Pollinator Pathway in Hebron

This morning we had some cool Canadian air  

after a week of deluges of rain 

and high humidity from the tropics. 

We joined a group of people painting and shooting 

(cameras) at the native flora and fauna 

at the Raymond Book Nature Preserve in Hebron, CT.

The grand-girls were with us after an overnight stay 

and a breakfast of S'mores Pop Tarts, apple juice, 

and bacon!?!?

When we arrived a lady who organized the Paint & Shoot

had New York-style crumb cake to begin our morning.

Violet was going to watercolor paint

but she had to look around the 

pollinator pathway of native plants--

and animals.

She spied some white butterflies, 

lots of bees, dragonflies,

a tree frog, a white, wooly caterpillar--

an inchworm

and some biting ants!!

Lily set off to use both a digital camera

and my phone to photograph

what she could find

down the farm lane.

Oops! We were supposed to turn right.

The trees were 80-100 year old

sugar maples which made a shady canopy

down the lane lined by rock walls.

There were peeks into the meadows

where cows had grazed

and hay was grown and mowed.

We found some jewelweed 

which signals that it's

time for the hummingbirds

to migrate south.

We came to a pond

with a stream and a bridge.

The farmers' children 

used the area as a fort.

Violet stayed to paint

with her grandpa

on a bench

in the fort area.

Lily and I walked on 

around the pond

and up a hill.

From the top of the hill

we could see the bench

across the pond

where Violet was painting.

We found an explosion

of fall blooms: goldenrod,

black-eyed Susans, and Queen Anne's lace,

and New England asters

to match the cool nip in the air

today from Canada--

and the calendar telling

us school would soon start.

Lily felt on top of the world

after a successful shoot.

Other painters were setting up

near the bench.

Violet was finishing her painting.

We all walked back

the farm lane

to the car.

Another wonderful

experience in nature for

our our young artists and naturalists

and their grandparents.

The pollinator pathway is an

important way

to support the world we live in.