August 30: I took this picture about a week ago and it shows two things of significance at this time of year: the flower and the butterfly.
The flower is a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea) which I planted earlier this year in the hope that I could have a small perennial garden down on the point. Many of the older estates in Muskoka have extensive gardens (and usually a gardener to care for them) and I have hopes that these few plants will become the beginnings of a larger and more robust garden. The fact that there is in fact a few plants growing there, gives me optimism and hope for next year.
The butterfly is obviously a Monarch. It appeared as I had a sandwich on the point and it stayed for quite a while sipping nectar and apparently enjoying a quiet lunch before it fluttered off toward the south. This is the first – and so far only – Monarch I have seen this year, fully 10 days earlier than last year. It also seems that virtually all of the summer-resident Hummingbirds have departed, about a week ahead of last year, along with many of the Sparrows that hunted insects all summer on the island. The temperature of the lake has begun its inexorable decline and many of the ducks and waterfowl are also disappearing. Fortunately, the Loons don’t really head south until October so they will still be around for a while, offering the occasional call across the lake on a calm and quiet night.
That tranquility disguises the fact that we have reached that time of year when our hopes and aspirations for the summer are quickly reaching an end. This is a time to reflect on our accomplishments for this year – and there have been many here at Regatta – while preparing for the transition to autumn, and the end of the year for “cottaging”. Much has to be done to prepare the cottage for the winter, and it usually seems to get done at the last minute in a huge rush as the cold weather closes in. Perhaps the best I can hope for is a few moments of quiet tranquility with other seasonal residents as they pass through on their way to their winter home.