Beautiful day

I rushed to a meeting in the morning and only had time to look around after lunch.  The hibiscus flowers were smaller and one was misshapen.

A mockingbird gorged on beauty berries.  The Carolina wrens emptied their feeder.  High in an oak tree, a blue jay hammered an acorn while squirrels carried off pecans.  Hammering also came from a red bellied woodpecker on a pine tree trunk. 

I watched as a big bird grasshopper appeared to be laying eggs on the concrete.  The grasshopper's abdomen would swell, arch, and the end would open and close. 

Bracket fungi appeared in the mulch in the front yard, probably living on the roots of the sweet gum we had cut down. 

A female blue dasher perched on the stub of a pine needle.  It was the first dragonfly I'd seen in days at home.  They appear daily at street intersections, riding the thermals from the asphalt.  A few bees and wasps sought nectar. 

A great blue heron hopped onto the dock and paced its length before a passing boat caused it to leave.  The boat also drove off smaller birds that were feeding along the shore.

Millipedes keep dropping into the pool and drowning.  I photographed a live one. It clearly had two legs per segment, proving it was not a centipede.  I was surprised at how high it could lift its head.  The water felt chilly though the air was warm and the sun hot.  The sky was cloudless and the breeze gentle.