Deer-ly beloved...

Rain at last!  After a week of stifling 90 degree temps plus high humidity, the recent rain has been so refreshing.  I'm not the only one to think so, either!  This spotted leopard slug (Limax maximus, or literally, the 'biggest slug') was out feasting early one morning.

Slugs are pests, but I like them.  "The homing instinct is strongly developed in this species, which, after its nocturnal rambles or foraging expeditions, usually returns to the particular crevice or chink in which it has established itself." (Wikipedia).  Just like me!  :)  

I caught sight of a mother deer and her two fawns after supper recently.  The babies were so young that they were still spotted, but they were still able to streak across the yard like two tiny bullets!

Fawns tend to keep their spots until they're about 3 months old.  Such sweet faces for the future devourers of our hostas!  

Lots of southern toads out too...so tiny.  This one is perched on half of an acorn, to give you an idea of size!

The heat and humidity after a rain always brings out the mushrooms.  I love to see them pushing through the mulch.

More flowers are blooming too.  The lantana bush is about four feet high.  It will eventually reach eight!

Daisies are opening up...

...and our front garden is mysteriously full of calla lilies.

This kind of weather brings a lot of work, too.  All helleborus flower stalks must be trimmed down, and their ground-level leaves snipped.  We have thousands of them now.  A SEA of stalks.

Bosewichte loves to help.

Borga is all smiles, too, once she gets outside.

It's not so bad, trimming all those helleborus.  I get to see all sorts of interesting creatures, like this fancifully-named Cloudless Sulpher caterpillar. Its Latin name is Phoebis sennae, so named for Apollo's sister Phoebe, the goddess of brightness and radiance.  I think the name fits, don't you?  

[If you are spider-sensitive, skip the next two pictures!]

I also see quite a variety of spiders.  This nearly translucent crab spider perches on a flower stalk and uses those long front legs to grasp its prey.

This tiny female wolf spider carries her egg sac with her wherever she goes. There are around 100 eggs in that little sac!

Away from the yard, I've been plugging away at my latest quilt.  I hope to have some pictures soon. Have a great week!