Friday (08/30) we were signed up for a guided bird walk at Salt Creek Marsh in Itasca but woke up to rain. We decided to skip the walk, grab some food and coffee, and head to the arboretum instead (where ironically it didn’t rain any more). We saw a monarch butterfly caterpillar in one of the gardens, amongst other things.
Ironically enough, it was on the same day several years ago that we last saw one.
Afterwards we stopped at Trader Joe’s where we picked up some new stuff to try.
Today (Sat 08/31) we hit up the Batavia Farmer’s Market after I read they welcome dogs, and we weren’t disappointed by all the cute dogs we saw. Joe had coffee & I enjoyed a yummy passionfruit peach iced tea while we shared two pastries (which truthfully weren’t that good).
After the market we went to a forest preserve looking for migrating birds but there hardly any birds at all; even the resident barn swallows were MIA. Did see a new species of butterfly, though – Hackberry Emperor.
Afterwards we stopped at Old Time Pottery where I found this lovely butterfly garden statue that reminds me of Heimlich from A Bug’s Life. It was marked 75% off so instead of $15 it was only $3.75.
It has a solar panel on the back and the wings glow green at night if you turn it on. I’ve been leaving it off since we don’t often sit outside after dark (due to mosquitos) so why waste the battery?