Friday - Went to a concert at a guitar shop, a folk singer-songwriter-guitarist named John Wort Hannam. He was very talented and so funny. Sad news for Friday - Norton Buffalo died at age 58. He was a great blues harmonica player and singer, best known for being in the Steve Miller Band but was a session player for many other bands. Saturday - Not as many trick or treaters this year, but still had 185 kids. Lots of candy left over! Sunday - A good day to relax. Went to my sister-in-laws for dinner. She's such a good cook; she made an Italian feast. The weather was beautiful all weekend. Clear blue skies, temps in the 80s. Leaves are just starting to get their fall colors. Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Norton Buffalo sings

Sandy, While Yellowstone has over 100 resident species of butterflies (including subspecies), being there at the right time of the season and in the right places is required to see very many of them on one trip. And many there are common species found in many other places in the west as well (although many of even those would not be found in OK). Surprisingly, not that many butterflies are seen along the "tourist" byways in the park, especially not the rarer or alpine species. To get the highest species count requires hiking into the back country to all the different ecosystems found in the park. For example, if I remember right there are 5-6 different types of meadow ecosystems alone in the park, and each has it's own group of resident species because of the available LFP’s. With a few exceptions, most alpine species are seldom seen in the lowlands. “Lowlands”… with an elevation of about 5,300’ to 11,000’ (average 8,000’) in YNP, some may not call a mile to mile and a half above sea level habitat a lowland, but us Rocky Mountain born and reared boys do. LOL Butterfly season there is mostly from June to August as on average those are the only three months when nigh time lows are barely above freezing. Those are also the three wettest months in the park, so the butterflies dive into the understory when a storm approaches and only come back out when the sun does. Can be several times a day sometimes, especially at higher elevations where you can also get snow storms even in July/August. So spring species in the lowland areas peak in mid to late June and all alpine species from about mid July to mid August. There are specific places and times for some specific species that won't be seen anywhere else except at those places/times. They are usually harder to get to and they are usually where the rarer species live. As you know I'll suggest, at least one day needs to be spent up on the Beartooth Plateau as a must do if you go to YNP and GTNP. It's a beautiful drive out the northeast entrance to Cooke City and up to the West Summit (11,011') at least on the Bicentennial Hwy 212 (that you can easily drive an RV on), as well as all the way to Red Lodge. Total road miles to Red Lodge is less than 70 miles, but the West Summit is only about 30 miles. You’ll see endless top of the world views up there with thousands of alpine lakes, waterfalls, more wildflowers than you can imagine, Grasshopper Glacier & Hell Roaring Plateau, etc. Mid July to mid August is the best time to be up there if you want to see millions of alpine leps all on the wing at the same time. But be prepared for snow any day during that time. If you want to spend more than a day on the BTP, the Top of the World Store (about 10 miles before West summit) has cabins they rent (at 9400'). BTW, if you’ve never been there do Grand Teton NP and Jackson Hole as well. And when in Jackson grab a meal at Jedidiah’s. The tropical regions of the America’s host the greatest diversity overall in lep species worldwide. So the possibility of 700 in Chile is not surprising at all. Is that at one location? Back when I was doing the tropics, a couple of colleges determined nearly 1500 at one small location in Tambopata, Peru, and 1300 near Tingo Maria. That fits though as Peru has the most lep species of any country worldwide with about 3800 (so far). Last counts I have records for shows Peru is followed by Equatorial Africa with 3600, Brazil, Columbia and Ecuador with 3200 each, Venezuela with 2300, Mexico with1800, Costa Rica and Panama with 1500 species each determined so far. Number 10 is missing from my list for some reason (and it was a Top 10 list). I’m not sure where Chile falls on the list. As for your ribbing: Since the lives of the Chilean people is so heavily shrouded in superstition turned folklore, I’d bet you’d hear a lot of tall tales there about butterflies, white or otherwise. ;) You’re getting to be quite a globe trotter with plans in the works for Laos, Mexico, Chile and YNP. Larry

I do wish Willow Dean Smith had more of the eye-no-edge look, but perhaps our cooler temps this summer have affected the color. It was just planted last year, so I don't think I've seen it at its best yet. Chateau Belair was so fast to get going in my garden I couldn't believe it. It was full of buds last year and looks like it will exceed that count this year. Ruby Lipstick performed the same way last year. Most of the early blooms wouldn't open all the way and were definitely more yellow than cream. This year has been worse, so I'm assuming it prefers a warmer climate.

They all look delicately lovely, Seil, I call it the prettiest-princess stage for your roses :) I love the delicate stripeys, Koco Loco, and Tuscan Sun especially!!! and you'll still have so many prettiest-princesses to keep on showing until the close of your season. However, for me, I'm expecting my Lincolns to keep on blooming into December like last year. No princess delicacy, but bulging, muscle-lumpy King Leonidas warrior roses for awhile....We're luckier cuz in Kansas we get cold nights but the temps shoot up high enough to open the blooms during the day. Since you're in Michigan, I'm thinking you're definitely some notches colder than us. Plus we get more sun rays than you do since you're further up North. lol, hurrray on your storehouse of more roses-to-come. No winter will ever be drab with them at our gallery. Rosie smiles, Serena