Transitioning

I always get a little sad as the summer comes to a close. September is a BEAUTIFUL month, but the evenings start to get cool. In the mornings, our deck is wet with condensation until the sun shines on it for a while. So I savor every warm, sunny day, knowing that they won’t last forever.

On these radiant fall days, I really appreciate the hummingbirds and the monarch butterflies. The swallowtail butterflies delighted me earlier in the summer. I’m hoping the swallowtail caterpillars I’ve seen have gone off somewhere to make chrysalises. The robins already left a month ago. I no longer hear their sound. But throughout September the hummingbirds have continued to share their company with me. There have been two females this summer that have visited many times every day on our deck. One is larger with a distinct black and white pattern on her tail. The other is smaller, with a white spot on her left side. They especially love cupheas and salvia which we planted just for them. These two females have entertained me with their hovering and flying and chasing each other.

I love their chattering. They chatter to each other, and I think the other day the smaller one chattered to me. I was on the deck watering the flowers, and she came closer than she normally does. She hovered from right to left around my head and talked to me, looking right at me.

The next day she was gone. I think she was trying to tell me she was leaving. This happened to me last year as well. It was a warm fall day. I was by the zinnias and the phlox in the side garden. A juvenile male hovered right in front of my face, about six inches away, and stared at me. Then he was gone for the season.

It’s quiet now. But God was good today to give me four monarchs by the side of our house on the butterfly bushes. Three of these beautiful butterflies looked brand new. Perhaps they hatched this morning from a chrysalis hidden somewhere in the flowers. I hope they rest up and enjoy the sweet nectar before they head toward Mexico.

I pray God keeps them and the hummingbirds safe in their long journey south, and now I will try to find beauty in the maple leaves that are turning orange. I will look forward to woodpeckers coming to our feeder in the winter.

And I will wait for that one day in May when I will cry out, “They’re here! I saw my first hummingbird!”