This is Why

This is the reason why we don't chop and rake leaves yet

There is a young caterpillar inside the webby cocoon on the underside of this leaf that has yet to pupate - give it a chance to complete its cycle before you do yard chores. Be patient, and kind. There are many other creatures sharing this planet - it's not just us.

One month remains for us to enjoy this current paradise ... it's getting scary!

Hooligans-R-Us

We believe we have solved the glass shard mystery to our satisfaction ... what we have pieced together seems to make perfect sense.

The largest glass shard looked like this, which really got us thinking about the curved top and lip ...

and it helped us remember that Dale's kindness to red squirrels extends to him leaving water out for them on our deck during winter. He usually uses one of my small crucibles, that look like this.

We think we must have forgotten about the little ramekin, which got covered over with snow (probably when the big snowstorm dropped 2 feet on us in January while we were away). The snowblower would have encountered it, making short work of the little obstruction we weren't aware was there. It shattered and showered pieces all across the yard like a dirty bomb. So, it turns out we were the hooligans after all!

The Glass Shard Mystery

Ooh, how on earth did this happen? 

We found glass shards strewn all over our lawn as the snow melted - tiny segments that look as if they'd shattered or exploded apart. Here are some of our many pieces ...

As you can see, they look like beautiful faceted jewels, but in the lawn? How on earth did they get there? We're anal about not-littering or dropping unnatural things where they don't belong, plus glass is a major hazard to barefoot people (we know some!). We were perplexed and had no idea how they got there, but our enquiring minds kept playing with possible solutions. 

We  haven't had a wild drinking party where bottles were thrown off the deck (and anyway, how would they have shattered on the snow like this?) Had some hooligans been in our yard while we were away in the U.K. and broken bottles everywhere? We found them in a wide swathe, scattered far and wide so we concluded that it must have been a violent instance. We wondered whether we had left a bottle of liquid outside by mistake that may have frozen and shattered? Had there been a glass pane amongst all the wooden sheets we removed from the layout that had mistakenly been smashed? Surely, we'd have noticed at the time ...

 

We had so many questions and possible theories, but none seemed to fit as we traipsed up and down, picking up the shards, our hands freezing in the frigid late-March temps. It was a mystery that we couldn't let go, and we had better things to do than pick up pieces of glass from the lawn. 

We noticed that the glass was thick, and that some pieces were curved and rounded. Slowly, slowly a realization began to dawn ...  we think we worked out what did it ...  I'll leave you in suspense till tomorrow ... with our best answer

Moth Flowers

Last season's flowers can look so pretty - Dale thought the leftover flower petals looked like little moths

These hydrangeas are planted at our boat launch.