Argiope!

The rain held off today but the air was very humid and not very warm.  Three brown headed nuthatches got an early start.  Bluebirds followed.  A tufted titmouse examined the empty barkbutter dish.  A male downy woodpecker worked on the rather moldy suet.  A lovely scent floated on the air but the sakaki buds hadn't opened yet so I don't know what it was.  The large flowers - daylilies and gladiolus - were beaten by the rains, but the New England asters looked fine.   The butterfly milkweed stopped blooming because, I assume, its flowers were all pollinated. 

I found two infant garden spiders lurking in the mountain mint.  In the pool, I rescued an assassin bug nymph.  The mountain mint's tiny flowers pleased wasps.  Another batch of slime mold, maybe more wolf's milk, colonized a different landscape timber.