Fall brings the promise of spring to my Dogwood...

I started a "Dogwood Project" in the spring and posted daily photos of my dogwood on Flickr as the buds gradually opened, flowered fully and then faded away as the leaves appeared. But as spring turned to summer, other interests intervened as did a lot of travel and I neglected photographing my dogwood until recently when I noticed that the fall colors were turning the leaves... and buds promising spring beauty had already formed!

Oh go on... You don't really want my picture... Do you???

Poured down rain early this morning (storm woke me shortly after 6 AM)... rain stopped by mid-morning... out in the garden... macro lens in hand... spotted this fly trying to dry his wings and needed the flash to capture him... he didn't much like the flash and here he seems to be telling me so...

I know I'm disgusting to most... But I'm quite a marvel seen close-up... Here's Mr. Fly... back on top of the leaf a couple minutes after I snapped the above photo of him raising a fist at me! (Maybe an entomologist can confirm the identification for me... I think this is a house fly but I swear I haven't yet found a photo of him anywhere on the internet that confirms my suspicions.)