Summer life

The hay is growing.

This amazing little beetle crawled up on my lap. Its colors were more beautiful than any jewelry. The red and green were both iridescent, too vivid to seem real.

I have been having problems with my pond. It is in a sunny location and year after year the algae would bloom so much that it would obscure the pond making the fish difficult to see. I removed the fish and last year threw in several willow branches. Willow roots in water and by this spring the few branches had made a raft of carbon dioxide sucking roots, which gobbled up food for the algae. Also, a few trees planted themselves around the pond's edge, providing more shade. As a result, I have clear water in the pond now, and I was thrilled to see a family of frogs take up residence.