purple bell flowers after a summer rain. They were growing outside our kitchen door.






This unusual looking insect was sitting on the inside of the screen door for a long time before I decided to photograph it and try to learn its identity. It's an Asilidae or Robber/Assassin fly and his behaviour is as sinister as it sounds. According to Wikipedia: "They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking hypopharynx. The name "robber flies" reflects their notoriously aggressive predatory habits; they feed mainly or exclusively on other insects and as a rule they wait in ambush and catch their prey in flight."






I moved him over to a different spot before sending him on his way outside. Have a look at those killer eyes.






Well I can't leave you with a creepy crawly going through your head. Instead I'll give you a couple of photos of our favourite little red guy, Rufus*. Here he is enjoying a red cherry, donated to him from our fruit bowl.






Don't tell him how fetching he looks surrounded by all that fuchsia. He'd never be able to live it down.

Thanks for joining me for a look at our local nature. I'll have more photos coming up before too long.

*Rufus has been missing in action for a little over a week. I think we need to just let our wild critters keep crawling on the deck and stop allowing them to crawl on our hearts. We miss this little brat. And Indy, our friendly little chipmunk has been missing for a few weeks. Furry little heart breakers.