Morning Adoration

 As is my wont, I began my day today gazing out the window while I brushed my teeth. I was admiring the one tree in the backyard that has leaves on it, the flowering crabapple, when I noticed that the peach tree, which is beyond the glorious green tree, is in bloom:

I was excited to see this, as I always am when I spot new signs of spring, so when I had finished brushing my teeth and getting dressed I took my camera out to the backyard to take pictures of the flowers. The tree is tall, so I had the zoom lens on the camera, because those flowers are waaaaay above my head. Last year this tree only had about 5 or 6 flowers on it, so it is wonderful to see it so full of blossoms.

It was not a beautiful day, but the flowers improved it.

Bees were busy collecting nectar from the flowers, but this was not the best way to get pictures of bugs!

 While I was taking pictures of the peach blossoms I heard something crashing through the brush and bushes in the field just behind me:

The usual herd of deer were out in the field, and with me being nearby (about 50 feet away, maybe), they decided it was time to go. The funny thing is, if they had just stayed still I probably never would have known they were there, but by taking off through the briars and branches they made a bit of a racket and drew attention to themselves. This is the best picture I got, though–deer are still basically invisible most of the time.

I went to get the mail from the mailbox after that, taking my camera with me. I didn't take pictures of the bumblebees I saw along the way, but on my way back to the house with the packages that came in the mail I spotted today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

I thought it was a spring azure–the dorsal side of the wings was blue, although I only saw that when it was flitting and flying–but the markings on this side of the wings doesn't look like a spring azure. I really need a better butterfly book–the internet is so unhelpful at such moments...

A hint of the blue...

We were going out for the afternoon, so that was the extent of my bug photography for the time being. I went for a walk later in the woods, but I was carrying lumber for a project, and the weather was dark and gloomy, so I didn't bring my camera. So, naturally, I found a cool bug, and had to take its picture with my phone:

Mayfly on skunk cabbage.

I don't have a great phone camera, especially for low light or zoomed in, so the picture is a bit weird, but you can still see how cool the mayfly is.