Finally! Summer in New Hampshire (pix!)

It's been a sodden spring here, with enough rain to elevate June into the top 5 of "all-time wettest."

In fact, this story was making the rounds lately:

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven. Others though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit. But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss a soul off to one side into a small pile.

After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow's curiosity got the best of him. So he strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing. "Excuse me, Mr. Prince of Darkness," he said, "I'm waiting in line for judgement, but I couldn't help wondering, why are you tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the Fires of Hell with the others?"

"Ah, those," Satan said with a groan. "They're all from New England. They're still too wet to burn."

But it's summer now, and glorious.

The State Park behind my house opened a new trail recently; a 5 or 6 mile loop through forest and field. With some photo-ops, a few pretty good inclines and some less than perfect footing here and there, it's about a 2 hour walk.

The part of the trail that's unusual for this particular park is the portion that runs through fields. The original portion of the park is a small lake and the surrounding forest, but a landowner donated adjoining former farmland that's been fallow for 10-20 years or so. Parts of the fields are filling in fast with birches and poplars; the local volunteer tree species. Other parts are in waist-high grasses and wildflowers.

I walked the new trail for the first time several days ago. It was very pleasant. Much of the field was in flower (click for larger image):


The air was alive with butterflies in constant motion. I caught this one (an Atlantis Fritillary?) resting in the sun:


The disturbed spots in the grass here are were a herd of deer bedded down for the night:


Caught this pair of beetles using a sumac leaf as a honeymoon suite. I'm not a bug guy, but I'm guessing these are longhorn beetles; one of the gazillion varieties.


The sun was bright and warm, but the air was wonderfully dry and comfortable.


The grass colors looked different depending on the angle of illumination:






Very nice walk. And damn, it felt good to dry out!