…it’s magic. Or if you will, a gracious gift of God.
Wild animals frequent this space. In the past, I’d seen only the orange type of dragonflies on the property, but now, a different guy was just relaxing on a fig leaf. I walked all around the insect and talked to him, and he didn’t appear to flinch, so I stood right in front and met him face-to-face. His giant eyes did move about cartoon-like, seemingly trying to focus on my face, and his head side to side. Evidently I did not pose a threat; he remained calm, and I went back to work.
But then there was my own cabbage white hanging on a stem of lavender:
This next garden animal is so tiny, I am amazed that I even noticed him perched on a helianthemum flower that was an inch across. He came into focus once the photo was saved on my phone.
The birds are not tame. This morning, we were sitting or standing by the kitchen windows when Clunk! a smallish bird flew into the slider, and we looked up to see only a flash of vast patterned wings, as a raptor swooped under the patio arbor and with a whoosh carried off the little bird. That is the wildest event ever.
Gladsome Lights 
Oh these are beautiful creatures! I do so love spotting them too and YES a gift from God!
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Be u ti full full full!!!
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Yes, the magic is a gracious gift of God in all its delicate and wild apparitions. This sounds as if you might have caught your breath more than once or twice in this visitation.
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I was noodling around Wikipedia last year when I was working with some Japanese fabric, and found that the Japanese word for dragonfly translates as “victory insect” – because there are so doggone many of them they can’t be gotten rid of! Strangely, that endeared them even more to me…
D.
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Poor panicked little bird that flew into your window only to become a snack for the Hawk.
Certainly a wild event. Seeing eye-to-eye with a Dragonfly is a much nicer happening. They do seem fearless, don’t they.
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Beautiful photographs! Nature’s icons. Blessings.
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Nice close-up shots, Gretchen. Wonderful observations!
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The hawks have been digressive here too. Your flowers are lovely and I love your picture of that dragon fly. Everything looks so pretty at your house. The heat is really getting to my poor plants. Have a wonderful day.
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Your camera captures a whole different world and does make it clear that there are so many gifts in the garden. I like your views to a miniature world very much!
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The toadflax is lovely, reminds me a but of snapdragons, but maybe they are shorter? Your fig leaf looks great…do you have figs yet? We have quite a few growing! None are ripe yet.
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There’s so much wonder to see, right in our own yards!
I do like your words there — that magic is actually just a gracious gift of God. I’ve often felt that magic, esp. in children’s literature, is ill-used, that the notion has been twisted out of its true meaning. Magic is miracle, and miracle is simply evidence of God’s loving intervention in one’s life. As I read/write children’s literature, I often think about this idea.
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Wow, that must’ve been one hungry bird! The flowers and creatures are lovely. What is that bug on the yellow flower? It looks sort of aphid-ish.
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I think the insect on your yellow flower might be a meadow katydid nymph. The antennae are a clue, and also the patterns on the legs. But California katydids might be different from Texas and middle western katydids!
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