Nice Morning; Tad Chilly

I have been waking and getting up way too early for several mornings now.

August's full moon has many names. I'm not partial to 'Sturgeon', so I'll go with Full Green Corn Moon or Barley Moon.

The moon was shining brightly, though technically not full until 10:58 a.m. today, by which time we wouldn't see it, of course.

The morning began just peachy 😏 but rather cool with an overnight low in the 50's, and a northerly breeze. Not your usual August weather.

I couldn't decide - walk around here, go to Lake McKinley or Green Valley?

I finally decided Green Valley and got there around eight.
I parked in the lot near the main boat launch and headed west on the trail toward the campgrounds.

Right away I had to stop for a snap of these three Bonaparte's Gulls in the sand at the beach.

Elderberries and milkweed, food for birds and butterflies, with one little thistle blossom against the blue waters of the lake.

At least this section of the trail was somewhat sheltered from the north wind.

No one on the path but one bicyclist.

Sun shining on goldenrod with the wild morning glory partially shaded.

I was tempted to call these deep purple flowers asters, but when I checked some of the wildflower sites, I learned they are Prairie Ironweed. Such a pretty color and distinctive with their frilly ends.

When I first saw these two little lavender flowers I thought they were fake. They looked like some of the fabric flowers you see.

But they were real and are Prairie Petunias.

I often see muddy raccoon tracks crossing the paths at Green Valley. In fact on that sunrise walk I took a week ago last Saturday a raccoon started across the trail but saw me and ducked back into the undergrowth.

These little paw prints were made before the cement set and are now a permanent part of the path between the beach and the campgrounds.

One of the fairies dropped her silk handkerchief at the full moon dance ritual last night.

There were a number of dew laden spider webs along the path.

This one really shows all the web work the Grass Spiders, also called Funnel Spiders, do.

According to legend, if there is dew on Grass Spider webs in the morning, it will be a beautiful day. That has certainly held true today.

Going toward the campground this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was just sitting on the cement like it was patiently waiting until I took its picture.

Coming back it was still there. I imagine waiting until it warmed up or dried its wings, or both.

All that chasing and trying to get a picture of one yesterday and then today it was so easy. Who knew?

Back at the parking lot, I continued past and north on the trail.

I've been seeing stories about the Kindness Rock Project where people, commonly children, paint messages on small rocks then leave them for others to find and collect.
This was my day to find one. It was painted like a gold nugget with the word 'SMILE' in black.
I can imagine a young person having the fun of making this token and then her joy at leaving it for someone to find.
I left it there because I can imagine the smile when another child finds it.

I did meet a couple walking about the time I stopped to take the picture of the smile rock. When I got back to the parking lot I saw them walking toward the couple trying to load their boat, asking if they needed help. They obviously did. The woman who had been in the boat stepped back out of the way.

I heard her say: "All I want to do is go home. Never again!"

Obviously her morning had not been as pleasant as mine.