White sitting in the garden one afternoon, I saw four species of butterfly, just when I was bemoaning the fact that I see so few anymore. I have bumble bees, but have not seen many honey bees except when the privet hedge was blooming in June, one dragon fly visits a twig on the service berry tree in the courtyard garden about once a week. Must be his favorite perch. There are the pesky flies, very few to no ants (?), saw a hummingbird moth yesterday - the first in a very long time - , and a resident toad, perhaps two. I would say there are fewer insects in general, at least not like there used to be. Perhaps conditions have changed or there are more predators, farmers spraying, I'm not sure.

Stairway to Heaven Oahu Hawaii Grandson and buddies did the climb on the backside, as the stairs are closed. View he took once they reached the top.

Uptown gal and Annie, I was thinking of "calf" as well - and this corn needn't worry about being chewed by this calf. And one could talk about "cleaner" alongside "clean chair", ded. Referring to it as "companion" might be stretching descriptions a bit far. ole joyful

Day of the Dead artwork in Grand Park, downtown LA, several years ago...