Sky Watch: Pink, orange and blue skies

We had a beautiful sunset the other night. The sky glowed an intense orange and pink a few moments after the sun had set, and then the colors faded into blue. Resizing is the only editing done to these photos.

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Glowing sky right after sunset

Glowing orange fading into blue

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Spicebush Swallowtails

There are so many butterflies in the yard right now, I cannot resist photographing them. The blue colors on the wings of this swallowtail today matched the blue of the sky perfectly.

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Blueberries galore

Anybody know any good blueberry recipes? :) We have two large blueberry bushes and they are absolutely filled with blueberries this year, so many that the branches are almost touching the ground from the weight. I picked this bowl (at left) this evening, and have been picking a few every day for a week or so.. and we are about to have a huge harvest ready for picking. I usually freeze a ton of these berries every year and we have them all throughout the winter. We do nothing to these bushes, no fertilizer or pesticides, and they are surprisingly pest-free and easy to grow (the birds do get a few of them). They thrive on a hot, dry slope behind our house.

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Silver-spotted skipper

Silver-spotted Skippers are very common here, and I see dozens of these butterflies every day. The white butterfly bush is filled with them, and they love the zinnias as well. An interesting bit of info about these butterflies, according to this butterfly guide, they almost never visit yellow flowers, but favor blue, red, pink, purple, and sometimes white and cream-colored ones.

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Skipper and butterfly bush

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Skipper and zinnia

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On the lake

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sky over lake and Great Smoky Mtns

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