Stars and butterflies

The reports coming in say that the meteor showers are not quite as good as we first anticipated. Those able to stay awake long enough have seen a few, mostly small ones. Here and there, a good tail has been spotted. Our friend Dan said he saw some reflected in the calm lake the other night. He has been experimenting with astrophotography. He used both 400 and 800 speed film to photograph a number of constellations last night. We look forward to seeing the results once they are developed.

Robert camped out on North Lake last night with friends. He slept outside, just ten feet from shore. There were a few mosquitoes at dusk, but otherwise not bad at all. He said that the moon was quite bright for a while. When he looked up at the trees, he could see the reflected light from the moonbeams on the lake dancing through the leaves. He was up earlier than his camp mates this morning, so he went hiking through the woods. He came upon the old bones of a long-dead moose, but no other unusual discoveries.

The fire on Alpine Lake is about 46% contained, and they feel they will reach 100% containment by Saturday, August 20. The fire is holding at 1335 acres. The cooler weather, and a quarter-inch of rain on Monday night assisted with the fire-fighting efforts. Our hats are off to the many crews working so hard to keep this under control.

Our friend Judith has brought to the lodge a cage that contains two chrysalises of monarch butterflies. It originally contained five, but three have come out from their cocoons and flown away. One of the remaining is turning from green to black, so this means that it, too, will soon be released to fly away. Such an exciting thing to see! I saw a monarch butterfly in our yard a week ago. It isn't often that I get to see these, so it was a treat. We mostly see the yellow and black swallowtails.

There is a beautiful little moose maple tree up near our mailbox that is currently sporting a bright red coat! It is common for these stunted maples to turn early, so it seems to be right on schedule.