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Butterflies and spider lilies
They're headed southward, to Mexico, the Caribbean or wherever as the seasons change and winter approaches. Every time I see one of these butterflies I think of Mrs. Laurie Carleton, former owner of The Clarke County Democrat who wrote a popular column, "Let's Know Our Birds," for several years. Her late husband, George Carleton, editor and publisher of this paper for 63 years, wrote it even longer than she did. Every fall Mrs. Carleton would mark the passing through of the butterflies as a sign of fall and approaching winter. Another sign of fall are the spider lilies that pop up like jack-in-the boxes around old homesteads. The leggy, spider-looking red lilies are a favorite of mine as regular readers may know. I usually can't resist running a picture of the flowers sometime during the fall. Bill Finch, garden editor (oops, sorry Bill, environmental editor) for the Mobile Press Register wrote last week that the lilies are a little behind schedule this year and he suspects the warmer-than-usual temperatures are the reason. They usually don't spring up until the temperatures start to change. Earlier this week the temperatures were supposed to fall into the upper 50s so the spider lilies may be out by the time you read this. Fall is a favorite time of the year for me. Our trees here don't take on the brilliant colors that they do farther north but they are pretty. I often think they resemble an impressionist watercolor with their soft hues. Our trees usually don't take on their best colors until late October and November. And then you have to look quickly because they won't last long, a week or so at the most and they all drop off. This year may not be a good year for fall foliage. I read that the drought we've experienced this summer may have a negative impact on the fall colors everywhere. I hope not. Another sign of the changing seasons, and one that none of us care for, is the infestation of love bugs. I've spied a few of the unbashful bugs, mostly on my vehicle's grill and windshield. I hope we can get by without a lot of them blowing in this year. They are an aggravation.
Jim Cox is editor and publisher of The Clarke County Democrat.
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