Daily sketch. Actually, this is one of several daily sketches from yesterday, since I had a lot of time on airplanes to go back over my photos from the previous week.

Flew home from Vermont last night after attending the Orion Magazine environmental writers’ workshop. The workshop was an amazingly helpful experience for me as a writer and as a teacher of writing.

Also took some time to visit family, a friend I haven’t seen since high school, and one of my frequent co-authors. He and I took a few ecology walks in a place we’ve never visited before, which prompted these sketches. As the heat wave settled over us, butterflies cycled down from the canopy to the cool reaches of the forested gorge in which we were hiking. Lots of papilio and vanessa, including this one. Also lots of riparian invertebrates were emerging, including some trichoptera, megaloptera and this plecoptera. And of course a zillion midges that wanted to explore my nostrils, ear canals, and eyes.

A detailed sketch features a White Admiral butterfly and a Stonefly, each with accompanying labels noting their observation date and location.