Late summer flowers

Flowers and invasive Japanese beetles

Making grubs…. outta of nothing at all.

Black eyed Susan

The butterflies are starting to look beat up and bedraggled.

I spent a week with my extended family and the girls a few hours north at a cottage on a lake. I found this on Leah’s night stand the first night of our stay.

Sand dunes along the western shore of Lake Michigan. That black bit in the distance is my boyfriend.

My nieces, nephews and daughters on the dunes.

My Brad’s booty on the dunes.

Silver Lake. Lake Michigan is just on the other side of the sand dune across the lake.

We saw beautiful sunsets.

And we saw a Bald Eagle cruise the lake hunting for a few days.

Large spiders waiting back home.

Spider and my ear phones.

And other amazing critters like this bee in the garden.

And this lovely preying mantis. Years ago my friend Kelly bought me a few mantis cocoons for my birthday and I get to treasure her gift every year since.

This one was enjoying a fly or bee when I spotted it.

And it only has one antennae. One of the things I love about photography is the ability to observe things in detail. Making these discoveries, which usually involve spotting a missing leg or antennae, are thrilling to me.

Some sort of a moth on the garage door. It’s pretty fancy.

A coyote in the neighborhood.

I saw this on my way to work and had to call in late saying I was witnessing something much better than being trapped in a stinky office.

I spotted this on my way out of my child’s doctor appointment before dropping her off to dance class. Im always glad to have my camera ride in the passenger seat.

This is from a few weeks ago. I walked through this section with my love and most of the ferns were brown and gold and flattened. Fall is here in Michigan. I plan on posting yesterday’s fall photos soon.

Fall morning light.