purple blooms

Camp is over for another year.  My last session was yesterday, and a nicer day simply wasn’t possible. The weather was super, and camp had fewer kids than it had for most of the summer, so I was better able to interact with them one-on-one.  The kids were well-behaved and had a great time catching lots of crayfish, water striders (truly, I don’t know what the attraction is with them) and several minnows.

A yellow longtail salamander provided a lot of excitement, but the kids never could catch it.  That’s just as well, as I’m sure it survived the escaped, and who knows what might have happened to it if it had been caught.

So camp is over—another sign of the impending fall.  Also, the thistle is starting to bloom, another late-summer event.  Notice the bee in the center of the one photo.  The bee was still alive, though certainly wasn’t very lively.  I’d like to think it was the cool morning that was keeping it drowsy and not some soon-to-be fatal event.