Unexpected Beauty

It's hot and humid here today and the weeds are growing like crazy. I went out with the Roundup this morning and ran into some unexpected beauty. This is a weed that grows up the cypress trees in my backyard. It is sometimes covered with purple flowers that look like morning glory. I couldn't spray it.

These little creatures were growing in the crevice where lightning hit this oak tree several years ago. I didn't think the tree would survive, but it did. It has a split from the top to the bottom. The lightning hit the top of the cypress tree next to it and bounced to the oak. The cypress tree died.

I don't know the name of this butterfly, but they are all over my backyard this morning. Not only are they on the flowers but they are scattered like stars on the grass. When you walk, they float up in bunches like clouds.

My friend, Mike, gave me a plant last year and told me it was a blackberry lily. It was blooming for the first time this morning. I love the speckled orange color of it. I wonder why they call it blackberry?

The faries must have had a party last night. I found their resting place this morning....or maybe they danced the night away around the toadstools growing in the yard. I know my neighbors thought I was crazy when they saw me lying on my stomach taking pictures.

I am heading for Kentucky this weekend to visit my children. I can't wait to see them. My next post will probably be from there, not Florida. I have never been there before so I am exited to see a different landscape, but not as excited as I am to see my granddaughters. I can't wait!