Physical misfortunes continue, but somehow my body survives. As a refresher, a few weeks ago I suffered extensor tendonitis in the left foot. And then, some seven or eight weeks ago, I incurred a pulled groin muscle on the right side. Not to be outdone, on Sunday afternoon, July 18, I had a bicycle accident and fractured a rib (#7) on the left side. Breathing, coughing, and sneezing were pretty painful the first few days. But I returned to golf and pickleball towards the end of July, grossly out of practice and stamina.

Kay continues physical therapy for the back of her knees, and it is helping greatly as she is almost pain free.

Otherwise, we continue living the retirement life here in Hot Springs Village.

Having stated that, our irrigation system has been out all spring and summer, and after several attempts to repair it, the intake pump was replaced at a cost of about $2200. A lesson learned is that we should’ve connected to HSV water and not messed with the lake.

I did manage a few photos of insects using the pollinator garden. On Thursday, July 16, 2026, a Southern Brokendash, a Horace’s Duskywing, and a Hoary Edge Skipper were photographed.

Also, photographed was a Slaty Skimmer dragonfly.

However, the star of the day was a Snowberry Clearwing moth, aka Hummingbird moth.

A Pipevine Swallowtail and American Lady joined the usuals on Friday, July 17, 2026.

And the first Thread-waisted Wasp of the season was observed.

And then on July 23, 2026, a Great Spangled Fritillary and a Common Buckeye were photographed.

Lastly, a menagerie of flying insects were photographed on July 29, 2026, including a Common Green Darner dragonfly, a Fiery Skipper butterfly, a Slaty Skimmer dragonfly, a Variegated Fritillary butterfly, a Clouded Skipper, and a Horace’s Duskywing Skipper.

Also, a Thread-waisted Wasp was seen nectaring on the Tick Seed flower blooms.

Stay tuned in the next few days for the beginning of our next big adventure, “The Best of Ireland: The Coast, the Countryside and Dublin”.

Kay continues her pursuit of pickleball and golf several times a week in addition to all the social/club activities in which she participates. On the other hand, and not to be a Debbie “downer”, I was overcome by an upper respiratory virus that continues to hang on, some several weeks later, in addition to sports injuries still ongoing,

We continue to add flowering plants to the various beds, and work sporadically to maintain the yard. Otherwise, nothing big or unusual happened this reporting period. Consequently, this blog entry will feature photographs from nine days of shooting, mostly in our backyard.

Photographs were made on May 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 15. New wildflowers are blooming, and first of season butterflies and dragonflies and damselflies are being observed. One of the highlights of this period’s photography was capturing the blooming of Indian Pink, on of my favorites, on May 1. 

Another was the appearance of an Orange Bluet damselfly on May 3. This one was a “lifer”, meaning it was the first one of the species I had ever seen. 

Next among the highlights was the annual arrival of Baltimore Orioles. The few that came by stayed almost a week. The photo below was made on Thursday, May 7, 2026.

Thus far this year, more snakes than usual have appeared in the lake adjacent to the back yard. All of these are water snakes.

Several beautiful wildflower blooms were photographed, mostly at Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area on May 1.

In addition to the Baltimore Oriole and Green Heron, a male Northern Cardinal and his mate have been hanging around lately.

More and more butterflies are showing up as well, both at Middle Fork Barrens NA and our backyard.

And dragonflies and damselflies are always a welcome sight.

Beautiful weather has surrounded us this spring with the exception of it being extremely dry. Of course, that means golf courses are very playable—no cart path only days—and flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies/damselflies are emerging.

As usual Kay stays plenty busy with social activities, pickleball, and golf, and this reporting period saw another meeting of The Book Club. 

She is particularly active in PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization)  which is a philanthropic organization where women motivate, educate and celebrate women, and Naomi Circle. Naomi Circle is a small group of women who meet on the first Wednesday of each month with a break during the summer months. Their meeting is held at various members homes or at the church. During the meeting, a bible study is held using books or DVDs, drinks and snacks are provided, and other topics of conversation are discussed.

In addition she attends neighborhood women’s lunches and card parties. And then, she plays pickleball several times a week and golf on Wednesday mornings. 

With tongue in cheek, Kay’s social activities relieve me of having to have very much contact with people which suits me to a “T”. I do play golf on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and sometimes on the weekend with Kay,  and pickleball on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and sometimes on Sunday afternoon. Regrettably, it was during one of the pickleball games early in the month when I experiences sharp burning pain just above the arch on my left foot. One of the pickleball players is a fitness coach and immediately diagnosed the problem and steps for healing. Tendinitis can be caused by a sudden injury. But repeating the same movement over time is a much more likely cause. Most people develop tendinitis because their jobs or hobbies involve motions that they repeat, over and over. This puts stress on tendons.causing inflammation or irritation of tendons in the foot due to overuse, improper footwear, or injury, causing pain, swelling, and stiffness. It may be that playing golf and pickleball some 14 days straight aided and abetted this injury. Anyway, I’m now out of sports and even exploring with the camera until this heals.

Over the first weekend of the reporting period, immediately after the injury, I supported grandson Ridge in his AAU basketball pursuits. We traveled to Batesville, Arkansas, on Saturday and Sunday for his team’s participation in a tournament. He played extremely well and his team blew out their competition in four games to win the championship. If you haven’t seen 14-year olds playing AAU basketball, you are missing a real treat. They are fast, and very, very good.

As for photography, I was confined to the back yard because of the “injury”. Nevertheless, a few animals and wildflowers provided much needed subject matter. Sunday, April 5, 2026, saw me hobbling around snapping photos of a chipmunk (a nemesis), a Black and White Mason Wasp, a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly, and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (our first of the year).

And a Texas Toadflax was blooming as was a pot of Chives.

A Blue Violet was photographed the following Wednesday.

And some damselflies were seen laying eggs and an Ozark Clubtail was quietly resting, awaiting its next prey.

Another Texas Toadflax bloom was recorded on Thursday, April 9, 2026.

Several Spring Azures were flittering about on Tuesday, April 14, and a Blackberry bush was in full bloom.