The bald-faced hornet is actually a yellowjacket.

A fertilized queen overwinters in some protected place, and then starts making a papery nest out of her saliva and chewed up wood. The first workers hatched continue the work of building the nest, collect food, feed larvae, and protect the nest. Most of the colony dies off for winter, except for the fertilized queen.

The whole time I watched this nest, there was one hornet stationed at the entrance, like a gatekeeper, or a security guard.

A  month ago, the flower:

This week I saw the seed pods.

A kind of Liatris. This variation is new to me.

Also known as Bladder Campion or Catchfly, this is a sticky plant. It is classified as a noxious weed, but the sprinkling of morning dew has lifted the humble flower into the realm of the divine.

On an early morning walk the heavy dew showed up a myriad of spider webs.

I saw a tunnel web on a dandelion leaf.

Then, on the banks of a pond, I saw a hanging web.

And later on my walk, more dewy strings of pearls.

At the end of the exhibition, I was gratified to meet the artist, hard at work installing the latest masterpiece.

Yesterday early morning I walked a distance from the farmhouse. In the ditches and fields I walked.

When I turned for home, the sun had risen.