July2011 – The Morning Porch/Patio

Sunday July 31, 2011

Dave Bonta July 31, 2011 4

Cool and still. The piece of thistledown stuck to a porch post by an invisible thread—small flag of an ephemeral country—barely trembles.

Dave Bonta July 30, 2011 1

A carpenter ant carries its mote of wood halfway along the edge of the porch before dropping it over the side. Such fastidious destroyers!

Dave Bonta July 29, 2011 2

This morning it hits me: how silent the woods have become now with most of the migrants done singing their fierce but temporary attachments.

Dave Bonta July 28, 2011 7

Rain. An earwig perches on a tansy flower with its head thrust into one of the yellow buttons, motionless as a toker, empty calipers aloft.

Dave Bonta July 27, 2011 1

Another cool morning. Autumn’s in the air, I say to myself, but it’s really just a cricket chirping in the corner of the garden.

Dave Bonta July 26, 2011 1

A perfect morning, clear and cool. A gray squirrel is biting off small branches and carrying them into the thickest part of the tall locust.

Dave Bonta July 25, 2011 2

Overcast and cool, with the smell of rain. Instead of the crows that woke me at dawn, now ravens are exchanging croaks, one high, one low.

Dave Bonta July 24, 2011 1

Overcast and quiet. A silver-spotted skipper drinks from the bergamot, threading the thin purple tubes with its proboscis and leaning in.

Dave Bonta July 23, 2011 4

Overcast at sunrise, with a cool breeze. A gray catbird in the middle of the gray driveway picks pebbles for the collection in its gizzard.

Dave Bonta July 22, 2011 5

A question mark butterfly lands on the porch and begins tasting the wood. Its wings open, a brown leaf turning back time to fiery autumn.