It’s almost time for our summer trip to Destin, Florida. We stay at a tennis resort because tennis is our main activity. This resort is on the beach, which is also wonderful!

Last summer we were on our way to the courts one morning when we noticed lots of dragonflies swarming overhead. In the hope of getting some pictures of them I ran back for my camera. They were still all flying around like crazy (I’ve since learned that they feed on tiny insects including mosquitoes while flying). One huge dragonfly landed and kept rising slowly several times; it seemed to be old or dying. Well, I thought, this one will be easy to photograph, so keeping it in focus I was ready to snap the picture, when BAM a Blue Jay zoomed in and ATE it! It happened too fast for me to get the picture. Bad timing for me; great timing for the Blue Jay.

There was a walking path through some woods nearby. I was thinking, “They have to land sometime,” so I started walking through. Did I mention how hot it was? Well, all the sweat was worth it; they do land now and then and are truly beautiful. I was able to get quite a few pictures. One of my favorites is in my book “Lucy Ladybug’s Backyard Adventure” and another one is shown here.

They come in almost every color, I found blue and green dragonflies that day. My daughter was in Africa a few years ago and saw bright red ones.

Maybe this summer I’ll try for some kind of sea creature!
Talk to you soon!